Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, Book 6)

Half-Blood Prince is easily one of the better books in the Harry Potter series, though each is a masterpiece. But the 6th installment of a 7-part series is bound to be full of great moments in the story. There remains a great deal unanswered in this book, however, and the 7th will surely need to be no smaller than an average encyclopedia. Somehow as I was reading this book, I felt that I was learning more and at a quicker rate than in Order of the Phoenix, but so many of Harry's problems and questions took so long to reach any sort of answer or resolution that I still ended up not knowing many of the secrets I expected to be revealed in this book. It must be that Rowling, in her grand scheme, is saving much for the last book. One thing seems to be for certain, though, and that is that Rowling will never lose that special touch, that supreme and genuine interest in the story and its characters that makes the writing so engrossing. After completing this book, I was in a state of total shock and to this moment I wish only to read the seventh book. Half-Blood Prince is dark; I mean far darker than the last. This is the time I have always known was inevitable in the Harry Potter world, at last we are seeing chaos and war and battles break out within the walls of Hogwarts itself. Several of the chapters are particularly well-written, with great suspense and imagery; an example would be the time Harry and Dumbledore spent in the cave. Relationships blossom in this book at last, including Harry suddenly falling in `love' with Ginny Weasley, Ron dating Lavender Brown, Pansy and Draco clearly going out, and some serious hinting at a possible romance between Ron and Hermione when he gets rid of Lavender. Some of the focus on their teenage jealousies and squabbles, and their newfound interest in dating and `snogging,' was a cute touch, but admittedly not what I was exactly looking for. After all, it was more fluff than anything else, and certainly none of it was real love. Then, the useless couple of Tonks and Lupin was introduced in the end; all well and good, I suppose, but again not something that overjoyed me. The end of the book is very sad indeed, yet, I was not crying--I was merely shocked, flabbergasted at the circumstances. A Snapeless, Dumbledoreless Hogwarts that Harry Potter is not intending to return to next year? Yes, you heard right. Harry wants to go off and find all of Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes and face the final battle on his own. Much of the book is devoted to Harry witnessing important memories in the Pensieve with Dumbledore so that he can gain a greater understanding of his enemy, the Dark Lord. Now, I have long been a fan of Severus Snape. I admit I love him. Most of my reasons for loving Harry Potter center on him. And while much was learned about him in this book, much is still unknown, and what we do now know is shocking. To begin with, we learn the names of his parents, muggle Tobias Snape and witch Eileen Prince (yes, Snape is the Half-Blood Prince.) It is also known that Snape overheard the prophecy regarding Harry & Voldemort and told the Dark Lord about it; however, supposedly he showed enough remorse after Voldemort used the information to kill Harry's parents that Dumbledore forgave and entrusted him. Many are accusing Dumbledore of naivety for this, but I believe that they are only looking at what is plainly on the surface of this book and forgetting many things. I will explain later why, amazing as it may seem, my love for and faith in Snape remain unshaken despite the fact that this book, from its beginning, seems to be saying that he is still on Voldemort's side. I believe it's too simple for Rowling to be writing that he is, after all, evil. To me it seems a set-up. Additionally, I was expecting a surprising reason for Dumbledore to trust Snape, not a simple apology. There must still be more to this than meets the eye. Before I explain my case about Snape, I'll mention some of the things that remain a mystery after this book. Sev's patronus and greatest fear don't come up (in fact, while Tonks' patronus is revealed, Boggarts don't receive any mention.) Some interesting information is supposedly going to be divulged regarding both Lily and Petunia, but neither of them played much of a role in book 6. So on to my favorite character, who ends up being the Prince mentioned in the title. When I first finished this book, I was somewhat upset because while I still loved Snape, I was aware that what he'd just done was not steering in the direction of redemption, as I had hoped to see him going. I also knew that, at least until some