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

by J.K. Rowling

Kazu Kibuishi (Illustrator), Mary Grandpre (Illustrator), and Mary GrandPré (Illustrator)

The war against Voldemort is not going well; even Muggle governments are noticing. Ron scans the obituary pages of the Daily Prophet, looking for familiar names. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses.
And yet…

As in all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate — and lose a few eyebrows in the process. The Weasley twins expand their business. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.

So it’s the home front that takes center stage in the multilayered sixth installment of the story of Harry Potter. Here at Hogwarts, Harry will search for the full and complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort — and thereby find what may be his only vulnerability.
--back cover

• ISBN10: 0545582997
• ISBN13: 9780545582995
• Publish Date: 27 August 2013 (first published January 1970)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 24 October 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Scholastic Inc.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 652
• Language: English

Reviews

[thepunktheory]

Book vs. Movie:
First of all I have to state that the book is thrilling. Impossible to put down, I read almost in one go. J. K. Rowling gets under your skin, deeper than you would imagine.
As always, the characters are described magnificently. By now they feel almost real, like true friends. The story is very intricate and you have a hard time guessing what comes next.
Moving on the book. I had my difficulties with some of the other adaptations, but this one is pretty good. Let me begin with my negative points on the list. While I loved the new cast members that joined for The Order of the Phoenix, I ended up rather disappointed this time. I was not to impress with the young version of Voldemort, played by Frank Dillane, nor with Helen McCrory. The both couldn't capture the essence that was depicted in the book. But the cast new cast member I liked the least was Jim Broadbent. The movie version has almost nothing in common with the Horace Slughorn in the novels.
As I mention in my Book vs. Movie posts on the other adaptations, they never get Dumbledore right. However, in this movie I liked him the least of all films. While he is gentle, warm yet funny and witty in the books, the movies just don't get that across. Especially in this adaptation Dumbledore feels harsher, not as empathic.
My last negative point concerns the ending of the film. One of the last scenes was extremely intense. I don't want to spoil anything so let me just say, it sent shivers down my spine and brought tears to my eyes. This would have the perfect final scene for the film. However, there is another one after that. Of course something important was mentioned there (although that could have been postponed to the beginning of the next film) but all in all the real final scene felt very wishy-washy and not strong enough.
Now let's move on to the positive points: I loved the way the friendship between Harry, Ron and Hermione was depicted. Many of those scenes were even funnier than in book! Sadly many of the other great characters got hardly any screen time but our three heroes made up for that. Many great scenes with powerful visual language are incorporated in this adaptation so I can almost forgive that a bunch of scenes I would have loved to see were left out.


Summing up I can recommend both the book and the adaptation. Although there are some flaws, it is definitely one of the better movies in the series. The story itself is dark and capturing. A must read (and see)!

[malberto]

Even though I was expecting, almost cried...

[alisoninbookland]

There has always been an overarching storyline to the series but for the most part each of the books until this one have felt a bit episodic. Something bad happens, Harry and company fight to save the day, and by the end of the book things are decently wrapped up. That’s not true with this book. The introduction to the horocruxes informs the reader what is to come in the next installment. Not to mention everything is starting to reach its climax: Voldemort is back, Dumbledore is dead, Harry must kill Voldemort or he dies, the Wizarding world (and probably the rest of the world) is hanging in the balance. This is what the series has been building towards.

I loved getting to know Voldemort better. It’s definitely interesting to see how he got to be the darkest wizard of all time. Much like Harry, he had a pretty rough upbringing so he wasn’t exactly a pleasant person to be around. He was a pretty mean 11 year old. The little snapshots we are given show how progresses more into the dark side.

Oh Dumbledore. There are so many reasons why his death is so hard to handle. The biggest reason is Dumbledore always symbolized “hope” to me. When he dies, it’s almost like hope dies. How on Earth is Harry going to pull this off on his own? This is also the first book where we really get to know him. Yes, he’s in the other books but not much. He’s there for random tidbits of wisdom and to swoop in and save day and fill Harry in on everything that’s been happening. This book we see him more and he’s a decent guide into the world of Voldemort. More of his personality shines though in the talks he has with Harry. Basically, he’s finally starting to feel like a real person and then he’s gone.

The bottom line? A good installment!


