Product Description

'In a brief statement on Friday night, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned to this country and is once more active. "It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord - well, you know who I mean - is alive and among us again," said Fudge.' These dramatic words appeared in the final pages of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In the midst of this battle of good and evil, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince takes up the story of Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with Voldemort's power and followers increasing day by day

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #676489 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-12
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 652 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book in J.K. Rowling’s bestselling series, picks up shortly after we left Harry at the end of The Order of the Phoenix. Lord Voldemort is acting out in the open, continuing his reign of terror which was temporarily stopped almost 15 years beforehand. Harry is again at the Dursleys, where the events of the previous month continue to weigh on his mind, although not as much as the impending visit from his Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Given their last meeting, Harry is understandably confused as to why the old wizard would want to visit him at home.

Rowling opens with a chapter she had wanted to use for the first book, of The Philosopher’s Stone--Lord Voldemort has been creating chaos in the Wizard and Muggle communities alike, the war is in full swing and the Wizarding community now lives in fear. The press have been questioning the events at the Ministry which led to the admission of Voldemort’s return, and of course Harry’s name is mentioned a number of times. Harry’s got his problems, but his anxiety is nothing compared to Hermione’s when the OWL results are delivered. There’s a new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, an assortment of new characters and creatures, and startling revelations about past characters and events.

Gone is the rage-filled Harry of The Order of the Phoenix--he’s not being kept in the dark any more, his unjustified Quidditch ban has been lifted and he has matured considerably in his short time out of school. Half-Blood Prince follows Harry into the world of late-teens, and his realisation that nobody is infallible has made his growth that much easier. Accepting his destiny, Harry continues to behave as teenagers do, enjoying his time with his friends, developing his relationships outside of his usual circle, and learning more about how he must, eventually, do what he is destined to do.

J.K. Rowling delivers another fantastic tale which will have the readers gasping for more, capturing the characters perfectly and continuing a tale which readers will enjoy over and over again. --Ziggy Morbi

From the Publisher
This book really rocks.

From the Author
This will be the BEST book yet!

Customer Reviews

The Star Wars Episode I Equivalent of the Harry Potter novels
While the proceeding five novels of the Harry Potter sequence had interesting stories in their own right, HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE, much like Star Wars Episode I, felt much more like a trailer to upcoming events than an interesting story in its own right.

While EPISODE I was undeniably a train wreck, especially with that travesty of Jar Jar Binks, the movie introduced all the key characters of the new trilogy. EPISODE I's principal function was this introduction, and setting into motion the events that would lead the characters to their ultimate destiny. In this regard, EPISODE I and the sixth Harry Potter are remarkably similar.

Of course, the real difference is Rowling had five full novels before hand, whereas Lucas had only one movie to introduce his new set of characters. While the other books in the series always advanced the overall story's arc, Rowling always managed to have succinct, stand-alone novels that stood remarkably well on their own right. HALF BLOOD PRINCE is very much the exception to the rule in this regard. HALF BLOOD PRINCE is so exposition heavy, setting all the foundation work for the seventh book, that it relegates its own plotline as largely secondary. Let me elaborate.

In the proceeding five novels, each title drove the book's overall plot. In PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, the principal mystery was what was the stone and how to protect it. In the second book, the chamber had been reopened and there was a dangerous basilisk on the prowl. The third (and in my opinion the best), Azkaban's escaped prisoner was the fuel driving the events of that novel. Just as much as GOBLET was about the Triwizard Tournament and ORDER OF THE PHOENIX about the resistance to Voldemort, one would expect this trend to continue with HALF BLOOD PRINCE.

To this book's detriment, that is not the case. While there is certainly some mystery to who this prince is, and who ultimately figures in heavily with the book's climax, HBP is much more about the seventh book than anything else. In the American cover art, you have Dumbledore and Harry looking at the Pevensie, which turns out to be the real meat of the book anyway. HBP is far more about laying the seventh book's final outcome than having anything to do with some half-blood prince.

It is disheartening to say that you could actually excise the entire HBP subplot (a subplot is really all it is), and still have largely the same novel. The same could not be said of any of Rowling's previous work. Of course, the irony in all this is once Harry figures out who the HBP is, he does figure very heavily in the plot, but not because he is a half blood prince. Actually, Harry doesn't even really figure out who he is, but now we're getting into spoiler territory so I will say no more.