point in Book 7, almost everyone (in the books and in real life) would turn against Snape and regard him as a treacherous dog. Yet, after composing myself and reviewing what I'd read, I realized that I just cannot accept him as truly evil, or Dumbledore as an old fool. Now, before reading this book, if I had to make a list of impossible things that could never happen...Snape killing the Headmaster and fleeing the school with a bunch of Death Eaters, would have been right at the top of the list. But, I'd have been wrong. I had a very strong feeling that Dumbledore would be the one to die in this book. But I never saw the way it happened coming. In the beginning of the story, Snape came in rather quickly. Once Harry was at school, Snape finally got the Defense Against the Dark Arts post he'd longed for. I was cheering. (Yes, he is no longer Potions Master.) But it turned out not to matter. In the second chapter, Narcissa Malfoy and her sister, Bellatrix Lestrange, visit the home of Sev and he makes with Narcissa (possibly out of love) an Unbreakable Vow--that Snape will help her son Draco carry out a task ordered of him by Voldemort, and will complete it himself should Draco prove unable. The task, it seems in the end, was to kill Dumbledore. Draco does prove unable, and Snape carries it out. Yet, it cannot be this simple. Dumbledore may have been aware of the task, and the Vow. From the moment Dumbledore returns from the cave, weakened, having drunk an unknown potion set by Voldemort to guard a Horcrux, he says he needs Severus. He never says what for, never asks to be healed. When Snape arrives Dumbledore calls his name and says 'please' (pleading for his life, as everyone assumes, or something else?) before Snape aims the curse at him that kills him. This seems twisted, monstrous, unforgivable, no? Exactly: No. Not in my opinion, at least. I do not think it was Snape's choice to kill Dumbledore, but that the Headmaster had at least one reason for telling him that he must do this horrible deed. Of course from Harry's perspective (Harry, who has inherited, as Lupin says, a prejudice against Sev) it was cold-blooded murder and betrayal and he now wants to destroy Snape as much as Voldemort. But this too is far too simple; clearly, as the book ends on this note, there are things Harry does not understand about what has happened. He has forgotten, for instance, about the argument overheard by Hagrid, between Snape and Dumbledore. This point never was addressed again, yet amidst all the turmoil, who can blame it for being overlooked? Consider it. Dumbledore telling Snape he must do something that Snape does not wish to do. For several reasons I can think of (mainly involving the Death Eaters and the Malfoys), this argument connects directly to the death of Albus. And what of the mysterious order given Snape at the end of "Goblet of Fire," at which he turned pale? Clearly he is being asked to do things most difficult, to make great sacrifices; how can the most enigmatic person turn out to be clear-cut evil? Read carefully and you'll see that Snape has hatred and revulsion etched into his face when he performs the fatal Avada Kedavra. I see these emotions not as directed at his target, which Harry naturally assumes, but stemming from the act he is about to commit. It never really occurs to Harry that Sev may have been feeling the same things he'd been feeling when he was bound by his promise to force-feed the convulsing Dumbledore, does it? Probably far worse. Snape acts rather outrageously for the remainder of his time in the story, not shockingly, yet he refuses to allow any harm to come to Harry (clearly Dumbledore would've wanted that). He seems to be in pain and becomes furious at the mere suggestion that he is a coward--because he has just done the most difficult and least cowardly thing ever asked of him. Dumbledore has repeatedly stated that Harry's life is more important than his own, and that Harry understands less than he. And the facts remain that he has in the past done much good despite his suspicious nature, & that not everything he told Bellatrix about staying loyal to Voldemort can be true. My final point has to do with the words Dumbledore cried while drinking the potion in the cave. I don't know why, but I feel these words are important, and that after the escapade Dumbledore may have known the end was near. Thus I rest my case. Avid Harry Potter readers will want to dive into this one, I'm certain, and those who haven't yet discovered it should do so. Only possible complaints? 1) Too short; 2) Not enough anticipated answers given, yet new questions raised, 3) Disturbing ending leaves you frustrated waiting for the next book.

