Harry Potter countdown
Countdown, 6 days to the world release of Harry Potter Book 6: The Half Blood Prince. Already made bookings at Popular Kota Kinabalu for my hardcover edition, a move that I still don't know whether is the right one to make or not. After all the hype and suspense Rowling gave for the Fifth: The Order of the Pheonix it turned out quite dissapointing in the end. So I'm not going to put up my hopes up lest I be dissapointed in this one but since I've been collecting the series since the first book I decided to go ahead and get the hardcover version for Book 6 as well be it good or bad. The first introduction to Harry Potter was when the newspapers were heaping praise after the release of the third book, the Prisoner of Azkhaban. Back then the shop shelves were devoid of the books as not many were ordered and a huge buying demand soon made Harry Potter books a rare commodity in the country. For a year or two after the intial release, I couldn't find any of the first 3 titles baing sold anywhere even in large bookstore like Kinokuniya and MPH. To tell the truth I actually read book three first and only later when they were available, book 1 and 2. Finally managed to track them down at Popular which was selling at 30% discount if you bought all three at one go, after a wait of 3 years. The Prisoner of Azkhaban to me is still the best among the whole lot.
Rowling was on a roll I'd say, the books kept on growing in writing quality as well as pages culminating in the excessively thick Goblet of Fire. Discounting all the complains about witchcraft and pagan rituals sparked by certain groups, Rowling made a magical world (no doubt not many of the elements were original and borrowed heavily from many sources, she still managed to knit everything in a compelling story) that transported the reader's imagination, of colourful characters and even more colourful villains. The best part was always trying to figure out if you can guess the villain in the end, which I never really suceeded.
But at that point I thought she ran out of steam, it didn't help that the hoard of fans were crying out for blood for her to publish the next volume as soon as possible and her publisher must be giving her a harrowing experience to come out with the next chapter so they can earn even more sales. Thus when it finally hit the shelves, the storyline was below par, the characters didn't get enough exposure as needed and it ended abrupt and disjointed. It a wonder that bookstores everywhere were piling stocks up to ensure no repeat of the sellout sales they had with previous volumes, only to end up with tons of unsold volumes. Popular even slashed the cover price by 30% a few weeks after the release due to sluggish sales.
Well my edition will be out this Saturday. Wonder if I should duke it out with the hoards of fans who had made bookings or wait it out for a few days before braving the lines. A few days wait to read the next chapter in the life of Harry Potter is not so tall an order. If it turns out as tepid as the fifth book, I guess I'd still buy the 7th since it's the last.
4 comments:
I saw several copies of the book lying in a bookstore on Saturday. Honestly, if books were to be judged by its cover, I would have not touched it with a ten foot pole. And if paperback quality was taken into consideration, a twenty footer. But, giving things a go, I picked it up and leafed through several chapters for free at the store. If Order of the Phoenix was disappointing, then IMHO, the quality of the writing is what the difference between The Prisoner of Azkaban is to Order of the Phoenix. In other words, drained of creativity. While I wont deny that it will still hit the bestseller's charts, I will steer away from it. I want to remember my Harry Potter experience as in Philosopher's Stone and Prisoner of Azkaban, but not as it was with Order of the Phoenix, and then now the Half-Blooded Prince. Half-blood indeed...
Sigh was dreading that, there are better nugget out there I suppose such as Garth Nix Abhorsen series which is truly creative and new as well as newer writers like Christopher Paoline for Eragon. Too much expectation of Harry, in the end dissapointment is the only way to go?
like you, the prisoner of azkhaban remains the best to me too. i didn't like the last one too, but somehow still jumped on the early booking bandwagon for the next one even though i can't read it until after the 20th thanks to the necessary evil of exams. i guess i am hoping that she'll rediscover the magic again instead of writing just for the sake of writing.
jasmine: For better or for worse we'd all like to see how the series turn out and there's only one book left to go. Hopefully it won't be an anticlimax that will ruin harry and the fond memories it envoked in it's earlier volume.
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