SPOILERS: First Read Rant

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This is my rant-after-the-first-read. Nothing very interesting, 
probably, but I need to get this out of my system.

This is the first time I'm really disappointed with an HP book. I'm 
not disappointed because Snape turned out the ESE (I never thought he 
is a good person, and he still remains a complex character). I'm not 
disappointed because there wasn't a "good Slytherin" (I personally 
never needed one). I'm not disappointed because of the excessive 
shipping (never been allergic to it), I'm not disappointed because 
she killed DD (although I kind of hoped she'd avoid this specific 
cliché) and not because all my theories were shot down (I was 
prepared for that).

No, the reason I'm disappointed with HBP is simply because most of 
it, IMHO, is sub-par. It's poorly written, relative to JKR's 
standards. Am I the only one who feels that way? I frequently had the 
feeling like I was reading FF and not the real thing. To say that 
this book was under-edited would be a big compliment. I think the 
editors should have told JKR to take her time, do an extensive 
rewrite and get back to them in another 6 months, or maybe a year. 
Well, I guess publicity finally went to JKR's head, or the editors 
didn't dare criticize her, or they were under pressure to finish 
quickly.

The plot was simply all over the place. No proper buildup of 
suspence, no dramatic flow and rhythm, plot devices felt artificial. 
Many important things were spelled out instead of implied by dialogue 
and description. Most of the book was emotionally flat. For example – 
Harry accepting Kreacher that easily simply wasn't realistic. Another 
example: Snape finally got his wish to teach DADA, and apart from the 
very first, none of the lessons is described at all. You'd expect 
damned *fireworks* between Snape and Harry when they finally meet in 
DADA, but nothing. HBP has almost no captivating sections like 
(counting from OotP alone): the DA meeting, the close ward scene, 
Occulomency, Snape's worst memory, the anti-Umbrige rebellion, etc., 
and also no killer location like the DoM.

The mystery plot: I'll have to re-read to make sure, but after my 
first reading it seems to me that there are several big holes in the 
plot. For example, why didn't Harry suspect even once during the 
whole year that the Half-Blood Prince is Snape? I mean, who do we 
know that is good at Potions and has a small cramped handwriting? 
Cm'on! I suspected Snape from the first second and hoped for a long 
time that in the end it would turn out to be someone unexpected. No 
such luck. 

Shipping: Like I wrote above, I'm not averted to shipping, and I've 
predicted all three ships in HBP a long time ago, so I should be 
content, right? Wrong. It is possible to write good shipping and bad 
shipping, and most of the HBP shipping was very poor. It felt like 
typical teen FF. After 5 books Harry finally notices Ginny, and 
there's no tension buildup, no colossal rows, no real angst, no 
heartache, no dramatic/tragic revelation. Every single summersault of 
Harry's insides over Cho in GoF was more realistic and powerful than 
that. R/H on the other hand have lots of rows and angst, of exactly 
the same type they have in every book only much more of it, and by 
the end of the book they still haven't done anything about it. Kind 
of starting getting on your nerves. The L/T has done much better, 
probably because it featured much less in the story.   

The horcuxes: it's a nice plot device, similar to several ideas that 
came up here. The problem is: 95% of it is based on completely new 
information. It couldn't have been deduced in any way from what we 
knew before. So what's the point in having any theories at all? And 
the secrets of the remaining horcruxes' identities and places? Can it 
be deuced from what we know now? I wouldn't bet money on it. 

Baddies: No Voldy except in old memories. Bella and Narcissa having a 
family argument in one redundant chapter. Three or four completely 
new DEs and a werewolf we know nothing of and don't care much about. 
I guess Snape was the compensation, but except for that last AK and 
the subsequent chase his performances in HBP are pretty mild.   

Movie contamination: At least one clear case - in the books Hermione 
had never punched Draco. She'd *slapped* him.

Characters: JKR invents a whole horde of new characters, which 
necessarily come on the expense of continuing the development of old 
ones. Why was there any need to replace Fudge with Scrimgeur just to 
fill approximately the same function? Neville, Moody and the Creevys 
brothers were completely neglected. Bill, Luna, Dean, Lavender and 
Hagrid are there but merely as plot devices.  Percy gets half a scene 
that doesn't develop the story in any way. Ginny's exclusion from the 
trio just doesn't sound realistic:  would a determined girl like that 
agree, practically without argument, to be excluded from the secrets 
kept by her boyfriend, her brother and her best female friend? Not 
bloody likely.

What just barely saved HBP for me are the last chapters: the battle, 
the chase and the funeral. They were at least captivating. I also 
think I like the new Draco: he's much more complex yet not an 
unrealistically "good Slytherin". And we got a new acronym to occupy 
us in the next two years. Many ingenious new names and nicknames, 
too – Phlegm and Won-won really cracked me up. But if JKR thinks it's 
enough to invent a few cool names and anybody would worship her 
again, well she's wrong about me, at least. She forgot the hard work 
part.  

Well, I hope this impression will improve in a second read. It did 
with OotP.

Neri