The Bad (Spoilers):
I write this section with the understanding that there is something off about any book. Which is true in 99% of the cases, I believe. Perfect books are hard to find. Even my favorite, War and Peace (really, I'm not just being hoity-toity here), has a big old 150 page weakness at its end.
Okay, so here is a list of what I didn't care for in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Spoilers follow.
1) Snape. How could it have been Snape? And while there's a possibility that he had to kill Dumbledore because of the unbreakable vow he made with Narcissa Malfoy, there's no going back now. He won't be the same Snape—i.e., my favorite character—he was before.
2) Now that Harry and even Ron and Hermione have decided to go out into the world and pursue Voldemort and his horcruxes will it be the end of Hogwarts as far as the reader is concerned? As a huge fan of Blyton's Mallory Towers and St. Claire's in childhood, the school parts of Harry Potter were amongst my favorites.
3) The half-blood prince stuff was totally a red herring unless something else happens in the next volume. It was a bit of a nothing in this tome, that's for sure. I understood the prince was Snape as soon as the potions began succeeding for Harry in class. Maybe Harry will need the book to defeat Snape in the seventh book? Then the whole detour would be worth it.
4) The pairing up. Ron and Hermione should end up together, it's true. And I even liked the strengthening of Ginny as a character and it makes sense that Harry would be attracted to her. She has a large family, she's a strong personality, and she looks like his mother and Mrs. Weasley. But Tonks and Lupin too? What was that all about? I hope it leads to something plot-wise.
5) Speaking of pairing up. Is Gabrielle competition for Ginny? I sure hope not.
I'm sure I'll think of more in the future. (Off the top of my head, for example, I didn't like the Bill/werewolf business, but I think it will have serious plot implications in HP.