At the end of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", J. K. Rowling left so many plot threads dangling that there was endless speculation about the next book. Who would be Voldemort's next victim? Would Harry get back together with Cho Chang or were they history? What about Ron and Hermione? Suspense enough to sustain interest at a fever pitch up to publication of the next book. Now that "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" has finally been released to hype unseen in this reviewer's memory, we've found out that Rowling has not only tied up a lot of the dangling threads in OOP, but lets the reader know exactly where she's taking us in the final book, which may or may not be Harry's seventh year at Hogwarts. HPB opens on an unusually chill summer day which reflects the chill that has crept upon England's usually green and pleasant land. People are disappearing, presumed murdered. Unlikely "hurricanes" have taken a toll on the landscape. And one cold night in July, after Harry has been only two weeks back with the Dursleys, Albus Dumbledore, Hogwart's Headmaster, appears on the Dursley's doorstep to spirit Harry away to The Burrow to spend the rest of the summer with the Weasley family. Dumbledore isn't at all happy with the way the Dursleys have treated Harry all these years and he lets them know it in no uncertain terms. Just one more summer, he tells them, and Harry's out of there for good. It's hard to say who's more delighted by this news, Harry or the Dursleys. The chill over Muggledom is also evident in the wizarding world, even in the Weasleys' own home. Mrs. Weasley jumps at every strange noise in the night. The Weasleys' clock, with its nine hands representing family members indicating their location, always seem to be pointing at "mortal peril". And there have been changes in Diagon Alley as well. Florian Fortescue's ice cream parlor is boarded up because Fortescue has disappeared, along with old Ollivander the wand-maker. But the Weasley twins' joke shop is doing a booming business and the twins are raking in the Galleons by the bucketful. They even have their eye on expanding into Hogsmeade, right outside Hogwarts. And there's a new Minister of Magic as well; the bumbling Cornelius Fudge has been sacked. But the new Minister isn't much of an improvement; he's arresting innocent wizards right and left and throwing them into Azkaban prison, just for the sake of appearing to be making headway against Voldemort's followers. He also wants Harry to liaise with the ministry, but Harry isn't having it; he remembers all too well how the Ministry tried to slander him the year before and he isn't about to become their poster boy. He tells the Minister to his face to stuff it. Back at Hogwarts, there's a new staff member in the person of Professor Slughorn, a former Head of Slytherin House who has spent the past year in retirement and on the run from Voldemort who wants to recruit him into the infernal ranks of the Death Eaters. To everyone's shock, it's announced that Slughorn will be the new Potions master, replacing Snape, who has finally landed the plum job he's always coveted, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Is this Dumbledore's way of rewarding Snape for his loyalty over the past few years? Harry doesn't trust Snape around a glass corner and doesn't think he deserves it. But wait up -- the DADA appointment could be a very left-handed gift since no DADA professor has managed to keep the job for more than a year. Is this a set-up or what? Besides being immersed in classes, Harry is also meeting privately with Dumbledore, who tells him the entire history of Voldemort, his birth to a mother who is one of the last direct descendents of Salazar Slytherin now living in abject filth and poverty, and the handsome young local aristocrat who falls victim to her love potion; fatally, his mother, wanting his father to love her for herself alone, stopped giving him the potion and once his eyes and head cleared, he abandoned not only her but their unborn child as well. Recruited into Hogwarts by Dumbledore himself, honing his skills in magic and the dark arts, and feeding his propensities for cruelty, power and domination, Voldemort graduates from Hogwarts to seek revenge on the father who abandoned him by killing not only him but his paternal grandparents as well. And from there he becomes the Dark Lord, gathering adherents who are too fascinated or too terrified to resist his powers; among them, the Malfoy clan. Dumbledore tells Harry they must find the location of four of Voldemort's Horcruxes, objects that have been infused with the soul of their possessor. Voldemort is so evil and so obsessed with gaining immortality that he has split his soul into seven pieces, transferring six of them to six different objects and retaining the seventh piece inside his own body. Two of the Horcruxes