Book: Harry Potter

There's a new Harry Potter book? Really? I might have to take a break from my funnybooks to check it out!

Seriously, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince struck me as much for its great editing as it did for the story. The last two books, especially Goblet of Fire, were overlong, rambling, and very poorly edited, and reading through Half-Blood Prince, I kept thinking about how much tighter it was - the prose was tighter, the storytelling was tighter, and the action was tighter. I saw the ending coming from a mile away (at least as far as character death is concerned), and I still don't think it's all that meets the eye. I'm curious to see how she wraps it up. Overall, the book is surprising in its maturity not so much for its subject matter but the ways it handles the subject matter. And because I can't say it enough: the writing was so much better.

Some authors might disagree with me, but having an editor who has the cojones to say "no" is one of the most important things a good writer can have.