I LUV HARRY POTTER LYK WHOA!! HUGE ESSAY ON HBP!
Dear J.K. Rowling,
Dude. How do you come up with this stuff???
I lined up at one of the downtown Chapters locations at midnight on Friday to pick up the book - got there at about quarter to 11, since I'd been downtown Fringing anyhow. (More about the Fringe in another post.) There were a few real crazies there who were all dressed up and going around talking in faux-British accents and having a picnic on the floor of the store in which they pretended that whatever they were drinking was pumpkin juice, but there were fewer of them than I'd expected. When the line started forming at 11, I was about twentieth in the non-pre-order line, so after the countdown at midnight I got my two copies of the book (one for me, one for LGB) and was out of there within ten minutes. Sweet.
I read until about 6 a.m. that night and on and off all day yesterday, and now that I am finished, here is what I have to say...
This book is definitely tighter, and overall better written, than Order of the Phoenix. There's far less time wasted on useless sideplots (like Grawp, who mercifully appears for about two seconds in this book) and continuous action, bang-bang-bang, from page one right to the end. There are fewer new characters to keep track of, which means fewer semi-useless people floating around - always a good thing. Also, I think Harry only talks in ALL CAPS once in the entire 609 pages (which is, for those of you who haven't been keeping up, shorter than both OotP and Goblet of Fire), which is excellent considering he spent about 3/4 of Book 5 being REALLY ANGRY!!! and shouting in ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME!!
Basically, HBP is the coming-of-age book of the series. Harry lost his childhood when he saw Cedric die in GoF; he lost whatever was left of his idealistic adolescence in this book, seeing his last guardian murdered before his eyes. Dumbledore's death is an enormous turning point in his life; he knows now that he has to stand on his own, that he has to take all the lessons the adults who tried to protect him (his parents, Sirius, Dumbledore) have taught him and finish what they started him on a path towards. Still, despite the fact that he is growing up fast - the lack of ALL CAPS LOCK! reactions are a tangible example of his increasing maturity - he's still not quite the adult he's going to have to be to take on Voldemort for the last time.
I think we all saw Dumbledore's death coming, not only from the start of this book, with its heavy foreshadowing, but since Prisoner of Azkaban, when JKR started dropping hints that Harry's beloved mentor was getting old. When Sirius was killed at the end of OotP, I knew Dumbledore would be gone by the end of Book 6, to set up a final challenge in Book 7 in which Harry didn't have a protector to fall back on. That being said, though, part of me was still hoping against hope that it wouldn't happen, that the important death of this book would belong to another character. I tried to believe it right up to the point where Draco was hesitating and it became clear he wouldn't be able to finish the Dark Lord's task. And then Snape came in and I knew... and yet I think I physically flinched when he said the words.
Dumbledore was my favourite character, aside from Harry, from the start of the series. His wisdom, his clear love for Harry, his constant fight to do what was right for the wizarding world, his gentle sense of humour and little quirks, like the names of the sweets he used as passwords to enter his office... I loved everything about him. I loved Sirius, too, but his death was different from this one - it left me with a sense of numbness, much as OotP did overall with its consistent tone of dark depression. There was something, too, in Sirius' death and the mystery of the voices behind the veil that left a tiny possibility for his return. Dumbledore's death was more gut-wrenching, more final - I started tearing up as he struggled to drink the potion in the cave, was wiping away tears at "I am not worried, Harry. I am with you", and was choked up when Harry realized he was really gone. With Dumbledore around, Hogwarts was always a haven of safety, even at the worst of times; now that he's gone, it is, as Harry realizes, the start of a new and more frightening era of the war against Voldemort.
If there is one thing that proves that Harry is still not quite an adult, I think his immediate and instinctive reaction to Snape is it. If Snape really murdered Dumbledore in cold blood, if Dumbledore was really mistaken in his absolute trust in him, then JKR will have really thrown me for a loop. At the second he uttered Avada Kadavra, I did think he was evil, and I was shocked beyond belief, but a few pages later, as Harry tried in vain to battle Snape, I knew it couldn't be. Here's what I think - I think Snape had to kill Dumbledore - he did, after all, take the Unbroken Vow, promising Narcissa that if Draco couldn't complete the Dark Lord's task, he would do it for him. His hesitation before that step of the vow is one piece of evidence pointing towards his innocence. At that moment, either he had to kill Dumbledore, or he had to die. I think Dumbledore was pleading for him to go through with the vow and kill him, not for him to spare him his life. Dumbledore is no fool. He knew he was dying already; he knew Snape would be needed to protect Harry once he was gone and couldn't do it himself.
