Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince – Review


Rating: *****
(Lowest: * Highest: *****)

The Sixth and the Penultimate book of the Harry Potter Series sets up the perfect battle between good and evil. The 600 odd paged book is by far the best of the series. The book provides the immaculate mixture of action, drama, romance and thrill. The book is by far the darkest of the six but the magic of humor and romance ligthtens the scenarios and brings a smile to the face.

Harry, Ron and Hermione return to Hogwarts amid the dark clouds of the Rise of the Dark Lord above them. The OWLs are over and there is a new Defence Of The Dark Arts teacher. This year for Harry its all about building up his defences for his final face off against Lord Voldermort.

In Case you have not read the book. Skip the spoilers.

The book reforms Ginny to something more than Ron’s Sister in Harry’s eyes. Her part in the book is clearly directed towards the “Weapon, The Dark Lord Knows not of”. Probably JKR wanted a stricter defination of Love and by making Ginny the true love of Harry made him stronger and weaker at the same time.

Snape and Darco enjoy a much better presence in this book. They play a major role and their deflection to the dark side was almost awaited. The part of Snape being the Half Blood Price took me back and absolutely surprised me.

Dumbeldore’s death in this episode will probably be an important turning point in Harry’s life. The fact that JKR chose the year before Harry comes of age(17 in the wizarding world) to kill off the headmaster shows that his fight with Voldemort will be man v/s man.

Despite whatever any one says my favourite part of this book will remain the way Harry persued Ginny and the Quidditch matches. The Horcruxes was another spectacular addition to the complications.

Every time I read the last para of this book the anticipation for the next book increases. Having read the 6 books back to back the wait for the 7th will be almost torturous.