Any review of the latest installment in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, really needs to answer only one question: is it good… enough? Author J.K. Rowling has built up enough of a following with her previous five books that it is a fair bet that anything short of a total disaster will sell millions of copies over the next few weeks, and fans that stayed put through the bloated (but thrilling!) 870 pages of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will surely flock to give Half-Blood Prince a chance.
I was lucky enough to get my copy the minute (well, nearly) it was available, and read it in a marathon speed-reading session that now culminates in the review you are reading. My entire aim this time out has been to be one of the first people to review the book in the United States, and hopefully I now will be. It hurts (oh it hurts! so tired...) but it sure hurts good. (I suppose all those all-nighters I pulled back in college are finally paying off in the real world (unlike, I may add, my actual degree)). For the sake of you who have not yet turned the last page, I will refrain from any major plot spoilers. However, readers who wish to remain totally ignorant of everything however inconsequential or cryptic would do better to read the book itself instead. I will only say this: Horcruxes!
So: Is it good enough?
Oh. My. God.
Each volume in the Harry Potter series has grown progressively darker as the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort draws nearer, and Rowling does little to reverse that trend in the new book. In fact, she ups the ante considerably. As much as I hate to draw pat connections like this, Rowling's treatment of the war between Voldemort and his Death Eaters and the rest of the wizarding world is unavoidably coming to resemble, yes, the War on Terror™: people die in random attacks; the Ministry of Magic releases useless pamphlets about protecting yourself against hexes; and people engage in endless discussions about whether they know anyone in the obit section today. But whatever I say, you’re still not going to believe me on this point until you read the book for yourself.
What's striking is that Rowling handles these points of comparison admirably well, raising doubt as to whether the parallels were intentional or whether it's just hard these days to read a novel about an evil cabal set loose on society without coming to those conclusions. Either way, what was once a wondrous world full of Fizzing Whizbees and cutesy pointed hats has become a dark and treacherous place where murderers hide in plain sight and bad things happen to innocent people. Whereas Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’s dementors occasionally cast a shadow over the story, and Books 4 and 5 regularly featured acts of cruelty, now that same pall hangs over the whole novel. That's not to say that Half-Blood Prince is an unrelenting slog from bloodsoaked battle to bloodsoaked battle, but the hints of peril that have been growing since Book 2 now fully dominate the scenery.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - harsh sodhi
the book is good..... very very dark and quite scary at times. rowling does well to transform young children of the first four books into pre-mature adults.this edition is essentially a conclusion of the mood introduced in the 5th book.while the 5th book was transition phase this one is the result.a dark cloud hangs through out the book and it actually tugs at the heartm,unlike the time when sirius black was killed.
not light reading beware1
2 - ummm..
i want to read the book so badly now but i have to wait for it to come in the mail
3 - DrPat
it's just hard these days to read a novel about an evil cabal set loose on society
If you can't read without hearing echoes of reality, it isn't literature. I would say, based on my own reading of the previous 5, and your review of HP6, that Half-Blood Prince may have entered the realm of literature.
4 - karen
man that was awesome!!!!!!!!!!! but i really wanna know who diesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss man this is intence!!!!
5 - K-rod
WARNING: PLOT SPOILER IN THIS COMMENT
Professor Dumbledore dies...
6 - DrPat
Karen: read the book. If you eat the dessert first, the sauerkraut tastes really nasty....
7 - bethy
i sobbed through the entire last chapter...i could barely read it through my tears...my family now thinks i am nuts!
that was the best book yet!!! so many unexcected twists!
8 - Maria
PLOT SPOILER
I have to admit I have always less than hated for professor snape. perhaps I was feeling sorry for him. I was definitely shocked at what he did. but I'm still clinging onto the possibility that he may still be on the good side. I know he entered the contract with narcissa, I know he killed dumbledore. but might he not have been under the imperius curse or something similar? snape's always been a question mark for harry, the only thing we're absolutely positive about is that he is a superb occlumens with acting skills to rival alan rickman.
9 - marcus129
bethy, so did i, but with the last 3 chapters. lord, that was the most heartwrenching 3 chapters that i have ever read in my life. i read it twice in 14 hours, and i still cant believe he's dead. Now, let's make it 3 readings.
10 - ashlynn
OH MY GOD.
I read all day.
I finished.
I sobbed like hagrid.
I NEED THE LAST BOOK NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11 - marcus129
BIG SPOILERS
when i first read the 2nd chapter, i was cussing snape out in my head. now, the only thing that i want to do is rip his guts out through his nose. if lestrange had killed Dumbledore, that wouldn't have been so bad.
