Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Done! After my 11-hr marathon reading, i finished the book around 9:30pm tonight. The plot is good. I wouldn't say it's as dark as the previous 2 books but I think it's an interesting plot with a great twist toward the end. It kept me guessing who's the half blood prince and who'll be killed in book (which turns out that I was dead wrong at my guesses).

Here's my voyage since yesterday night: I didn't pre-order the book, but I went to my local Barnes and Nobles on Friday night anyway to see how worse the situation is and if I could just get my hands on one that night. I've never seen the BN parking lots so full (when Book 5 came out, I was still in Chicago). The cars totally filled the BN's lot as well as that of the adjacent ShopKo and Cubs Food's. I was greeted by "Prof. Snape" in the front door - which shocked me for the resemblance. Once I stepped inside, I also met couple other characters such as Hagrid and Prof. McConagall. There are kids and teenagers dressed up as wizards and witches running around. It was quite a festival.

However, I didn't get my book at midnight though. They were asking people to line up around 11. When I took a look at the crowd, I gave up - figuring I can probably wait another 12 hrs. There were hundreds and hundreds of people lining up both inside AND outside. Without pre-order, I know I'll be those waiting at the outside. Hours of waiting outside without air-conditioning simply dampened my excitement (I seriously hope they picked a Fall release day for the final installment). On a side note, the trip to BN wasn't totally fruitless. I unexpectedly found something I had been looking for quite some time. It's a Javascript book with a chapter on Drag and Drop. I'll leave that in another post.

Anyway, let's get back to my HP journey. I went to BN again this morning around 10:45. To my surprise, there was a constant line of about 20 people of so in front of the cashier - each with a copy or two of Harry Potter of course. They had all the counters opened yet people just kept coming in. At 11:00, armed with my regular Grande 2-pump white mocha in the Starbucks across the streets, I started my marathon reading. The Starbucks wasn't too big, but there were alredy people hogging the nice comfy chairs with a HP on their hand. From what I could tell, all of us just got our copies since neither of us got very far into the book I believe (unless they are re-reading it). I pretty much was glued to the seat until 4 o'clock or so - finishing half of the book already.

Unfortunately, there was no free refill at Starbucks and I am in need of refreshments. I guess I can picked any fast-food shop but I picked the retro-styled McD close to my apartment (well, not that close) figuring that there will be fewer people there (the others are always crowded). The cashier/managers at McD were amazed that I was already half way done. Heeheehee~ A 6-pc chicken nuggets & medium fries (and of course, the drink with UNLIMITED free refills) later, I was ready to continue on with the book! I only stayed for 2 - 3 hours. Afterall, it was a McD and you can only stayed in a McD for so long. Though I have to mention that I don't know if I'd do the same if I were in HK. However, I probably would have been kicked out if it's HK anyway (wakakaka).

The end came couple hours later in my apartment. 30 chapters and 652 pages of Harry Potter 6 - finished. Though I believe HP 5, with more pages, only took me less time but I ain't sure. Like I mention earlier, i liked this installment - despite the fact that I don't like Rowling killing this charater. It's kind of sad knowing that there is only one more book to look forward too. Oh well~