As far as the death goes (there are two deaths, but the first no one will care about), it is both devestating and shocking. Without revealing to much, it is both tremendously sad and incredibly strange that she would write out such an important and humanizing character. But following the Joseph Campbell mythological plot line that the hero must face his ultimate nemesis alone, without guidance, the death makes sense.

As for the people saying Rowling was stealing from LORD OF THE RINGS with some of the events in this book, I'd say "Yeah, and? What do you think the dementors are? They're just ring-wraiths tweaked a little bit." Without giving to much away, I think Rowling did quite an interesting job with Voldemort's method to immortality.

Ultimately, all HBP does is build up for the final confrontation with Voldemort in Book VII. No other book in this series is anywhere near as exposition heavy as this installment. While Rowling needs to set up the events for the last book, it would have been nice to have a more self-contained novel than this is, which is what the others are.

Overall, I give the book three stars, but that is only for this weakness in the plot of the book itself. I must confess I enjoyed this much more than PHOENIX. I remember buying that two years ago, anxious to return to Hogwarts to see familiar faces, old friends, and exciting times. Unfortunately, Harry was extremely moody and pretty much a flat out ass to everyone, and I felt like why did I want to come back to see such petty bickering? I was thrilled to see HBP did not continue this trend, even if it forget to have its own, more-or-less self contained plot.

The best book so far!
For once, the critical reception is correct - this is probably the best-written, and best overall, Harry Potter book so far.

For the first time, the series truly feels like an epic, one big story. Things suddenly become very clear that were just there unconsciously before. Were you wondering why on earth Riddle's diary was important in Chamber of Secrets? It's all here. Why Ginny Weasley kept one-upping Cho Chang in Order of the Phoenix, and why Harry got a lump in his throat when talking to Ginny in that book? That takes off like a rocket in this one. The series now feels like a saga, one story told over seven chapters, rather than a series of vaguely connected seperate novels.

The central theme of this book is choice - who do we choose, and why do we choose them? It's a theme which has been present throughout the series, but really comes to the forefront in this book, and permeates all of the main plots.

The backstory on Voldemort is fascinating, and comes at just the right point in the series. We finally learn exactly why Voldemort and Harry are such opposites, and the choices they - and people around them - made to get them to this point. Would Voldemort have become evil had his mother not capitulated, and had survived to raise him? Had he choosen to heed Dumbledore's advice at Hogwarts, let him take him under his wing? Voldemort always had choices, always had a chance to turn back ... but he chose to isolate himself, cut himself off from human warmth and compassion, and love only himself. It cannot be a coincidence that we discover this in the book in which Harry falls in love - the difference between the two is made very explicit. One can love, one cannot. Rowling's device for Voldemort's immortality is wonderful, and demonstrates the pure evil of what somebody would be prepared to do in order to gain immortality.

The Snape-Malfoy murder plot is particularly fascinating, since the issue of Snape's loyalty is still left a little ambiguous at the end of the novel. Whether he is working for Voldemort or not at this point, he remains a complex character with mysterious motives, and nobody can predict which way he will go in the next book. Malfoy also, for the first time, becomes a complex characters, with conflicting motives. He is given a choice at the end - Dumbledore or Voldemort? It will be fascinating to see where Rowling takes this in the next book - perhaps Draco isn't just a token bully after all! The death at the end of the book is the most tragic and emotional yet - I dare you not to have a tear in your eye during the final chapter.

The romance is an absolute delight - sweet, funny, but very, very realistic. For anyone paying any attention to the foreshadowing in Books 1, 2 and especially 5, Harry and Ginny's romance has been a long time coming, and it has been worth the wait. The way Rowling has structured this romance, where the two have to grow up a lot emotionally before they are READY to fall in love, has been done sensitively, intelligently and realistically. Rowling's device for Harry's feelings - the "monster in the chest" - certainly brings back memories of what it is like to feel that initial rush of falling in love! Her ability to accurately describe the feelings of teenage boys is amazing! Ginny has been a fiesty breath of fresh air in the last two books, and it's great to see her coming into her own here. The romance feels real, and right for teenagers, but it also feels deep - their final scene together in the book is the most romantic thing Rowling has written in her novels, and is truly heart-wrenching.