Then, we come to Harry's battle with Snape, which, when you think about it, wasn't really a battle at all. Snape did nothing but repel Harry's attacks. He didn't fight back, really, until his parting shot, whatever it was; all he did was counter Harry's spells. In a way, he could have been doing Harry a favour by preventing him from casting one of the Unforgiveable Spells, since they are powerful dark magic, and Harry would undoubtedly have been changed forever if he had managed to do what he wanted and cast one of them on Snape. Then we have to consider the fact that Snape essentially saved Harry's life by countering whatever spell the Death Eaters put on him and excusing himself by saying that Harry belonged to the Dark Lord. Finally, Snape's reaction to being called a coward seemed telling to me - having just done the unthinkable and murdering Dumbledore (on his request?), to be called a coward, by a teenager, no less, probably wouldn't sit so well. Y'know?
Of course, you could make a good argument to the contrary. It's possible that the "hatred and revulsion" in Snape's face before he killed Dumbledore was real, though I think it was hatred and revulsion for the act of murder he was being forced to commit. It's completely possible that Snape really is evil. He has been capable of real cruelty in the past. He treated an eleven-year-old orphan with malice and sarcasm merely because of a grudge he held against his dead parents, which could be evidence that he is more capable of being swayed by Voldemort than one would think. But Dumbledore has a reason to trust him, a reason we don't really know, and whatever that reason was, I think it was legitimate... either that, or the "huge mistakes" Dumbledore said he is capable of making now include trusting Severus Snape. There has to be, though, one more person, one more adult, IMO, that will stand between Harry and death... and I think Snape is the one. I've thought so from the start, and this book just solidified my hunch. It would just be way too easy for him to be truly evil.
I admit I didn't guess that Snape was the Half-Blood Prince until about 2/3rds of the way through the book, even though all the signs pointed towards it. In the beginning, I wondered if it could somehow be Harry's mother; midway through I thought that JKR was being tricky and that the HBP was indeed some version of/relative of Tom Riddle. It wasn't until the whole Sectumsempra incident in the bathroom that I realized it was Snape. Duh.
Speaking of Tom Riddle, the pensieve lessons and memories of Voldemort's past were fascinating. The way JKR has built the pieces of the puzzle that is Tom/Voldemort is incredible in its level of detail and the reach of its connections into the wizarding world. I also liked the way these lessons developed the relationship between Harry and Dumbledore, although their increasing closeness did make his death even more heartbreaking when it came. The idea of the seven horcruxes is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle, though the fact that at least three horcruxes (the diary was one, and was destroyed; the ring was destoryed; the necklace may have been destroyed by R.A.B., whoever he may be, so that leaves three, plus the piece of Voldemort's soul that is still inside him) remain and there's one book left to destroy them makes me think Boook 7 is going to have to be 1000 pages long. The mysterious R.A.B. of the false horcrux has got to be Regulus Black; the number of times he was mentioned in this book alone is a dead giveaway.
About the shippy stuff in the book, HAHAHAHAHA, the OBHWF folks must be having a freaking field day!! Hermione/Ron (which was a given, IMHO) and Harry/Ginny! God almighty! I have to say that I didn't think JKR would actually go through with the H/G, and it was handled kind of clunkily... all of a sudden Harry sees her kissing Dean and is filled with JELUSS RAGE and LURVE? OB! In theory, I don't have big problems with H/G, except for the fact that I've never really thought Ginny had a real personality. The only time she's come off as remotely three-dimensional to me was in Chamber of Secrets, and since then it's been all... well, she grew up, she became a quidditch player, she had lots of boys chasing her. Um, she was "spunky" or something, because she stood up for herself when her brothers bugged her, but... what else? There really is nothing else! And suddenly Harry is in love with her and she's all, "I never gave up on you, Harry!"? And she's his "greatest comfort"? WTF? WHY? WHYYY, JKR? TELL ME WHY. I'M VERY CONFUSED.