12 - Michigan Jones
Warning! Plot spoiler ahead, me hearties....
[Edited] is murdered by fanatics after he and Gwen Stefani pay for a room in one of those seedy "by the hour" joints in Brooklyn. Drug dealers gun him down because he didn't have the scratch for them. Don't worry, Muggles...word is that his ghost is going to come back to kick some serious booty in Episode 7...Harry Potter and the Guns of the Navarrone. Harry is a Marshall in the Third Reich who must choose between his love for Hermoine and his duty to Der Fuehrer. Happy reading!
13 - S.R.C
OMGOMGOMGOMOGMOMG
OMFG
--SPOILER BELOW --
i new in the end dumbledore had to die...
but still
i was crying so hard threw the last 3 chapters
i havtn cried like tat since i was 7
I HATE SNAPE
he's sooooo evil, HOW COULD HE DO IT :'(
dumbledore shouldnt have givin him a 2nd chance :'(
no matter all the reasoning
snape is evil n twisted n dumbledore was my favorite caracther
:'(
14 - Angry Reader
--SPOLER BELOW--
i hope dumbledore comes back as a ghost and rips snapes evil heart out of his body
can ghosts do that??
15 - Plot Ruiner
--SPOILER BELOW--
i cant believe it
actauly i can
i just dont want to
Snape kills Dumbldore
16 - Its not fair
--SPOILER BELOW --
i wish i had the last book now
I NEED IT
IM GOING INSANE
SNAPE FRICKING KILLED DUMBLEDORE
I WANT HARRY TO KILL SNAPE
AND VOLDEMORT
i wish i never read these books
i cant put them down
WHY DID DUMBLEDORE HAVE TO NOT SEE THREW SNAPES EVILNESS
HARRYS BEEN SAYINGN IT FOR YEARS
stupid snape killed dumbledore
:'(
17 - bhw
About spoilers:
We can't catch them all. If you're worried about having the plot spoiled, then you should probably read the book before joining discussions like this one.
18 - princey
So who is the half blood prince then?
19 - Dragon-Lord
all i can say is WOW J.K has done a astounding job with this book not only with the plot twists but all also one of the bigest upsets i have read in any of the previous 5 books i was on tenter hooks through out the whole book not wanting to put it down and wanting to find out everything i could
i read this book in what i belive is a record time for me i started at 6.30am this morning and finished it by 12pm
20 - NancyGail
This isn't a spoiler per say, since Rowling announced it herself: the half blood prince ISN'T Harry or Voldemort. The former part of that statement makes sense-can't have Harry coming up against himself, now can we?
21 - Helen
I have just read it and it was amazing. I thought the plot was so much tighter than the last book although there were a few weak points....
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Did anybody else think that the reason Dumbledore totally trusted Snape was a bit weak?? Because Snape was sorry that he'd heard the prophecy and that Lily and James were killed. It seems a very weak point to hang the whole plot round.
22 - bobfreddyfrankjoanne
i hate snape and i think voldemort should kill him and harry should kill voldemort and then ron should marry hermione and potter should uh kill duddley and his aunt & uncle. i havent read the 6th book yet but j.k wrote it so i no its gonna be good!i love u j.k!
23 - LegendaryMonkey
Drat, and here I hoped I was alone in managing about 100 pages per hour.
Anyone else having major eye pains? I COULD NOT STOP. This one has definitely taken PoA's place as my favorite in the series. Tragically, I'd already read a spoiler that WASN'T LABELED, and by chapter 2 I knew it was correct (damned spoilers!!), but the book still kept me enthralled.
Helluva read.
24 - praeceptor historicus
you are all reacting emotionally to Snape. You shouldn't. Dumbledore was nobodies fool, and was almost omnicient at times. You can bet that he thought of everything. I'll bet my retirement fund that He had an arangement with Snape about "killing" him and not allowing anyone else to do it. And I'll also bet that Snape made an Unbreakable promise with Dumbledore regarding all of this years before. And lastly, DD VERY importantly says in the book that Voldemort was foolish to think that no one else knew about splitting the soul. You can BET that DD himself has done the very same thing in order to be "reserected".
25 - Nancy
So please spoil the plot for me: WHO is the half blood prince? I won't be able to get to this book myself til probably after the next movie comes out, at the rate I'm going in my private life. & I hate suspense anyway. Thanks