I wonder what Rowling will do after she’s finished with the Harry Potter series in the next book. Will she retire completely on the millions she’s earned? Will she extend the series? Will she start on new children’s stories? Maybe she’ll start writing adult fiction. I’m no seer, but it will be a shame when this series ends. Some of the books brought out a big eh
in me, but most, including the Half-Blood Prince, are really quite good. And anything that gets millions of children to read, and read fantasy no less, is definitely on the good side of the good/evil equation.
There are three magical plots going on in this book. First, Harry Potter begins private lessons with Dumbledore and searches with him for missing pieces of Voldemort’s soul. If successful, they will eventually be able to kill Harry’s nemesis. Second, it appears that Draco Malfoy has graduated from being a schoolboy bully to full time Death Eater, with a plan to do something truly nefarious. And lastly, Harry uses the margin scribblings of someone calling himself the Half-Blood Prince in a used textbook to excel in his classwork, but the Half-Blood Prince might be more than he seems.
On the other side of things, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all feel the rush of their hormones and begin dating schoolmates in earnest. While touching somewhat, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time these days with high school students much younger than the age of the characters in Rowling’s series, and their forays into sexuality are much more gratuitous than anything Harry Potter will ever see. So the descriptions in this books seem more nostalgic and touching than real. They don’t ring false for the age group though. More it’s just a relic of bygone times when making out in the hallway was about the most one would see happen.
The pacing of this book was much more even than previous ones where all the action was saved for the end. It’s still rear-loaded, but the earlier chapters don’t drag.
Beyond that, I don’t have a lot to say about the book. Go pick it up now while it’s cheap at the used bookstores. Once book seven comes out, everyone will want to catch up fast.
Title: Harry Potter and the half-blood prince
Author: J. K. Rowling
Illustrator: Mary GrandPré
Series: Harry Potter ; 6
Imprint / publisher: Scholastic
Format: Hardcover
Length: x, 652 p.
Publication date: July 2005
ISBN-10: 0-439-78454-9
Subject: Wizards — Fiction
Subject: Magic — Fiction
Subject: Schools — Fiction
Subject: England — Fiction
LC classification: PZ7.R79835 Halc 2005