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[adastra]

This is truly the point at which the story matures—in many senses. While the previous books retained their youthful innocence, this book solemnly lifts the Wizarding World to a whole new level. It is a world apart from the rather half-baked, borderline first books, which relied too much on clichees.

Book six is the maturity of the story: for the epic mystery that is finally lifted; for the gloomy prospects ahead. But also for Harry himself, as he finally gets drowned in teen drama. And lastly, it's the maturity of Rowling's writing. Her earlier books were nowhere near these later masterpieces. She has definitely learned a lot in the process of writing five books and here, in the sixth book, it finally shows.

[KitsuneBae]

Reread

For the full review, please visit Thoughts and Pens

Finally, the second to the last installment of the boy wizard’s amazing story. I’ve read this book ages ago but I can’t stop re-reading it especially these fast few months. I am terribly missing Harry and the gang.
You must probably know by now (if you’ve read my past HP book reviews) that I intend to finish reviewing all the Harry Potter series because I owe him big time. Anyway, this is the second to the last HP that I’m going to review and I’m definitely moving read another series. (Watch out for that one)
To start with, the Half-Blood Prince currently holds the number 4 spot of my favorite Harry Potter sequels with Prisoner of Azkaban holding the top spot. I have mixed emotions about it, not in a negative way though. I don’t know whether I’d be happy with it or be heartbroken when JK finished one of my favorite characters. That’s a spoiler, I know, but it’s necessary to be able to convey my review for this book.
Going into the specifics, there are a lot of things I like about HBP. Number one is that JK Rowling didn’t fail to give us another jaw-dropping twist and mystery in this book that by the end, I was breathless like a trout out of water.
Second, it answered some of the questions that have been hanging in books 3, 4 and 5 but leaving a slight cliffhanger at the end...just enough to make everyone happy and thrilled to read the last book.
Third, the oozing teenage romance of our young heroes made my heart flutter and my stomach queasy with anticipation. And I totally admire that JK portrayed it in a funny, wholesome way unlike some other books out there that takes advantage of the whole romantic angle in an attempt to save the book.
Fourth, I love how JK Rowling chose HBP for tracing Tom Riddle’s life history. It was very well timed and did not feel like the whole Riddle’s story was inserted to make the pages longer.
Fifth, JK Rowling’s consistency with the characters, their interactions, and dialogues have always been a reason to look forward in reading and re-reading the books. There was never a time that I didn’t smile every time a sarcastic remark or a punch line is delivered. And to emphasize this, I love the new character introduced in this book, Professor Slughorn. He’s an outrageous, overenthusiastic glutton that dots on Harry every opportunity that he got. Maybe an older version of Colin Creevey?
Sixth, I just love everything about HBP: the more serious tone, Harry’s obsession with what Draco’s up to, Slughorn, Harry’s unashamed credit taking for his new potion brilliance (at least he’s being authentic. Ha!), Ron’s newly found hobby (snogging in public), Harry’s moment of finally finding the right girl (spoiler), the lessons with Dumbledore, and Riddle’s life being dissected. But there's one thing that made me mad about this book. WHY? WHY does Jo need to be sadistic in taking something that we all learned to love? Isn’t it enough that we are completely in pain for Harry’s past? Isn’t Harry’s past losses painful enough to feel the need to strike him with another blow? *sighs and cries*
To wrap this review, HBP is an excellent spectacle to set the stage for the final book. It tidied up the loose ends from the previous books without spoiling your hunger for the next book. A must-read even for the most reluctant HP readers out there.

[elvinagb]

After reading this again, my admiration and respect for the Snape character is elevated once again. He has had to give his live over to saving HP and hiding it from not only Voldemort but from everyone in the Wizarding world. His only confidant is Dumbledore who he has to obey by killing him when the time comes.
I am glad that Rowling allows HP to see (in the next installment)what Snape has done and had to endure to ensure that HP can end Voldemort's existance.

[mbtc]

While I did enjoy this addition to Harry's story, it was probably my least favorite so far of all of the books. Felt like a lot of workup and a hectic ending. It did make me cry at the end though, so I guess there's something to be said about Rowling's ability to make you feel so connected to the characters.