The Hermione/Ron was anvilicious since GoF, but if I ship anything that isn't OT3, it's Hr/R, so I like it. Part of me is glad that they haven't done anything "official" (even kiss) yet, because this means they won't have to be broken up in Book 7... they can either fight the battle and live happily ever after, or declare their love for each other before one of them dies, which I sadly think is the more likely option. Some of the reviews I've read so far have said that they don't like the Hr/R because it causes Hermione to act totally out of character, but I disagree with that. I mean, the girl is clearly not nearly as socially and emotionally intelligent as she is book-smart. She hates to lose - at Potions, or at love - and when she is losing, and doesn't know what to do to win, she acts childishly and does things that seem OOC for her (i.e., the bird attack on Ron when he appeared with Lavender). Ron, on the other hand, is a typical teenaged boy, so the whole Lavender thing, in retaliation for his little sister's true attack on his lack of experience, was perfectly understandable despite the fact that his real feelings are clearly for Hermione. I was totally amused reading on some Harry/Hermione shipper's LJ that they thought this entire book was H/Hr subtext and that they were certain this was leading to H/Hr getting together in Book 7, because I don't think JKR could've sunk that ship more effectively if she'd tried. When Harry told Ginny that she understood him because she would never tell him to be careful, that was like a direct stomp on the grave of the H/Hr ship.
As for the lesser ships - Bill/Fleur and Remus/Tonks - I thought the Bill/Fleur was interesting in that it brought someone into the Weasley family they weren't totally comfortable with and yet proved they could be wrong about who "their kind of people" really are when she stayed loyal after his werewolf attack. The Remus/Tonks came totally out of left field and was, for the most part, useless in my mind, unless it's going to mean something come Book 7, which I doubt. The multitude of Sirius/Remus fans are probably crying bloody murder over the whole deal, but then again, maybe they've come to some sort of subtextual conclusion that Remus only loves Tonks because she was related to Sirius or something. Shippers will find subtext in the dumbest things if they need to.
...Which brings us to Harry's little obsession with Draco. The Draco/Harry shippers must've loved this book almost as much as the OBHWF-ers, because every other line could be twisted into H/D subtext (ew). It's also exactly the kind of Draco most of the Draco-freaks love - poor, tortured, redeemable Draco, Draco crying in the bathroom, Draco finally getting smart enough to hex Harry on his own. While the whole thing did finally make him into more than a paper cutout villain, c'mon - who didn't know that he'd go over to the good side in the end? Sure, he hasn't done it yet, but the fact that he was that close to being convinced by Dumbledore makes me think Lucius was the last Malfoy to serve in the army of the Dark Lord. Even Narcissa is fading from the cause.
Hm, what else have I to say? I feel like I've read half a book and have been left with a cliffhanger. In a way, this book is very much like The Two Towers (in the LotR trilogy) because it has left us with Harry on the edge of his quest - when Book 7 starts, there's no more Dumbledore-protected Hogwarts to come back to. It's now or never now, Harry and his two best friends against the world. They have at least three more Horcruxes to find and destroy before Harry's inevitable final battle with Voldemort, and the journey won't be easy. (My guess is that at least one of the remaining horcruxes is either in Sirius' house that was bequeathed to Harry, or was one of the objects in the house that Mundungus was trying to sell in Hogsmeade. My other guess is that the house elves have something to do with the remaining horcruxes, because if they don't, then the amount of page space given to the house elves since they were introduced in CoS is useless and insane.) If this book was sad, I think the last one will be at least doubly so, which leads me to my final theory...
...I think the final horcrux might be Harry himself. Dumbledore said that the only remaining relic of Gryffindor was the sword, which isn't a horcrux... but what if the Gryffindor horcrux is Harry? What if his scar is a horcrux? What if Voldemort unintentionally, or even intentionally, transferred a piece of his soul to Harry when he tried to kill him, and that is why Harry was able to repel the Avada Kadavra curse when no one else ever had? I think the end may come to Harry realizing he will have to sacrifice himself to save the world, and the only person who will know how to do it without actually killing Harry will be Snape. There's also a tiny chance that the last horcrux might be Ginny, as the diary may have transferred something to her, and Harry will have to sacrifice his "true love" (whatEVS) to save the world, but I think that's a lot less likely.
JKR, you've got some awesome imagination, woman. Book 6 was hella awesome. Don't take too long for Book 7, hear?
Love,
Me.
