Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling

RATING: FIVE STARS

After Harry Potter's epic mishap at the Ministry of Magic at the end of his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witcraft & Wizardry, the wizarding world is now aware of Lord Voldemort's return. The erstwhile Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, has been dismissed for trying to ignore and cover the problem up instead of dealing with it and Harry is once again considered a hero. Yet it is too little, too late and Voldemort has not been idle in his secrecy. He has seized more power than many dare to realise and is as dangerous as ever.

So it is with a heavy heart that Harry returns to school for his sixth year of study. Aside from his worries concerning the Dark Lord and his advancement to N.E.W.T. studies, he has learnt that Professor Severus Snape has finally managed to procure the position of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and will he will be taking over Harry's favourite classes! Yet Professor Dumbledore has finally taken more of interest in Harry's studies and has invited him to special lessons in which he reveals just why Lord Voldemort is such a dangerous adversary. Before he took on the mantle of the Dark Lord and changed his name, Tom Riddle did something unspeakable and split his soul into a number of Horcruxes that effectively make him immortal and immune to physical death. Dumbledore reveals that each of these Horcruxes must be found and destroyed before the Dark Lord can fall in a task that will prove to be less than easy . . .

The Good
Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince continues J. K. Rowling's precedent of darker writing and delves deeper into Voldemort's ever tightening control of the wizarding world. Murder, torture and mysterious disappearances are now common place and have even begun to affect the Muggle world, in what proves to be an interesting development where Rowling reveals, without doubt, that the Muggle Prime Minister of Britain is aware of the existence of magic and its secretive communities! This adds as nice depth to the story and it's really beginning to sink home just how dangerous Voldemort is and how dark the times are becoming.

Rowling also uses this book to reveal more about Snape's mysterious background and why, or why not, he may actually be helping Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix to resist Voldemort's new regime. This is a great insight into one of the more complicated characters in her world and it's fun, especially if you're new to the story, applying this to Snape in an effort to work out whether he is actually good or evil!

The Bad
Yet again, there is nothing to criticise with Rowling's story and she has done as fantastic a job as ever!

My Thoughts
J. K. Rowling writes the penultimate instalment of the great Harry Potter adventure with her typical talent of vivid storytelling, engaging characters that seem like real people and page-turning events. The book, as is the series as a whole, is a true testament to the fantasy genre and can be enjoyed by children and adults alike -  there's really no reason not to read it!