This is a fabulous review. it was daring and bold to write so much about yourself in the opening, but it added a lot for me, and I think was a great way to explain how the books hold so much meaning for adult readers (I wasn't even sure you were an adult until I saw the word "wife")...

I first read Philosopher's Stone (bought it in England) in 99, when I was already well into my thirties, but like you it came at a time when I really needed to be reminded of possibilities, magic, enduring relationships.

This is a really great summation of the book too on many levels. Well done!

Nice review...I started reading the HP books in 2002 as an adult in my 30's too, about 6 months after the the first movie came out. I know people have complained about the amount of 'filler' in book 6, but I enjoyed being able to take breaks from the action and just enjoy the character interaction (although the Ron/Hermione thing has been stretched out a bit too much, it's been going on a few books now!!). I guess that's why I enjoyed books 4 & 5 so much, plenty of room for character development (and new characters), as well as action!! HBP hasn't been the most thrilling of the series, but I enjoyed it anyway.

I can identify with this reviewer because I was a late fan myself. I've read the first four books without being sucked into the muck of the media hype surrounding them. I read book 5 with all the enthusiasm of a kid awaiting the next installment of Harry's adventures and I was not disappointed. LOng winded as it is, OotP was a great read. With book 6, I was so hyped that I preordered the book, joined discussion forums to speculate on what will happen, even joined shipping debates. When I finally finished reading HBP, I was greatly disappointed.
Yes, it's normal for kids that age to experience those raging hormones but the author should have smoothly incorporated it in the storyline. HP is not a romance novel. The kids' romantic flings were not part of the general plot. It was just inserted like an afterthought as if the author wanted to show that they're adolescents so they should have dates. The Harry/Ginny relationship was contrived and off putting. After having ignored her for 5 books, Harry is now in "love" with her. Then he ditched her because he doesn't want her to be in danger. That scene fell flat because in the next scene he allowed Ron and Hermione to join him in his quest. The romantic flings did not do much for the plot and HBP stands at the bottom now of my HP books. Aside from it having the thinnest plot,the annoying inconsistencies of character and the spells have put me off Harry Potter,no, J.K. Rowling.

Great review Gypsyman. I actually read my first Harry Potter book - i.e. , the latest - the Half-Blood Prince only 2 weeks back. All these years I have been totally out of the loop as far as the Potter mania was concerned - mainly because I thought these were books for little children. It was only 2 weeks back that I stumbled upon pirated internet e-book of book #6 HBP - pdf file , complete and unabridged. Since then , I have been reading in the reverse order , i.e. , #5 , #4 , and now I am currently reading #3. All pirated free internet pdf files , of course ;)

And my favorite character is young Tom Riddle (who later becomes Lord Voldemorth). I identify with that guy. Intelligent , handsome and evil. Sexy combination dare I say...

I've got it. There was six horcruxes right. nagina (Voldemorts snake), Marvelo's Ring, Slytherins locket, Hufflepuffs cup or goblet,the diary, something of Ravenclaws, and sorry HARRY POTTER. Reason i think that is because you have to do a terrible thing to create a horcrux, well voldermort killed harry's mom in order to make harry the seventh horcrux. Which I think means that harry will kill himself in order to kill Voldemort.

Harry Potter, a horcrux...great theory...though I hope Harry doesn't die!

i think the 7 horcruxs are voldemorts snake, the locket, Hufflepuffs cup, the diary, something of Ravenclaws, marvelo's ring and eather harrys mum or dads grave.

Hi Dave.

hi you stuipd landon

I thought Harry Potter & the half blood prince was awesome. It told me alot about Voldemort's younger days. I however don't think Ginny and Harry are a good match. However Hermione and Ron are a good couple.

