Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Once again, Harry deals with being the so-called "Chosen One" during his sixth year at Hogwarts. Dumbledore is finally giving him personal lessons, so as to prepare him for fulfilling his prophecy with You-Know-Who, but per usual, Dumbledore is keeping more secrets than revealing truths. Meanwhile, Harry has found an old potions book that is helping to earn him top marks in his NEWT-level Potions class, but at what price? Although the plot certainly is eventful, in true Harry Potter fashion, it is probably the least so of the series. It includes a lot more history of Voldemort/Riddle and theory on how to defeat him -- the basis of Dumbledore's lessons with Harry. Tensions in the school rise as reports of Voldemort's evildoing across the country turn up, ultimately ending in a DeathEater-Order battle on school grounds.

Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure...

This installment is pretty good -- emotional, adventurous, exciting, etc, etc. This one is also crucial to understanding the plot of the seventh book, as it's really kind of a set-up for the end. If you want to know who is good/bad/dead/alive this time, you'll have to read it yourself, which I highly recommend. I'm glad I decided to read this one before setting on the seventh... they're really closely connected and I didn't remember much of the sixth.

2 comments:

Brent Waggoner said...

I just finished this. The second half was much better than the first.

Alyson said...

Agree.