Then there is Ron and Hermione. Quite probably the most obviously hinted-at romance in the history of English literature, they are still crawling towards the inevitable conclusion. Ron has to realise, in this book, that a relationship based purely on lust is not particularly enjoyable. There has been criticism of Hermione's character in this book, but if you have actually paid attention to her character in Books 1-5, and not been influenced by fanfiction or the films and elevated her to Super Logic-Woman, she actually hasn't changed. Hermione is probably the most insecure, and often emotionally unbalanced, character in any of these books. She nearly has a nervous breakdown over her school-work in Book 3, so her reaction to being spurned by the boy she has been in love with for three years seems very real, and certainly in-character.

This is the first Harry Potter book to end on a cliffhanger, and what a cliffhanger it is. This is Part 1 of 2 - "to be continued". Will Harry kill Voldemort? Will he survive? Where do Snape's loyalties lie? Will Harry and Ginny be reunited, and Harry allowed the live the happy life he wants? I, for one, can't wait to find out. JK Rowling has been getting better and better each time; if she carries on like this, the completion of this tale might be something very special indeed.

Magical fiction from the master
The clock has struck 13, the train has left platform 9¾ and term is starting at Hogwarts. The media razzmatazz has swamped Edinburgh, and millions of children around the (English) speaking world gathered at their local bookshops close to midnight to get their hands on the literary equivalent of a golden snitch. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Just to make things clear if you didn't like any of the Harry Potter series, if you subscribe to the view that children's books are for children, or if you are just a cynical crusty then this review will not reinforce your position. This is a review of the new Harry Potter book from the view point of an adult fan. Having said that I too was once the cynical observer of this mass phenomon until I actually read one. And was hooked.

So has Ms. Rowling done her best? Is it really worth the wait? Surprisingly largely yes. The new book continues in the vein of the series, growing heftier and darker, dealing with weightier issues and becoming more immersed in a growing, almost suffocating, world of magic. Things are not well in the world of wizards. Whilst the majority of muggles only see freak accidents and weather conditions, magical families are in varying states of panic as he who shall not be named stalks the land once more.

In the middle of this crisis there is an apparent oasis of calm and normality. Hogwarts is still open for business, and Ron, Hermione and of course Harry will be returning to Gryffindor tower for the first year of their NEWT exams. This is the penultimate book, and following the school life they have finished their OWLs (GCSEs), and are now studying for their 'sixth form' exams.

The curriculum is not all that has changed. Whilst Rowling hints at the kids growing up in the previous books, it is in the Half Blood Prince that the threshold is crossed and the children become adults. This is one of the few reservations in the book. Is the development a little forced? Rowling is at pains to demonstrate the emotional turmoil that threatens to rip apart friendships. And like all teenage problems it all becomes a little, well, tedious. Fortunately this only fills in the middle, and by the end Rowling is once more romping towards an unputdownable finale.

What is also clear is that this book marks an important development in the Potter story arc. One criticism is that it leaves so many threads dangling - necessary for the final book to tie up, but annoying for the reader having to wait two years for the finished product. However it is nice to see Hogwarts and the Potter universe having a coherency and direction that mark the series as being a whole.

The Half Blood Prince marks a significant development in the series, as it becomes truly dark. No one is spared pain, and it is a fine example of the grand tradition of children's stories that do not spare the gruesome and dark. In a world of happily ever after this return to Grimm and Anderson is welcome. Rowling's writing is strong, has sufficient pace to grip the adult and child reader, is vivid and, well, for want of a better word magical. I finished it in a few sittings spread over two days, and it was as blissful and purely entertaining as any film or TV programme.

Many people have criticised Rowling, but millions more have praised her for creating books that have captured imaginations, got children reading and have forged a magical world. This latest book should dispel more critics, and cement Rowling's reputation as a pre-eminent children's, and adult's, author. It is proof that the series is complete, that the story arc is gripping and that Harry Potter will captivate generations to come. In a word, magical!