I think Ginny deserves someone better.

i don't think one of the 7 horcurxes is one of harry's parents graves it doesn't seem to match J.K's style

I was soooooooo sad when Dumbledore died at the end, but I think he was pleading for Snape to kill him. Snape would have to anyway, bound by the Unbreakable Vow. Snape is really not evil, because when he was deflecting Harry's jinxes

1. he did not aim any back
2. he was yelling advice for harry to defeat voldemort
3. he saved harry from the killing curse
4. he seemed very upset when yelling "I AM NOT A COWARD!!!" which shows that he really did not want to kill Dumbledore but had to because Dumbledore was pleading for him to.

Snape is a good person, and only had to kill Dumbledore so he could have Voldemort's full trust. Then he would help Harry (and I bet Draco Malfoy will as well... he is not evil at heart as you could see in the book) defeat Voldemort and destroy his horcruxes.

This is just what I think... I know my theory is far fetched, but if you think about it it makes perfect sense.

Also, Dumbledore was arguing with Snape earlier in the book. I bet this has something to do with it.

this was long! Bye!

Do these spoilers matter anymore?

Wow, Caleb Harry Potter Fanatic, brilliant theory about Harry being the last Horcrux. What better way to bring closure to the whole series? I think you're spot-on with that one.

I think HP FAN is quite reasonable about Dumbledore begging Snape to kill him. But Snape said Voldemort already trusted him, and when Snape was about to kill Dumbledore, there was "hatred" etched on his face. Also, if Snape really wanted to kill Voldemort, wouldn't it be easier if Dumbledore was alive so he could help Harry?

I agree with "gobletguy" and would like to add that Snape could have sacrificed his life by breaking the Unbreakable Vow, or anyway should not have made one at all in the first place. And he was also very good at Legilimency so he could have fooled Voldemort without having to kill Dumbledore. But anyway, I think that HP fAN'S idea was very good.

I don not really agree with Caleb Harry Potter Fanatic about the fact that Harry will have to kill himself since it said in the book that Voldemort wanted to seize the chance at making another horcrux after killing Harry but did not succeed because he lost his power straight afterwards and according to Dumbledore, had to use his snake instead. So i do not really think he has to kill himself, but it was a good theory anyway.

I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments and theories. I think that this is what makes the HP series so much fun for adults, enabling us to enter the world of the youthful. JKR has done an amazing job and is setting our darling Harry up to potentially be the greatest tragic hero of all time (pending book 7). As far as HBP goes, I enjoyed the change from the dark mood of OOTP, to a book that allows Harry to experience romance, laughter and fun. After all, in the end, aren't these all of the things that he will be risking his life to save for the rest of the world?? Shouldn't he be able to have a taste of it? For him to let go of Ginny, I think Harry is doing the right thing. I feel the Harry has lost enough of the people that he loves and if something happened to Ginny, I think it could potentially put Harry over the edge. As far as Ron and Hermione are concerned, no matter what Harry says, I don't think there is anything he could do to persuade them from helping him in the upcoming book. This adventure began with the three amigos and should end that way as well.
I too have toyed with the idea of Harry being a horcrux, but I think that if he is, neither he or Voldemort are aware of it. There has to be a horcrux that is of Gryffindor decent. Remember, we still do not know a lot about the background of Harry's parents, especially his father. Clearly they were very wealthy people and I think that they may be from the Gryffindor line. Maybe the Gryffindor horcrux is something that Harry can discover by simply doing a little research on his own family tree.
The Snape good guy-bad guy routine has been driving me crazy since finding out the Snape was a Death-Eater. I try to believe that he wouldn't cross Dumbledore, but there's something off about him. I still remember in GOF when Voldemort was addressing the Death Eaters and said that his most loyal servant was at Hogwarts. It was easy to jump to the conclusion that Barty Crouch, Jr. was that servant, but I'm curious to know if maybe Voldemort was speaking of Snape.
What I am hopeful for is that when book 7 is complete, Harry will be alive and his curse broken (NO MORE SCAR!!!!!!!)

doubt it very much

Reminder--a horcrux is an OBJECT you put your soul in so Harry certainly CANNOT be one. Good ideas, HP4life. till we meet again...