have already been destroyed: one by Harry in the second book (Tom Riddle's diary), and another by Dumbledore, a black stone ring. Once they find and destroy the other four Horcruxes, they will be able to deal with Voldemort. But all kinds of things transpire in between. Harry is not only up to his ears in classes, he's also been named Quidditch captain for Gryffindor House, and he's fighting off hordes of girls who are fascinated by his hero status. The kids are growing up and flirtation and romance take up a significant part of this book. We always knew Ron and Hermione would finally become an item, but Hermione has to spend the better part of the year feeling jealous and shunted aside while Ron detours with a possessive airhead named Lavender Brown who has an infuriating habit of calling him "Won-Won" while sending him an outsize gold chain for Christmas that says "My Sweetheart". The more Ron tries to dump her, the tighter she holds on (going out with her is like dating the Giant Squid, he muses to Harry). There's a delightful interlude when Ron falls head over heels in love with one of Harry's groupies after drinking a love potion meant for Harry, with hilarious results. And almost too late, Harry finally wakes up to the fact that Ron's little sister Ginny has become a very desirable young lady, but not before Ginny has become entangled with Dean Thomas. Things get sorted out, and Harry and Ginny have a precious few weeks together until the darkness engulfs all of them and everything comes crashing down. It's Harry and Dumbledore's quest for the Horcruxes that triggers the tragedy that marks the last few chapters of the book. We know somebody very close to Harry is going to get killed but it's like a kick in the stomach when it actually happens. There's no safe place in the world for Harry any more, not even at Hogwarts. And there's no parent or parent figure to protect him any longer. He'll have to face Voldemort on his own. And he won't endanger Ginny by continuing a relationship with her; Voldemort gets to his enemies through the people they love best. He's completely alone. Well, maybe not completely; Ron and Hermione tell him they'll be with him no matter what happens. Maybe that's one of Harry's advantages over Voldemort; whereas Voldemort only has followers, Harry has friends. Harry has not only grown older, he's a lot more mature in this book. In OOP he was a querulous fifteen-year-old, touchy and irritable, resenting the bad hand life has dealt him; he didn't ask to be any hero and he didn't ask to have a homicidal wizard on his case. But in HBP he's moved through resentment to resignation to acceptance, and finally to readiness to accept his destiny. He's grown from boyhood to manhood and he's ready to shoulder a man's responsibility. He's going to find and destroy the Horcruxes and Voldemort as well. And anybody who gets in his way, as he intimates about the Half-Blood Prince, better watch out. Just has Harry has gone through some significant character development, so has his opposite number, Draco Malfoy. We don't see much of Draco in HBP; he's disappearing from the scene for nefarious reasons of his own. At the start of the year he brags to his cohorts that he's moving on to bigger and better things; who needs Hogwarts any more? But Draco has bitten off considerably more than he can chew in selling his soul to Voldemort; we almost feel sorry for this scared kid who realizes with growing terror that he is in Voldemort's thrall for the rest of his life, immersed in evil he can't control, and that refusing or inability to do Voldemort's bidding will cost his parents their lives. And as we see Harry and Draco developing in different ways, we also see Dumbledore growing older and weaker, fatally undone by his own sense of goodness and decency and his misplaced trust in his nemesis, the Half-Blood Prince. So who is the Half-Blood Prince? Suffice to say it's someone with Voldemort's own background, hating and hiding his Muggle blood, biding his time for the ultimate act of betrayal. At the book's end, he's on the run, along with Draco Malfoy. But we have a feeling the Half-Blood Prince may be living on borrowed time; he'll get what's coming to him in Book 7. Unlike the end of OOP, where speculation about where the series was going abounded, by the end of HBP we pretty much know what's in store in Book 7. Harry, possibly with the help of Ron and Hermione, will go on a quest for the Horcruxes, and once they are destroyed, it will be a fight to the finish between Harry and Voldemort. Neither can live, we've been told, while the other survives. We can't know yet which will survive, or if Harry will realize his dream of becoming an Auror, or if he will finally settle down to find happiness with Ginny. All we know is that J. K. Rowling will wrap up one of the most fascinating and successful adventure series ever written.

