Books > Reviews

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The Half-Blood Prince is a return to form after the last novel. While the last book felt much like a placeholder (it could be removed from the series and little would be lost), this introduces a lot of new information concerning Voldemort and his relation to immortality.

Our three heroes all learn to apparate (kind of like magical teleporting). There is a new Head Minister at the Ministry of Magic. Hagrid appears much less in this novel than others. This novel is really about Voldemort’s past and it answers many of the questions of his origins well and interestingly.

This is a really good book and well worth reading. I only have two minor complaints.

One problem is the excessive use of the Pensieve. For those unfamiliar with the Pensieve (it hasn’t appeared in the movies yet), it is a cauldron where stored memories (in liquid form) can be poured and then can be entered. This works much like the diary Harry used in the 2nd book.

Rowling uses the Pensieve extensively in this book to serve in place of flashbacks or characters relating past experiences. Sadly, this writer’s tool gets old pretty quickly and seems more like a crutch for mediocre storytelling than a useful story device.

Finally, in my opinion, the end lacks emotional punch. As most people have heard, a main character dies in the finale. I found the death scene and those that followed unmoving emotionally. I hate to say it, but it lacked melodrama. It felt like the writing was telling us there was a major loss rather than helping us experience it.