The one where we were all deceived...
Book review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Published: July 16, 2005 by Scholastic Inc.
Buy this book: Bookshop.org
Note: I am a Bookshop.org affiliate. Buying the book through the link provides me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting this page!
Synopsis:
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. Harry struggles to uncover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince, the past owner of a potions textbook he now possesses that is filled with ingenious, potentially deadly, spells. But Harry's life is suddenly changed forever when someone close to him is heinously murdered right before his eyes.
With Dumbledore's guidance, he seeks out the full, complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort, and thereby attempts to find what may be his only vulnerability.
Rating:
Review:
I am almost finished with my re-listen to the Jim Dale versions of the Harry Potter audiobooks. I discovered that I love these books for so many different reasons now. I am understanding messages and themes this time that I never noticed before. There are details and storylines that I completely forgot that are just amazingly done. Every time I think I can’t appreciate this series enough, I find another thing to love it for.
Note: this review will likely contain spoilers. If you haven’t been spoiled or read these books since they were published… I don’t know what to do for you. Ha!
I had forgotten the true depths that Rowling went to so that she could hide Dumbledore’s true intentions. Legitimately, I had no idea the first time I read this series what we would uncover in Deathly Hallows. No idea. This book also so thoroughly led me to the wrong conclusion about Snape. In this re-read, though, I noticed that I caught the signs more than ever. The way Snape reacts to Harry, the way Dumbledore says things—these are all clues about what’s to come. It is masterfully done. Honestly, as a writer, if I could set up a red herring path half this well, then I would consider it a success.
Another storyline that I forgot existed was the thorough hatred that the Weasley family has for Fleur. I was delighted and laughing so hard at their antics. They were quite unfair to her and made a lot of assumptions about her character, but it was a great lighthearted diversion from the seriousness of the rest of the book. The rest of this book is so dark and depressing that this lightened the mood in all the right ways.
I still hated Harry’s flourishing romance with Ginny. It’s just icky. This is your best friend’s little sister. You’ve stayed over at their house. Sneaking behind her brother’s back to date her was very cringe, and I hated it. I also don’t think that Ginny really understood Harry. Honestly, it was never spelled out for me why they liked each other at all. I don’t get it. Proximity is the only thing that drew these two together. They barely shared pages prior to this book. It was weird.
Luna Lovegood is the star of the show in this book, and I am astounded at what a great character she is. She has the unique ability to meet Harry exactly where he is. She understands grief and trauma. She understands that sometimes that means he lashes out at people, sometimes he withdraws, and sometimes he wants to be distracted. She recognizes all of those things and judges him for none of it. She is such an amazing friend. Luna is a sounding board, a soft place to be vulnerable, but she is not afraid to challenge him when he crosses the line or refuses to listen to her.
If I had to pick one person who would be a good romantic partner for Harry in these books, it’s Luna. They match each other. He meets her exactly where she is, and she meets him exactly where he is. They accept each other and also challenge each other. They allow the other to show up in the world exactly how they wish. Sigh… too bad I will only ever get this pairing in fan fiction.
Moving on, the discoveries about the horcruxes were marvelously done. Harry being sent to retrieve Slughorn’s memory of Tom Riddle was instrumental. You immediately get the sense that Dumbledore knows that horcruxes exist, and he knows that Tom had an idea of how many he wanted to make… he just needs to know the number. Then we have the cave, which was just as hard to listen to this time as it was the first time. It’s emotionally jarring and wrenching—made worse by the fact that I knew what was to come.
The entire scene with Dumbledore and Malfoy was the best part of the book. Dumbledore knew. He knew that Draco didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to be a Death Eater. Not really. He had thought he did, but he was wrong. And he also felt trapped. My heart absolutely broke for Draco. He felt so desperate to do something he didn’t want to do. It was such a good scene to show his inner turmoil and angst about the choices he has made.
Overall, I will never be able to get enough of this series. It is one of the all-time best. After this, I am going to jump into the full-cast audiobook versions and do it all over again. I hope you join me on the ride.