...this book will drive the point home. The Harry Potter series is not merely children's fiction... no more than Lord of the Rings is merely a fantasy tale. This is full fledged literature. Stephen King's blurb on the book said as much, and I've been thinking that since I finished book 4. I am a recent Potter devotee, I read the series about six months before this book came out. I watched all the hype unfold around book five and thought "for a kid's book?" And with that rather close-minded outlook I went about my business... until I found a first edition of "The Philosopher's Stone" that somehow found it's way into my Mom's house in Tennessee. That book, I thought was a delightful (I choose my words carefully) romp... every bit worthy young reader's fiction. I picked up the second book in paperback and had similar thoughts, but found that the character development increased very much. Already long story short, and already over-long point at it's crux... these books and characters age with the readers who grow up with them. And for those of us who went through these ages already, we glean even more understanding. Rowling has matured the books with the age of their characters. And she has done it brilliantly. These books are geared toward young readers AT THE START, but that is because she knows that young people grow up, and as they do they crave more and more creative plots, and more creative and intriguing characters. The books increase in complexity, density (in a good way), sheer brilliance as they go on. Each book is essentially five times better than the last. As amazing as a claim that is... it's true. Find out if you havn't by now! With the Half-Blood Prince I wasn't expecting much more than the first half of the finish of this (hopefully not the only in this world's) series. I got that and much more. (as I mentioned I will give NO MAJOR spoilers, indeed they may not come as spoilers at all) Character development within this rich world is at it's finest here since it has been in Goblet of Fire (my favorite). We get not only MUCH greater insight into Dumbledore... but into how Lord Voldemort came to be. We get into Voldemort's mind, and we find out how and why we ticks. We see some very clevar development for (What I guessed since book 2) what the main character's love interests would be. Though many see it coming, it's because we've watched the relationships unfold. That part isn't meant to shock us. Truly this is Harry Potter's last youthful romp I'm afraid... he does a lot of maturing in this book, and rightfully so, he faces more dangers and challenges than ever... and not even in the most obvious forms. Along the way a character we are meant to mistrust from the beginning, but somehow trust all along shows his true color... at least we think so. And one we've hated since the beginning shows his... and it's shocking as well. Rowling at this point, like all genius authors, uses what you know about her and her books against you. She layers the usual form of her book with extra layers that you have to read VERY deeply to understand. The narrative can literally, somehow impossibly, let you know what is REALLY going on without ever putting it on the page. You can FEEL what is going on before being told, sometimes you are proven right, sometimes wrong... and sometimes even more right that you first imagined. To all of those complaining that Rowling is drawing the series out, I say that she's planned on seven books from the start, and you've known that all along... if you were expecting book six to be the end, and seven to be the prologue, you've not been paying attention to her style. After seeing what the author pulled off in each concurrent book, upping the ante, the class, and sheer brilliance in each and every narrative and story... I'm fully confident in saying that I KNOW that book seven will do just as each other book before it has done... it will only get better. I'm ready NOW to pre-order book seven by God... and I'm quite sure that Rowling wouldn't even have begun it yet! (The only other authors who can claim that of me are Neil Gaiman and Dan Simmons) The only bad thing about this book is finishing it and realizing that there is only one more book to go... I do not want this story to end, but I cannot wait to see how it will finally wrap up. Especially after this thrilling volume. It becomes more painful with each reading of each book to know that it just has to end. to J.K. Rowling... welcome to the list of legendary authors... you are truly one of the greats now, and the books that you've written will live on as long as there are people to read them. Here's hoping you don't stop with book seven. And here's to you, one of the greatest authors of my time. It is my honor to read your works. And as for the review summary... Well I'll just say that the prose is fluid, and the story runs and winds like a swiss watch. It would be a shame for ANYONE to miss out on this book. Do yourself a favor if you've not yet fallen into the Harry Potter series... buy them all. I'll be passing them along my family. True literature is so hard to come by, but Rowling makes it seem like it comes effortlessly. Five out of Five stars... and if there was a higher rating, I'd give it that.

Great version of an audio book. Adds voices that make you feel like you are at a theater.