P.S. I'm glad you had a better editor on this one than you did on Book 5. kthanksbye.
Dude. How do you come up with this stuff???
I lined up at one of the downtown Chapters locations at midnight on Friday to pick up the book - got there at about quarter to 11, since I'd been downtown Fringing anyhow. (More about the Fringe in another post.) There were a few real crazies there who were all dressed up and going around talking in faux-British accents and having a picnic on the floor of the store in which they pretended that whatever they were drinking was pumpkin juice, but there were fewer of them than I'd expected. When the line started forming at 11, I was about twentieth in the non-pre-order line, so after the countdown at midnight I got my two copies of the book (one for me, one for LGB) and was out of there within ten minutes. Sweet.
I read until about 6 a.m. that night and on and off all day yesterday, and now that I am finished, here is what I have to say...
This book is definitely tighter, and overall better written, than Order of the Phoenix. There's far less time wasted on useless sideplots (like Grawp, who mercifully appears for about two seconds in this book) and continuous action, bang-bang-bang, from page one right to the end. There are fewer new characters to keep track of, which means fewer semi-useless people floating around - always a good thing. Also, I think Harry only talks in ALL CAPS once in the entire 609 pages (which is, for those of you who haven't been keeping up, shorter than both OotP and Goblet of Fire), which is excellent considering he spent about 3/4 of Book 5 being REALLY ANGRY!!! and shouting in ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME!!
Basically, HBP is the coming-of-age book of the series. Harry lost his childhood when he saw Cedric die in GoF; he lost whatever was left of his idealistic adolescence in this book, seeing his last guardian murdered before his eyes. Dumbledore's death is an enormous turning point in his life; he knows now that he has to stand on his own, that he has to take all the lessons the adults who tried to protect him (his parents, Sirius, Dumbledore) have taught him and finish what they started him on a path towards. Still, despite the fact that he is growing up fast - the lack of ALL CAPS LOCK! reactions are a tangible example of his increasing maturity - he's still not quite the adult he's going to have to be to take on Voldemort for the last time.
I think we all saw Dumbledore's death coming, not only from the start of this book, with its heavy foreshadowing, but since Prisoner of Azkaban, when JKR started dropping hints that Harry's beloved mentor was getting old. When Sirius was killed at the end of OotP, I knew Dumbledore would be gone by the end of Book 6, to set up a final challenge in Book 7 in which Harry didn't have a protector to fall back on. That being said, though, part of me was still hoping against hope that it wouldn't happen, that the important death of this book would belong to another character. I tried to believe it right up to the point where Draco was hesitating and it became clear he wouldn't be able to finish the Dark Lord's task. And then Snape came in and I knew... and yet I think I physically flinched when he said the words.
Dumbledore was my favourite character, aside from Harry, from the start of the series. His wisdom, his clear love for Harry, his constant fight to do what was right for the wizarding world, his gentle sense of humour and little quirks, like the names of the sweets he used as passwords to enter his office... I loved everything about him. I loved Sirius, too, but his death was different from this one - it left me with a sense of numbness, much as OotP did overall with its consistent tone of dark depression. There was something, too, in Sirius' death and the mystery of the voices behind the veil that left a tiny possibility for his return. Dumbledore's death was more gut-wrenching, more final - I started tearing up as he struggled to drink the potion in the cave, was wiping away tears at "I am not worried, Harry. I am with you", and was choked up when Harry realized he was really gone. With Dumbledore around, Hogwarts was always a haven of safety, even at the worst of times; now that he's gone, it is, as Harry realizes, the start of a new and more frightening era of the war against Voldemort.
If there is one thing that proves that Harry is still not quite an adult, I think his immediate and instinctive reaction to Snape is it. If Snape really murdered Dumbledore in cold blood, if Dumbledore was really mistaken in his absolute trust in him, then JKR will have really thrown me for a loop. At the second he uttered Avada Kadavra, I did think he was evil, and I was shocked beyond belief, but a few pages later, as Harry tried in vain to battle Snape, I knew it couldn't be. Here's what I think - I think Snape had to kill Dumbledore - he did, after all, take the Unbroken Vow, promising Narcissa that if Draco couldn't complete the Dark Lord's task, he would do it for him. His hesitation before that step of the vow is one piece of evidence pointing towards his innocence. At that moment, either he had to kill Dumbledore, or he had to die. I think Dumbledore was pleading for him to go through with the vow and kill him, not for him to spare him his life. Dumbledore is no fool. He knew he was dying already; he knew Snape would be needed to protect Harry once he was gone and couldn't do it himself.
