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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | Rating | |
| A | |||
| J. K. Rowling | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Harry Potter | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | ||
The whole world - or at least all the wizards - knows Voldemort is back, and things are steadily going downhill. Wizards are being found missing or dead, and the Ministry of Magic is trying to show it is taking the threat seriously by imprisoning anyone who so much as jokes about the dark arts. Harry, meanwhile, is no longer longer considered a liar and a paranoiac, but his troubles are far from over. He knows his destiny, now, and Dumbledore is determined to help him fill it. Meanwhile, he is sure Draco Malfoy is up to something, a task to help Voldemort's plans. But how can he stop the ambitious Slytherin's plans when he doesn't even know what they are and everyone else is convinced it is only his old rivalry turning at last to emnity?
As usual, the author takes her time getting Harry to Hogwart's, but the time is well spent. There's a good many scenes, all carefully crafted to show how this war is going. We get a good look at some clandestine meetings on both sides, giving hints on just what the Death Eaters are planning as well as how disordered the good wizards are. It also sets up several important mysteries and plot threads that will come to the fore once the school session begins in earnest.
And Rowling did a simply supurb job of muddying Snape's true position in this volume. For the first five books I was thoroughly convinced he was an unpleasant fellow, to be sure, but ultimately on the side of good. But right from the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price, it appears not to be so. Have Snape's true colors been revealed at last? Or is this the act? It's just impossible to be sure until the end, and even then there are some things that keep the observant reader from being totally certain.
This book also does a much better job with its characters' emotions - and its readers'. The text evinces exactly the right feelings of anger or worry or happiness, at exactly the right times. Meanwhile, the characters are a bit more stable. There's plenty of fighting as boys and girls get their relationships sorted out, particularly between Ron and Hermione - are they going to remain friends, or will they become something more? Or will the whole issue just drive a wedge between them? But there's no senseless blowups over nothing, like there was in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It is perhaps unrealistically early for the teenaged fury to sputter out, but it makes the book much more palatable.
I was particularly pleased by the climax. It is certainly suitably dramatic, full of energy. A desperate fight should feel desperate, and this one does. Similarly, the death at the end of such a major character - and no, I won't say whom it was, on the off chance someone reads this who somehow hasn't managed to hear - was gutwrenching. The loss of this character changes the setting immensely. This isn't just a death to show how bad and nasty are the black hats. Readers really feel this one.
This may not be the best of the Harry Potter books, but it is definitely among the most momentous. We learn a great deal about Harry's assumed destiny, not to mention Voldemort. And the events in the climax will changes the entire balance of affairs. This is one book that is most definitely not to be missed.
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