Certainly there's this much to say for J.K. Rowling: she delivers the goods time and again. "Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince", the penultimate book in the series, lives up to the anticipation and excitement generated around the book-- the whole "who is the half-blood prince?" campaign, two years of anticipation after the stunning ending of the fifth book, and what precious little has been leaked-- chapter titles, a descripiton of a new character and really nothing else-- endless rumors certainly. The book itself-- Harry is 16 now, he's going through your standard puberty problems-- girls, popularity, cliques, classes, temptation to cheat, and so on. He just gets the added pleasure of being the subject of a prophecy, a reluctant celebrity, and someone driven to make a difference in the world (and is in a position to do so). The amazing thing is how much he's grown over the years-- taken in the context of the previous five books, Harry and his classmates have changed quite a bit, developed into rounder, more intriguing characters, expressing a range of emotion and sense of responsibility. One of Rowling's great strengths as a writer is to resist the temptation of making her children and teenagers into miniature adults-- so often this is the case in books about children that have a wide appeal. This is no more clearly illustrated than in her capturing of the sort of overwhelming goofiness and yet importance of dating at this age, how totally meaningless and meaningful relationships can be and are. This is another thing I think a lot of writers really don't grasp when writing for this age group-- just how awkward it all is. Honestly, this quite reminded me of what it was like to be that age and developing crushes and infatuations. The book also starts to solve much of the complex backstory behind the books-- both in terms of understanding the past and of viewing characters as more human. Indeed, one of the unique strengths of this book is that it is the first since the first book (that I can think of as I write this) to present parts of the book not written in a third-person limited omniscient-- that is to say, there are chapters where we're not being told the story with intimate knowledge of Harry's thoughts and feelings, but rather we see some characters without Harry's point of view and injected opinions. Certainly for one less-than-sympathetic character (both in his portrayal in previous books and in this one), the second chapter is a revelation. As a writer, Rowling keeps the book fast paced and quick moving-- there's precious little in the way of narrative not tightly coupled to the central story in some way (which is pretty remarkable as I spent the last two paragraphs talking about the brilliant characterization). The story is starting to wrap up now, and this is setting up the conclusion more directly. There's also not the great bulk of fleshing out characters that we saw in previous books-- think about the dinner scene at Grimmwauld Place in "Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix" or the Hogwarts Express ride in "Harry Potter & the Sorceror's Stone"-- that sort of character building narrative is largely isolated to the first few chapters, supporting the brisk pacing and focus on the main story. The truth is that this is largely unnecessary-- most of the characters already have a backstory from previous books and it takes only a couple sentences to detail an action that further develops the characters. We already understand them. A quick note for parents-- the book's age is recommended for 9-12, but I think I'd read it before passing it on to a kid that young. Harry and his friends have aged over the six books, and as such, their concerns, actions, and emotions have too. In the end, there's one thing I can say to endorse this book more than anything else-- I couldn't put it down, all day, until I finished it. And that for me says it all.

. . . from one hero to the other - that's what Half-Blood Prince is all about. Dumbledore, wisest of wizards and most heroic of Harry's "helpers," literally and symbolically turns things over to Harry at the end of the 6th book in JKR's series. The stage is thus set for the final battle we all knew was coming from the moment we completed Book 1. Harry will face Voldemort alone - Book 6 makes that possible. I do like this book - it's exciting, fairly well-plotted, and it's nice to see Harry thinking about things most normal 16-year-olds think about (like kissing girls, for example!). It is, however, hampered by an excruciatingly slow opening (we don't even hear Harry's name for over 40 pages) and a bit too much Shyamalan-style trickery meant to suck the reader in before the trap is sprung in Book 7. The opening chapter at first intrigued me - Rowling gives us our first-ever look at the real relationship between the Muggle government and the Ministry of Magic (along with a nicely veiled reference to the unholy alliance between the Muggle Prime Minister and "the President of a far distant country" . . . I wonder if Mr. Blair and Mr. Bush caught on???). The rather silly conversation between