Then, we come to Harry's battle with Snape, which, when you think about it, wasn't really a battle at all. Snape did nothing but repel Harry's attacks. He didn't fight back, really, until his parting shot, whatever it was; all he did was counter Harry's spells. In a way, he could have been doing Harry a favour by preventing him from casting one of the Unforgiveable Spells, since they are powerful dark magic, and Harry would undoubtedly have been changed forever if he had managed to do what he wanted and cast one of them on Snape. Then we have to consider the fact that Snape essentially saved Harry's life by countering whatever spell the Death Eaters put on him and excusing himself by saying that Harry belonged to the Dark Lord. Finally, Snape's reaction to being called a coward seemed telling to me - having just done the unthinkable and murdering Dumbledore (on his request?), to be called a coward, by a teenager, no less, probably wouldn't sit so well. Y'know?
Of course, you could make a good argument to the contrary. It's possible that the "hatred and revulsion" in Snape's face before he killed Dumbledore was real, though I think it was hatred and revulsion for the act of murder he was being forced to commit. It's completely possible that Snape really is evil. He has been capable of real cruelty in the past. He treated an eleven-year-old orphan with malice and sarcasm merely because of a grudge he held against his dead parents, which could be evidence that he is more capable of being swayed by Voldemort than one would think. But Dumbledore has a reason to trust him, a reason we don't really know, and whatever that reason was, I think it was legitimate... either that, or the "huge mistakes" Dumbledore said he is capable of making now include trusting Severus Snape. There has to be, though, one more person, one more adult, IMO, that will stand between Harry and death... and I think Snape is the one. I've thought so from the start, and this book just solidified my hunch. It would just be way too easy for him to be truly evil.
I admit I didn't guess that Snape was the Half-Blood Prince until about 2/3rds of the way through the book, even though all the signs pointed towards it. In the beginning, I wondered if it could somehow be Harry's mother; midway through I thought that JKR was being tricky and that the HBP was indeed some version of/relative of Tom Riddle. It wasn't until the whole Sectumsempra incident in the bathroom that I realized it was Snape. Duh.
Speaking of Tom Riddle, the pensieve lessons and memories of Voldemort's past were fascinating. The way JKR has built the pieces of the puzzle that is Tom/Voldemort is incredible in its level of detail and the reach of its connections into the wizarding world. I also liked the way these lessons developed the relationship between Harry and Dumbledore, although their increasing closeness did make his death even more heartbreaking when it came. The idea of the seven horcruxes is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle, though the fact that at least three horcruxes (the diary was one, and was destroyed; the ring was destoryed; the necklace may have been destroyed by R.A.B., whoever he may be, so that leaves three, plus the piece of Voldemort's soul that is still inside him) remain and there's one book left to destroy them makes me think Boook 7 is going to have to be 1000 pages long. The mysterious R.A.B. of the false horcrux has got to be Regulus Black; the number of times he was mentioned in this book alone is a dead giveaway.
About the shippy stuff in the book, HAHAHAHAHA, the OBHWF folks must be having a freaking field day!! Hermione/Ron (which was a given, IMHO) and Harry/Ginny! God almighty! I have to say that I didn't think JKR would actually go through with the H/G, and it was handled kind of clunkily... all of a sudden Harry sees her kissing Dean and is filled with JELUSS RAGE and LURVE? OB! In theory, I don't have big problems with H/G, except for the fact that I've never really thought Ginny had a real personality. The only time she's come off as remotely three-dimensional to me was in Chamber of Secrets, and since then it's been all... well, she grew up, she became a quidditch player, she had lots of boys chasing her. Um, she was "spunky" or something, because she stood up for herself when her brothers bugged her, but... what else? There really is nothing else! And suddenly Harry is in love with her and she's all, "I never gave up on you, Harry!"? And she's his "greatest comfort"? WTF? WHY? WHYYY, JKR? TELL ME WHY. I'M VERY CONFUSED.
