JK Rowling
Completed 7/1/2015, Reviewed 7/6/2015
5 stars
With every book in the series, the tone gets darker and
darker. “Half-Blood Prince” is no
exception. The coursework at Hogwarts
has taken a back seat to the battle against Voldemort, Harry has become
obsessively suspicious of Draco and Snape, and Dumbledore is tutoring Harry in
Voldemort’s past. At the end, a major
character in the series dies, signifying the Dark Lord’s rise to power and the
despair of our heroes. Fortunately,
there is still some humor in what is probably the most gripping and gut-wrenching
book of the series.
I’ve spaced my reading of the series with one or two
unrelated novels to help me separate the books in my head. Still, they begin to run together and leaving
me feeling like I’m reviewing a chapter in one massive tome rather than one
large book itself. So I’m finding myself
digging for differences.
Perhaps the one thing that separates this book from the rest
is love and relationships. Harry
realizes he likes Ginny, and Ron and Hermione realize they like each other. I remember the films hinting at sexual tension
between Harry and Hermione as well, but there are no such hints in the book,
for which I am truly grateful. The
development of these two relationships have enough complications without a love
triangle. They’re both done really well,
particularly in its forcing Ron to grow up.
Up to now, he’s been the goofy guy who you’d expect to be running around
shouting “Cooties”. He finally gets to
mature, and it’s not easy for him or his friends. They all make a lot of mistakes in their
awkward mating dance. I really liked it
though, because it was much more realistic than some of the literary adult
romances I’ve had to bear, particularly in science fiction.
The other relationship of note is between Harry and
Dumbledore. Now with his godfather
Sirius Black having been killed, he was without a guardian or mentor. Dumbledore picks this up by offering Harry
training. Rather than actual wizarding
lessons, Dumbledore takes him through the little that’s known of Voldemort’s
past from the memories of the few who knew him growing up, hoping to find a way
to destroy the Dark Lord, or at least weaken him before the final
confrontation. It also helps repair the
damage done in the last book when Dumbledore was avoiding Harry for the psychic
link he had with Voldemort. The scenes
are touching, and reading them filled me with a sense of sanity and safety when
the rest of the events in Harry’s life felt completely out of control. He’s
like that teacher you had in school who had confidence in you when you were
losing confidence in yourself.
To review Voldemort’s past, they use a “pensieve”, a magical
bowl that stores and replays memories.
Harry accidently fell into it in an earlier book, but here he goes in
accompanied by Dumbledore. The best
thing about the pensieve is that it is perhaps the ultimate exposition tool,
catching you up on Voldemort’s life while keeping the plot moving. Going into the memories through the silvery
liquid in the bowl is far more exciting than having Dumbledore say, “Sit down
and let me give you a brain dump of everything I’ve discovered so far.”
There’s so much more to “Half-Blood Prince than these few
items. Luna is still whacky as ever, and
the once mousey keeps on putting himself in the thick of things. Love also sprouts among two of the members of
the Order of the Phoenix, and even one of Ron’s brothers finds himself in
love. And of course, the climactic
ending with the death of the major character (which isn’t a spoiler because it
was leaked before the book was initially published, but I still won’t say who
it is, just in case). Whereas the last
book felt like it could have been pared down, every part of this one felt
necessary. Five out of five stars.
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