Fudge and the Prime Minister, however, only serves to open up a huge can of worms Rowley simply isn't prepared to deal with. What exactly IS the relationship between the Muggle world and the Magic one? Come one - once you start filling in heads of state about the existence of magic and sorcery there's no way to keep all this quiet! What's happening on the Internet? I picture Muggle teenagers Googling "Dumbledore" and "Sirius Black" and plotting schemes to sneak onto the Hogwarts Express. Reading the first chapter of Book 6, you might assume Rowling was ready to jump into the inevitable clash between the two worlds - the real one and her invented one. But no, the Muggle world is forgotten the moment Chapter 2 begins. Which brings up the trickery. Chapter 2 was written solely to inject more doubts about the trustworthiness of Severus Snape. Snape is one of Rawling's most interesting and fully-developed characters - he has just cause for hating Harry's father (in a way, James created his own enemy by taunting and bullying Snape - just as Voldemort has done by targeting Harry). And we, as readers, have just cause for being suspicious of him - in each of the five previous books, Snape has done questionable things. The fact that Dumbledore has always trusted him has never really satisfied us - remember, even Dumbledore admits to making real mistakes - even serious ones (like keeping Harry in the dark through much of Book 5). So, when Snape makes the "Unbreakable Vow" that he will protect and aid Malfoy in some unidentified evil deed, we are closer than ever to believing that Dumbledore was indeed wrong about Snape, and that Harry has always been right. The trap is sprung in Chapter 27 when Snape kills Dumbledore with the "Avada Kedavra" curse - and a "stupefied" Harry sees it all. Rowling must be smiling in secret satisfaction as her readers conclude (as do Harry, his friends, and the members of the Order of the Phoenix) that Snape is a traitor who has always been doing Voldemort's bidding. It's not true, of course. But we won't find that out until Book 7. It's quite clear that Snape did what Dumbledore asked him to do - he killed the Hogwarts Headmaster to set the ultimate stage for a final showdown between Harry and Voldemort. It's no accident that Dumbledore took Harry with him on his last adventure - a harrowing Indiana Jones-style quest for one of the 7 "Horcruxes" holding elements of Voldemort's immortal soul. It's no accident that a severely weakened Dumbledore demanded that Harry fetch Snape, and not Madame Pomfrey, when they returned to Hogwarts. It's also no accident that Dumbledore silently immobilized Harry just as Malfoy and the Death Eaters raced into his office, leaving himself doubly vulnerable to attack. It's all very clear - Dumbledore WANTED Snape to kill him. It was necessary - it was all part of the plan! Snape didn't want to do it (thus his argument with Dumbledore several chapters earlier), and Dumbledore had to beg him in the end ("Severus . . . please . . ."), but in the end Snape did what his master ordered him to do. Think Judas and Jesus here, from the "Jesus Superstar" perspective - it's a huge master plan, and both the betrayer and the betrayed are playing their designated roles. Snape kills Dumbledore, yes - but he also pushes Harry to the next phase in the story. Dumbledore's death leaves Harry as the sole defender of the forces of goodness and love (as he must be to beat Voldemort). By the end of Book 6, Harry is determined and focused - he will find the remaining Horcruxes and he will face Voldemort, one on one. That was the plan, and Snape's part was necessary. Snape's apparent betrayal protects his cover, which will allow him to remain close to Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Again, it's part of the plan. Actually, I'm quite certain Snape will play a valuable role in what happens between Harry and Voldemort in Book 7. He WILL choose sides then and we'll see that he was always Dumbledore's man (just as Harry is). Rowling has set this up very well - most of her readers are now convinced that Snape is a villain who is a threat to Harry. Many won't realize the trap they've fallen into until Snape proves himself in the end - my guess is he won't survive the final book (some heroes must die before their heroism is understood). The fact that the trickery was so obvious to some of us is a bit of a problem - then again, the book IS written for children! Half-Blood Prince is a good read. I do wish Rowling would give us a bit more about the Muggle-Magic interplay, but I guess that isn't her area of interest (while I wasn't at all surprised by the Harry-Ginny pairing, I was actually hoping Harry would find himself in love with a Muggle girl - all the focus on "half-bloods" and racial purity seemed pointed in that direction). And the trickery is a bit annoying - like Mr. Shyamalan's films, it's too easy to see the "man behind the curtain," so to speak - it would be nice to have a little more wizardry and a little less con. Still, in the end, you won't be disappointed.

Good quality book and came super duper quick, good job amazon.