The Hermione/Ron was anvilicious since GoF, but if I ship anything that isn't OT3, it's Hr/R, so I like it. Part of me is glad that they haven't done anything "official" (even kiss) yet, because this means they won't have to be broken up in Book 7... they can either fight the battle and live happily ever after, or declare their love for each other before one of them dies, which I sadly think is the more likely option. Some of the reviews I've read so far have said that they don't like the Hr/R because it causes Hermione to act totally out of character, but I disagree with that. I mean, the girl is clearly not nearly as socially and emotionally intelligent as she is book-smart. She hates to lose - at Potions, or at love - and when she is losing, and doesn't know what to do to win, she acts childishly and does things that seem OOC for her (i.e., the bird attack on Ron when he appeared with Lavender). Ron, on the other hand, is a typical teenaged boy, so the whole Lavender thing, in retaliation for his little sister's true attack on his lack of experience, was perfectly understandable despite the fact that his real feelings are clearly for Hermione. I was totally amused reading on some Harry/Hermione shipper's LJ that they thought this entire book was H/Hr subtext and that they were certain this was leading to H/Hr getting together in Book 7, because I don't think JKR could've sunk that ship more effectively if she'd tried. When Harry told Ginny that she understood him because she would never tell him to be careful, that was like a direct stomp on the grave of the H/Hr ship.
As for the lesser ships - Bill/Fleur and Remus/Tonks - I thought the Bill/Fleur was interesting in that it brought someone into the Weasley family they weren't totally comfortable with and yet proved they could be wrong about who "their kind of people" really are when she stayed loyal after his werewolf attack. The Remus/Tonks came totally out of left field and was, for the most part, useless in my mind, unless it's going to mean something come Book 7, which I doubt. The multitude of Sirius/Remus fans are probably crying bloody murder over the whole deal, but then again, maybe they've come to some sort of subtextual conclusion that Remus only loves Tonks because she was related to Sirius or something. Shippers will find subtext in the dumbest things if they need to.
...Which brings us to Harry's little obsession with Draco. The Draco/Harry shippers must've loved this book almost as much as the OBHWF-ers, because every other line could be twisted into H/D subtext (ew). It's also exactly the kind of Draco most of the Draco-freaks love - poor, tortured, redeemable Draco, Draco crying in the bathroom, Draco finally getting smart enough to hex Harry on his own. While the whole thing did finally make him into more than a paper cutout villain, c'mon - who didn't know that he'd go over to the good side in the end? Sure, he hasn't done it yet, but the fact that he was that close to being convinced by Dumbledore makes me think Lucius was the last Malfoy to serve in the army of the Dark Lord. Even Narcissa is fading from the cause.
Hm, what else have I to say? I feel like I've read half a book and have been left with a cliffhanger. In a way, this book is very much like The Two Towers (in the LotR trilogy) because it has left us with Harry on the edge of his quest - when Book 7 starts, there's no more Dumbledore-protected Hogwarts to come back to. It's now or never now, Harry and his two best friends against the world. They have at least three more Horcruxes to find and destroy before Harry's inevitable final battle with Voldemort, and the journey won't be easy. (My guess is that at least one of the remaining horcruxes is either in Sirius' house that was bequeathed to Harry, or was one of the objects in the house that Mundungus was trying to sell in Hogsmeade. My other guess is that the house elves have something to do with the remaining horcruxes, because if they don't, then the amount of page space given to the house elves since they were introduced in CoS is useless and insane.) If this book was sad, I think the last one will be at least doubly so, which leads me to my final theory...
...I think the final horcrux might be Harry himself. Dumbledore said that the only remaining relic of Gryffindor was the sword, which isn't a horcrux... but what if the Gryffindor horcrux is Harry? What if his scar is a horcrux? What if Voldemort unintentionally, or even intentionally, transferred a piece of his soul to Harry when he tried to kill him, and that is why Harry was able to repel the Avada Kadavra curse when no one else ever had? I think the end may come to Harry realizing he will have to sacrifice himself to save the world, and the only person who will know how to do it without actually killing Harry will be Snape. There's also a tiny chance that the last horcrux might be Ginny, as the diary may have transferred something to her, and Harry will have to sacrifice his "true love" (whatEVS) to save the world, but I think that's a lot less likely.
JKR, you've got some awesome imagination, woman. Book 6 was hella awesome. Don't take too long for Book 7, hear?
Love,
Me.
P.S. I'm glad you had a better editor on this one than you did on Book 5. kthanksbye.