does anyone know a website that has the 6th book on the web so i can just read it off the net,or is anyone willing to type out the whole book for me,please,please,please,i've been dying to read the book and i wanna kno wut happens,i kno there is a website where you can read the stories,but i dunno the name

Why don't you just go and buy the book? You can order by internet or go to any bookstore.

hey 123, comment 23

If you ask more specific questions perhaps I could help you out.

i think RAB is regulas black. A) becuase the intials fit Regulas (maybe Alpherd? sirius siad they had an uncle alpherd..) Black. B) the note was obviously from a death eater or ex-death eater cuz they adressed voldemort as "dark lord" c) the "heavy locket" that the trio found while cleaning grimmauld place is the true horcrux

Who is regulas black?
I've heard the name but i do not remember where?

heck, #123...what's your address?i ll lend you mine because i need to start reading other books.

snape had loads of chances to kill dumbledore, for instance when dumbledore had destroyed the ring he says he would of died if it wasnt for severus.
secondly why did dumbledore continue toask to see snape after drinking the potion? Either he wanted a antidote, or he knew what snape had to do!!!

Conclusion:-snape is good

7 horcruxes

1)inside voldermorte when he killed harry
2)the diary
3)the one he got reborn with
4)locket
5)hufflepuff cup
6)Nagina
7)marvolo ring

im pretty sure about all of them!!

Comment 19:

it said in the book that Voldemort wanted to seize the chance at making another horcrux after killing Harry but did not succeed because he lost his power straight afterwards and according to Dumbledore, had to use his snake instead.

Aahh, but remember, it said this at the point when Dumbledore was just doing guesswork as to the horcruxes. We don't actually know that any of this is what happened, just that it's what Dumbledore suspected.

i think towards the end of the book when dumbledore died there wasnt enough mourning from the characters apart from harry...it was quite odd that tonks and fleur were talking about marriage when they should have been shocked by the news of dumbledores death

comment 32:

yeah, i think that they know something that harry doesn't.

dear comment 22,

if it has to be an OBJECT then that throws out Nagina, so maybe that's not strictly true, perhaps just tradition. Keep in mind, it was nigh-on undocumented before Voldemort came along. It may well be entirely possible for it to be a person, in fact, come to think of it, I believe Dumbledore said something about it just being "unwise" to use some that thinks for themself, for obvious reasons. If it really did happen when the Dark Loard tried to murder Harry, he wasn't exactly thinking at top form if he was about to be exiled from the phyisical world.

Comment 27:
Regulas Black was Sirius's brother who went to join the Death Eaters then got killed. So if 'RAB' really does stand for 'Regulas Black' then the horcrux probably is still in Grimmauld Place after all. Great ideas Mel T.!!!

Dear Comment 34,

I guess you are right about the fact that the horcrux does not strictly has to be an OBJECT, but what I'm trying to point out is that I don't think the horcrux could be Harry since Voldemort got 'stripped from his body' right after he performed the killing curse, and could not have had time to make Harry his Horcrux right?

Dear Osian,
I agree that Snape had had loads of chances to kill Dumbledore, but maybe he was just biding his time, trying to gain Dumbledore's trust.

why does the page only show 37 blogs? I thought we were in the thousands. and what happened to all the other blogs? There were some pretty good theories on that page.

or is it only page that's acting up?

i'm sorry. i meant to say..is it only my page thats acting up?

I think in the next book Wormtail is going to help Harry in finding the horcruxes since he owes his life to Harry. I agree that people weren't quite sad enough when they found out that Dumbledore's dead. Gees, I really look forward to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie... I didn't quite like Prisoner of Askaban movie though. The color was mostly blue and pretty dull. What do you think?

I think that the dead Dumbledore (God rest his soul) was a better actor than this one.

