I braved the crowds at Chapters Friday night (and let’s just say that it was at the height of disorganization - apparently pre-orders were supposed to pick up bracelets at a mysterious talbe surrounded by people waiting to pick up their books, and other people had tickets with numbers on them, waiting to buy the book… it was so much better last time, but last time there wasn’t the ‘hoopla’ of the kid getting the first book in North America).

What book? Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, of course. Over the course of Friday night (only read the +first three chapters) and Saturday, I finished the book and it’s now in the trusted hands of Geoff.

My opinion? This one is excellent. Not my favorite (Book Three, Prisoner of Azkaban, fills that spot. But it’s a better book than the last two. And it’s certainly not just for kids anymore… the concepts, the betrayals, the death, the multiple plots and the final task are all stuff from adult literature. Oh, there’s some kids stuff in there too, and now that they are getting older there’s a bit of romance and making out. But this book has brought the level up… and the next book is going to be totally different than any of the others.

I have some ideas of what’s going to happen in the next (and is it the last?) book. Well, I think I do - I could be proven totally wrong. But I’ll just have to anxiously wait.