[clementine]

So much comes together in HBP, yet so much is left unanswered - and some mysteries are even intensified. Obviously the question particular to HBP is who the Half Blood Prince actually is. I will say that it's not one of JKR's better mysteries, if we define a "good" mystery as one that's tricky to figure out. It's not that she exactly broadcasts that it's Snape, but I think it's much more obvious and easy to figure out than many of the other mysteries in the series. She attempts to mask this by having the textbook published about fifty years ago (and Harry even mentions that it was before his father's time, and since Snape is James's contemporary it's implied that it's before his as well), which I think would probably throw a lot of people off - but we all know that it is possible to have books that are older than you. I wouldn't say that this is detrimental to the book, exactly, but I think it could have been executed a bit better, particularly because it's a relatively low-stakes mystery considering how far into the series we are.

The other thing is Ginny. Ahh, Ginny. She is much more likeable in the books, which is odd because I generally find that the movies are more successful with the characterization of certain tricky characters (Draco in particular; he's much more fleshed out in the movies, thanks to Tom Felton's stellar acting). However, I still find her... well, not entirely sympathetic, and I remain unconvinced that she was the best choice for Harry's eternal love. I don't really enjoy Harry's dating exploits in general. This isn't because I don't think they have a place in the book - Jo does a good job of interweaving them with the plot in an unobtrusive way, and I certainly think it adds realism to the story, as it is quite likely for Harry to have some sort of romantic life between the ages of eleven and seventeen. I just don't think that any of Harry's love interests are particularly compelling. Cho, I suppose, was always supposed to be an awkward sort of relationship - but Jo just never managed to convince me with Ginny, unfortunately. Luckily that is a relatively small portion of HBP.

I really like the characterization and character development here, particularly because there is so much revealed (or at least hinted at) if you read closely - which, of course, you ought to do when reading something written by the genius JK Rowling. For example, although it seems at the end that Snape is quite clearly evil (something which becomes especially set in stone once we learn that McGonagall - trusted, whip-smart McGonagall - believes him to be guilty), there are some very subtle (but clear) hints that he may in fact not be so unambiguously bad. Of course, we also get to see how Voldemort became the man he is today, which is obviously a necessary component of the series, as no man becomes Lord Voldemort without a serious backstory. Slughorn, I think, is a particularly good character, because he is neither likeable nor detestable. He is certainly pompous, and self-impressed, and maybe a bit too prone to name dropping, but he isn't a horrible person and I think that, generally, his heart was in an okay place. When Harry first meets him he doesn't know what to think of him, and this is generally the impression his character leaves. And Draco! Don't let me forget Draco! Poor, conflicted Draco. Ahh. This is where his character becomes truly rich and wonderful.

In terms of plot, HBP mimics PoA in certain respects. It really isn't very action-oriented, with most of the exciting stuff happening right before the end, on Dumbledore's last mission. Indeed, much of the text is expository. The Pensieve is a really great vehicle for this sort of thing, and the backstory was interesting enough that I didn't feel like it was an info-dump. Again, I don't think a lack of action is a detriment when done correctly; PoA is a highly enjoyable book and it's traditionally seem as the book where the least happens.

The end of HBP is incredibly powerful. The Horcrux hunting scene is tense and filled with all sorts of emotions as Harry sees his headmaster - the man who has been his rock, who has made him feel safe, who has always had answers, who believes in him, who he has always been able to turn to - become weakened, and has to force him to drink the horrible potion. Then, of course, minutes after their return to Hogwarts, he is killed by Snape. I will tell you, the first time I read HBP I would not accept that Dumbledore was dead. I literally did not believe it until a good chunk of the way through Deathly Hallows some two years later. This time, I started getting teary round about the cave scene and really sobbed from Dumbledore's death right through to the end. I know that he was going to die anyway what with the curse and that it was his wish that Snape kill him instead of Draco, but DAMN, SON.

So, uh, this has been long. HBP is less good than I remembered it, I think. It has its issues and it's not as compelling as the previous two, in my opinion. But, of course, it sets the scene for the final book, which I have already started and which I will probably finish on Tuesday or Wednesday. (I'm sad, though. I always forget how hard it is to extract myself from the world of these books.)

[Jyc]

★★★★★ // now, that was heartbreaking.

Another great Harry Potter book and it's still going strong after six books in. This book is a little bit darker than the first five books, which I like. The ending is very sad and so good. It made me feel a lot of emotions for just being a book.

I would recommend these series of books to anybody.