Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J.K. Rowling 659 pp.

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth entry in the Harry Potter series. It is easily the strongest volume of the seven, a welcome breath of fresh air after the drudgery of reading through Order of the Phoenix. In brief, Harry is rescued from the Dursleys once more, this time by Albus Dumbledore himself. Dumbledore and Harry then spend an interesting year together at Hogwarts as they struggle to unravel the mystery of Voldemort’s soul-splitting grab at immortality, the Horcruxes. All the while, someone is attempting to murder people at Hogwarts and while their attempts fail to find their mark, eventually this plot is resolved with Dumbledore’s death at the highest tower of Hogwarts.

Rowling’s earlier investments of time in worldbuilding pay out dividends throughout the book. We spend our time at Hogwarts watching the places and characters she has established work together to weave a solid plot through the book. Malfoy’s use of the room of requirement comes across as a particularly salient example. Until this point we had never seen one of the antagonists using a feature of Hogwarts which had seemed to be solely the domain of Harry and Co. 

The earlier sections of the book establish two important principles. First, Dumbledore’s light-heartedness is played to an immediately enjoyable effect. His relaxed manner as he sweeps through the narrative solving problems welcomes the reader into the book. If Harry’s impotence was the recurring theme in Order of the Phoenix, then Dumbledore’s agency takes its place in Half-Blood Prince. We know from the second chapter on that in this book, problems are going to be solved.

In that same vein, Rowling’s writing reveals to us that while this is a book primarily about Dumbledore’s actions and abilities in the confrontation with Voldemort, Harry is going to be involved.  In Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore went out of his way to exclude Harry, and thus the reader, from the action of the book. (Last time I’ll bash on Order of the Phoenix, I promise.) Harry spends much of the book directly involved with Dumbledore, learning about Voldemort’s past and preparing for the battle to come.

The only real criticism I have to make of this book is that Dumbledore is played a tad too aloof. By the end of the series, we know that he had a plan all along and was actively sowing the seeds of Voldemort’s downfall in the long con, but in this book his casual dismissal of his impending murder comes across as a touch too much. When Harry begins to discover that Draco Malfoy is actively plotting to murder someone at the school, Dumbledore simply brushes his concerns aside. At the end of the book, when Dumbledore is eventually murdered, setting aside the long-term resolution of the plot, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “What else did you expect?”

That aside, I enjoyed Half-Blood Prince tremendously. Harry spends the book working towards goals, and most importantly, he makes real steps in that direction. Rowling establishes the nature of the Horcruxes which will dominate Deathly Hallows, and gives the reader an immensely enjoyable portrayal of the relationship between Harry and Dumbledore.

Would I recommend Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? Yes.

Score: 4.0/5

Would I keep this on my bookshelf? Yes.

-Mr. Cheddar