This one is skinnier and doesn't look all that powerful...i still appreciate his acting though.

im 99% sure that RAB is Regulgus Black. 1) the Norweigan translation is RAS and Svaart is Black in Norweigan.2) The dutch translation is RAZ and Zwarts is Black in Dutch

RAB IS NOT REGULAS BLACK! HERES WHY
1. All of the clues point to him. do u think that I would make something that obvious, come on people. I will tell you one thing though. The six books are like a puzzle you should try rereading all of them. It will say!

SNAPE DIDNT KILL DUMBLEDORE! [Deleted]

I don't think dumbledore is dead!
Every other time we've seen the Avada Kedavra performed, the victim simply falls over dead.However, in Half-Blood Prince, when Snape curses Dumbledore with the same spell, Dumbledore violently flies up and away from the tower.WHY would this application of the Avada Kedavra be so different from every other time we've seen it????

ur all harry potter nerds

wen do u guys reckon da 7th book will be out?...i dnt think she can finish da whole series wit jus one other book...i mean c'mon...if she dus its gona b thick as!!

I GOT IT!!!!
But first i have to mention that there is a conspiracy by group of people called the [Deleted] to prevent people from posting the truth on these blogs.

Well, here goes:
-RAB really stands for [Deleted] and RAB is really [Deleted]...i told you guys it wasn't Regulus!!..but who would have guessed?

-[Deleted] is [Deleted]'s child, like i mentioned earlier in message [Deleted], under the name [Deleted]

-[Deleted] is a horcrux; and so is [Deleted] found in the [Deleted] by Harry.

-Snape was loved by [Deleted] and they had a [Deleted] together....his name is [SO DELETED]

-[Deleted] and [Deleted] will both come back from the dead.

-Draco and [Deleted] are in love.

-[Deleted] dies in book 7...this was soo sad, i can't believe jk did that to [Deleted] and [Deleted]

-Aunt [Deleted] reveals that she is a [Deleted] and reveals all that she knows about Azkaban; and why she knows it. (you guys will be sooo shocked!!!)

These are just the main ones.

To find out more truths, please log on to www.[Deleted].com

I sure hope the [Deleted] haven't deleted or edited anything.

I knew they would delete some of the stuff!!!!
-sigh-

I guess you guys will just have to wait two years to read all about it in the books...pity.

Well at least i tried

Very funny Reggie, love it. You know, as Comments Editor I see a [Deleted] ;-)

I think Dumbledor is not dead, and Snape used the Avada Kedavra curse against him, but not strong enough to kill him. My reason for this is in book four when Moody is teaching the unforgivalb curses, this is what he says. "Avada Kedavra's curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behine it - you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed." So from this it seems you can adjust the level of strength of the curse which I am sure Snape could do.

Just my thought

Dear comment 36,
I know that no one has written in this for about a year, but I'll go anyways.
How do we know that Voldemort used Avada Kedavra on Harry? Only Harry and Voldemort were there, and Harry was too young to remember anything. I think that Voldemort's curse against Harry was making him into a Horcrux. That way, in order for Voldemort to die, Harry has to be dead. By making Harry a Horcrux, Voldemort eliminates the chance for Harry to kill him.
I came across something really interesting in the first book (page 57). Hagrid said that Voldemort disappeared and vanished. At first I thought, 'Voldemort could have disappeared because of a charm Lily did, or because he put a Horcrux in a living thing (Harry) without his consent.'
But then, a few paragraphs later, Hagrid says, "'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on--I dunno what it was, no one does--but somethin' about you stumped him, all right." I think now that Voldemort had immense trouble putting the Horcrux in Harry, and that was what stumped him. Voldemort had trouble putting the Horcrux in Harry because he was full of love. Too much, in fact, for Voldemort, that he vanished.
I DO believe though, that Voldemort succeeded in putting the Horcrux in Harry. Harry's scar is a mark of this, and also the fact that he and Voldemort are a lot alike. Dumbledore told Harry that on that night, Voldemort transferred some of his powers into him. It would make sense that Voldemort's powers came in the form of his soul.

Sorry if all of that didn't make sense...what do you think?