There are really very few superlatives one can justifiably use in describing "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Rowling's literary treasure is unique among modern phenomena in that it manages to deliver on the months and even years of hype that is built into each novel by the contemporary publishing machine. To be sure, it will be described by the reviewers as 'triumphant', 'dazzling', and even 'devastating', and deservedly so. But what most who delve into the story will find is a marked change of theme and tone of the story: gone are the fanciful spells and whimsical bouts of underage magic, and raised in their stead are dark intentions and gruesome histories, wicked betrayals and a terrible, horrible murder. In short, as Harry has matured, so have the stories, and Rowling is all too adept at making sure that we understand that the 'magic' of the wizarding world is not simply about enchanted objects, flying brooms, and unicorns. It is also about tolerance, humility, and above all racism, for that really is the underlying theme of the books, each one propounding it deeper that Death Eaters view the 'magical' race as the superior race, and non-magical (or Muggle) peoples can be used, abused, and exterminated at will. It would be very easy to rewrite the novels substituting the words 'Nazi' or 'White-Supremacist' or 'Pick-Your-Favorite-Genocidal-Bigot' in place of 'Death-Eater.' The book also matures sexually, and one finds as they read it that there are not only hints at Harry's burgeoning sexuality, but also Ron's and Hermione's. In particular, one finds frank appraisals of adult sexual themes in the story of Voldemort's mother, Merope. We are told that she was tortured by her merciless father and brother, that it was a common family practice for the women of the family to be wed to their closest relatives (as close to incest as is truly possible) and there is also one particularly telling moment when the term 'slut' appears in the story. There is even a good dose of sexual blackmail that occurs in one of the story's flashbacks. Granted, these are fairly adult themes and terms employed by Rowling, but they are never used unwontedly and show--in classic story telling style--the hellacious conditions which literally gave birth to Lord Voldemort. Surely, there will be those who decry the inclusion of such themes in a 'children's' series, but Rowling remains true to her characters and maintains the integrity of the conflict at hand. One of the lasting achievments of Rowling's writing is that she has helped diminish the barrier between 'children's literature' and 'Literature'. She has shown, for the sixth time now, that they are not mutually exclusive. The most consequential development in the sixth installment is the murder of a major, MAJOR character, one whose loss weighs far heavier than those any sustained by Harry thus far, including his godfather Sirius Black. Some of the reviewers have remarked that they saw the murder being foreshadowed early on with hints from the previous book indicating this character would fall. I, however, found it impossible to believe that it actually could happen, and was both shocked and horrified and in complete disbelief when it did happen. In fact, I was so sure that this character could not be killed that I thought they would 'come back' by the end of the book and prove that they were in fact indestructible. It is to Rowling's credit as a writer and her expert development of the character's relationship with Harry that I both screamed and cried when the character was killed. For me, the murder of this character was tantamount to the murder of Harry Potter himself. It is therefore with great anticipation, and also great trepidation and sadness, that the final chapter of this saga is awaited. Whatever the outcome, Rowling will surely not disappoint.

El libro llego en perfecto estado, es bonito y la impresion de las paginas tienen buena calidad.

Evidemment, c'est Harry Potter, donc of course, c'est fabuleux ! Est ce qu'il est encore nécessaire de faire le moindre commentaire au sujet de cette saga démentiellement fabuleuse ? Par contre, grosse colère contre Amazon. J'ai effectué cette commande le 7 juin, le livre était affiché comme disponible, en stock, donc normalement, j'aurais du le recevoir rapidement. Mail d'Amazon pour me dire ensuite qu'il y avait une rupture de stock et que je serais livrée dans quelques jours. Bon, pas de souci jusque la, et au mois d'août, je me suis décidé à appeler le service client qui a été incapable de me renseigner ! Je n'ai finalement été livré qu'aujourdhui, à savoir le 28 octobre !

A great build up to show Harry realising he's gotta hold his own. But whether or not he can control his anger and wise up is another matter. A really good read that holds it's own and keeps the excitement of reading strong

The book i received was exactly how it is in pictures and it is in very good quality. Thanks

The book was sent by Amazon directly, not a third party seller, and was shrink wrapped and original.