Jul 17, 2005 07:46 AM
1754 Views
(Updated Jul 19, 2005 09:21 AM)
At on minute past midnight in Countries around the world a half-blood prince was born in the land where Harry Potter lives. We met Harry when he was ten and now he is seventeen years old.
HARRY POTTER & THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE is the 6th book in a series of books written by J.K. Rowlings. After her 5th book she was richer than the Queen of England! David Haber was the editor and Mary GrandPre did the illustrations. The book was released by Mass Marked Paper Backs.
I bought the book for my youngest grandson, but made myself read it before I mailed it to him Calgary.
The Ending Of The 5th Book, (Order of the Phoenix)
The last chapter of the book was called The Second War Begins. The Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned to this country and is active once more. It ended with these words said by Fudge, ''It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord, you know who I mean he is among us again,''
The Plot
This book begins a few weeks after the last book ended. Harry Potter is back at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This book is about the storm that will be about good and evil.
The first chapter shows how the magic world and the Muggles are connected. Harry doesn't appear in the first three chapters. When he does Dubledore tells him he has become a heir. That is when they become friends.
Harry, Ron and Hermione are now typically teenagers. They skip school, fight and have sexual urges that they begin to act out. Of course there are problems because Harry likes Ginny, Ron tells Lavender her loves her, (but seems to prefer Hermione). Hermione likes Cormac Mclaggen, but when she stands under the mistle toe no one kisses her.
Harry is waiting for the visit of Albus Dumbledore. He is very dubious about what this visit will mean. He wonders what will happen to him when Albus arrives.
Harry as usual is trying to beat Voldemort. This sets up a lot of mysteries that involve Professor Snape who has formed a pact Voldemort. Voldemorts name is on almost every page but he doesn't show up in the plot.
He finds a book that is full of evil writing and some useful things. The book has notations on the side of the pages.
Dumbledore tells Harry they are partners. Harry and Dumbledore have a mission and that is to go to a cave that is on an Island and find the horcrux and drink all of the green liquid. Only then can they see the horcrux at the bottom of the bowl. They try the device and that lets them see other peoples memories. This is when the book get's better.
This book is not all doom and gloom there are a few funny parts. Can you imagine how funny it is when Luna is the commentator of a game of Quiddich and when Ron keep licking Lavenders face.
The wrong person is killed. I won't tell you who dies. What does Darco have to hide from Knoctum Ally? Who is the half-blood Prince? All I will tell you it isn't Voldemort or Harry.
What I Thought
I couldn't understand why the book began with the Prime Minister of Great Britain thinking about the was that his military was in. Upon reading further into the book I could see the parallels that were happening in the World today and what is happening in the book.
Harry has stopped whining when he gets frustrated because he is much older now. His other friends have matured as well and in this book their hormones are raging and you'll find that they do a lot of kissing and cuddling.
I thought the book was slow in places and the plot was not developed as well as it could have been.
The plot is only good when Harry is not at Hogwarts school. It wasn't the great book I had expected.
I though the scribbling on the side of the Prince's book interesting than just having Harry read the book. As always the illustrations were magical.
I don't think that very young children should read this book because this showed a dark side on witchcraft.
Rowlings promised to explain the background of the world of magic but she didn't.
At the end I wondered if Rawlings was closing the door on friendships and opening one that we all face, making our own way through life.
Other Information
Some Book Stores began selling this book on July 17, 2005, one minute into that day. My Drug Store's book department, forgot and put it on the shelves on July 14th, (I get the feeling not to many members of dooyoo trust me, but you can check this out with CNN). I bought the book then, and they offered me a lot of things to bring it back, but I didn't.
I paid $26.00 CAD plus for the soft covered book.
There are 672 pages in this book.
ISBN #155192756X
All Harry Potter Books Are Available: Hardcover, audio casette, soft cover and later in pocketbook and e-books.
My Conclusion
This book was good but not great. It is worth the money I paid for it. Every writer has a not a great day/book and this was Rowlings.
Thanks reading my review.
©LL2005
