Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
I don’t want to spoil the plot, as there are many twists lurking within this book, so I’ll just say this:
This is the best one yet.
Books 1 and 2 were occasionally intense, but mostly I liked them because they were hilarious. Book 3 was the one that really sucked me in, with its tightly woven, ever-twisting plot. Book 4 sprawled a bit too much but brought lots of romance and character development. Book 5, too, meandered far too much and lacked the comic relief that lightened earlier books, but resonated with deep tragedy.
Here, J.K. Rowling presents a Book 6 that is as tight as Book 3, has as much romance and character development as Book 4, involves a tragedy as profound as that of book 5 (or maybe more so, as I’m not convinced that the character who died in book 5 is really dead), and is sprinkled throughout by moments as funny as the best ones from books 1 and 2.
She has set up so much interesting stuff, I have no idea how she’s going to fit it all into one final book.
Overall: Whoa.
It's discouraging that even somewhat successful authors rarely seem to be able to keep publishing for more than about 10-12…
Fly Fishing is the Answer!
I guess I'll have to read these.
I'd IMAGINE so, never having read that other book or seen the film....
So, more in the territory of A River Runs Through It than Siddhartha? ;-)