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

2007-12-25 Absolutely perfect.

(Contains spoilers for 'Order of the Phoenix' and slight spoilers for 'Half Blood Prince'.)

This entire series is special but now that it's complete I can safely say this is my favourite. I'll re-read all the books but this one the most.

Review:

After Sirius' death in book five, Dumbledore invites Harry to help him investigate and obtain information regarding Voldermort's past (or to be more precise- Tom Riddle's past). With Voldermort's Deatheaters returning to him en masse, Voldermort is now ready to return to his reign of terror so Dumbledore and Harry must look into his past to see if there is any way of defeating him. These flashback sequences via the pensieve are terrific and really flesh out the character of Tom Riddle, giving him more substance.

As with each new book a new teacher arrives at Hogwarts. This time it is the larger than life, jolly yet fiercely ambitious Horace Slughorn who Dumbledore has convinced to come out of retirement. Apart from Hermione, Slughorn has now become my favourite character in the series. He is neither completely good or bad, he is complex, flawed and likable. For me he is one of Rowling's best creations.

Rowling has a wonderful ability to simultaneously progress the overall main story (in this book MAJOR events happen) and at the same time put excellent detail into the smaller stories that occur in the book. Each book always has a mystery element to be solved and here Harry, Ron and Hermione attempt to figure out who the 'Half- Blood Prince' is.

Some of the best chapters concern Harry, Hermione and Ron and their day to day troubles within Hogwarts such as Quiddich practice, how they are faring in certain classes now that they are studying the more difficult N.E.W.T course, not to mention their complicated love lives.

Rowling's world is completely absorbing and this was a pleasure to read with its' usual combination of mystery, humour and sadness, all of which is underpinned by the wonderful Characters- old and new.

10/10.