Synopses & Reviews
The war against Voldemort is not going well; even the Muggles have been affected. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses. And yet...
As with all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Harry receives some extraordinary help in Potions from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. And with Dumbledore's guidance, he seeks out the full, complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort and thus finds what may be his only vulnerability.
Review
"This is a powerful, unforgettable setup for the finale. The hardest thing about Half-Blood Prince is where it leaves us in mourning for who has been lost, anxious to learn how Rowling will wrap up a saga that millions wish would go on and on." Associated Press
Review
"Rowling shepherds her hero's arduous trek to maturity with her customary grace and good humor, though she has infused her story with more bone-cracking and blood-spattering than may be tolerable for many of the young readers who have followed Harry's adventures so far." The Washington Post
Review
"The darkest and most unsettling installment yet....The achievement of the Potter books is the same as that of the great classics of children's literature, from the Oz novels to The Lord of the Rings: the creation of a richly imagined and utterly singular world, as detailed, as improbable and as mortal as our own." Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
Review
"It's not that [the book] is dull, exactly. In places, it rises to a pitch resembling suspense, or at least a passing curiosity about what might happen next. No, the main problem is that J.K. Rowling has now written six of these bricks. Even if they were getting better, they're certainly not getting any fresher." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"I don't think any of the other Harry books have begun as thrillingly as the shocker author J. K. Rowling pulls out almost from the start. We're back to the pure, intriguing, cat-and-mouse battle between good and evil." Seattle Times
Review
"[This] isn't my favorite J. K. Rowling book...but it ranks right up there....It's heartening, both as an author and a reader, to see that J. K. Rowling is brave enough to experiment with her beloved series, and that she has remained true to the emotional and physical development of her characters. (Grade: A-)" Christopher Paolini, Entertainment Weekly
Review
"The first half of the book offers a sense of lightness to balance the ominous doings to come....[T]he casualty list continues to rise, and Book 6 does not come equipped with a happy ending. Actually, it doesn't really end the reader just runs out of pages. More than any of the previous books, Half-Blood Prince is a cliff-hanger, setting up the climactic showdown to come." Christian Science Monitor
Review
"To read Rowling's novels as an adult is to sink into a half-remembered state of childhood rapture....At a time when everyday life is increasingly charged with dark and deadly deeds, the temptation to believe that a good wizard is coming of age, a wizard who may vanquish the greatest evildoer, holds even more attraction." Liesl Schillinger, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"[A]n intense read. Literally, when I was reading the book, at some points, I could feel my heart pounding rapidly and I could also feel my eyes growing wider and wider with the suspense....More than ever, in this book, Rowling's talent is evident..." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"The first two chapters of Half-Blood Prince are grabbers, imaginative and exciting in ways that hook both new readers and those who've read the series dozens of times....Then Rowling falls back on her usual structure...and the pace slows to a stroll." The Oregonian (Portland, OR)
Review
"From the start, No. 6 drops us right in to J.K. Rowling's completely convincing and thoroughly engaging world....Richly satisfying on its own, this sixth volume seems to function as a rest before the final storm that the next book...promises." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Review
"This installment...while still salted with patches of humor and romance, is the most harrowing yet....At the beginning of this book, all hands are pointing toward 'Mortal peril'....Undoubtedly, that is where they will continue pointing until the resolution of the final book in this remarkable series." San Jose Mercury News
Review
"I was hooked from the first paragraph. It is J. K. Rowling's most gripping novel so far. The end is unforgettable and unexpected." Financial Times (London)
Review
"Rather than overtly moral tales about right versus wrong, the Harry Potter series has always been a battle between hope and despair and the power of love against the chilly blackness of hate. The Half-Blood Prince, which is leaner and more tautly written than its flabby predecessor, is no exception." Toronto Globe and Mail
Review
"Raising a young hero can be a tricky business even without the use of magic. Many authors avoid fictional growing pains by either freezing their characters in time, à la Peter Pan or Alice, or shuffling them off stage when they get beyond that wide-eyed precocious stage, as C.S. Lewis did with the four young Pevensies....Frankly, creating believable teenagers in fiction is a tougher job than is usually acknowledged. Which is why it's nice to see that Harry's turning out so well." Yvonne Zipp, Christian Science Monitor (read the entire Christian Science Monitor review)
About the Author
J. K. Rowling has won the Hugo Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the Whitbread Award for Best Children's Book, a special commendation for the Anne Spencer Lindbergh Prize, and a special certificate for being a three-year winner of the Smarties Prize, as well as many other honors. She has been a featured guest on
60 Minutes,
The Today Show, and
Larry King Live. Rowling has also been named an Officer of the British Empire. Joanne Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury near Bristol, England. After she graduated from Exeter University, she found work as a secretary, and later spent time teaching English in Portugal before moving to Edinburgh, Scotland, with her daughter. She currently resides in Scotland with her husband and two children.
Educated at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Mary GrandPre began her career as a conceptual illustrator for local editorial clients. Continually experimenting with media, Mary underwent many artistic changes in her expressive visual form. Her concerns for light, color, drawing, and design came together in evocative, ethereal pastel paintings evolving toward a style she now calls "soft geometry." Mary's new work attracted corporate advertising and editorial clients. Some of the include: Ogilvy & Mather, BBD&O, Whittle Communications, The Richards Group, Neenah Paper, Atlantic Monthly Magazine, Random House, Berkley, Penguin, Dell and McGraw Hill publishers. Recently, she was featured on the cover of Time Magazine for her work with the Harry Potter Series and also worked as a visionary in the environment/scenery development in Dreamworks animated film Antz.