WARNING! BOOK SPOILS AHEAD!

                                                                     J. K. Rowling's sixth submission in the life of young wizard Harry Potter has to be the most impactive of the books so far. As a very devoted reader, I have to say that this book held onto me tighter than the others.

                                                           The book picks up only weeks after the end of Harry's fifth year. The Ministry of Magic has finally admitted that Harry was telling the truth and Lord Voldemort has indeed returned. The Death-Eaters are again doing their master's bidding and the whole wizardy world is in turmoil.

                                                           And even though the world is afriad, school continues. After spending most of the summer with the Weasley's at The Burrow, Harry goes back to school having gotten seven O.W.L.s and the news that he is the new Quidditch Captian for Gryffindor House.

                                                                                                   And, not surprisingly, a new teacher has arrived at school, whom Harry has gotten to come to Hogwarts for Professor Dumbledore. But, oho, at the end of the return to school feast, Prof. Dumbledore introduces Prof Slughorn as the new Potions teacher. But that means...

                                                                               Yes, Snape has become the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. All his waiting has finally paid off, it seems.

                                                                     Which means (even though he didn't get the Outstanding in Potions as Snape demanded) that Harry could now follow his path as an Auror. So, Potions is back on his list of classes.

                                                                                                   But, because he was sure he wasn't taking the class, Harry had not bought anything for the class while at Diagon Alley with the Weasleys. Prof Slughorn lets him borrow one of the Advanced Potions Making books that were left in the classroom by students. But Harry finds that he has difficulty reading the directions because the previous owner had written all over the book. Finally, frustrated over the first potion he is trying to make, he follows the scrawled directions... and ends up with the best potion in the class.

In enters The Half-Blood Prince.

                                       Professor Dumbledore has also decided that Harry needs private lessons. It seems, Dumbledore has acquired some very interesting memories that will help Harry with his fight against Voldemort.

                                                 (indent}With captaining the team, wondering about Snape, wondering about Malfoy (who is acting quite strange; even for Malfoy), following the directions in the Half-Blood Prince's Potions book, and private late-night lessons with Dumbledore, Harry is quite busy.

What else could happen, right?

Oh, here's a small list to get your juices flowing...

                                                                                                             There's a mystery surrounding Tonks, Sirius's cousin that we met in book five.

         Ron and Hermione's relationship takes a bad turn... Are we really that surprised? It's quite time they just admitted the truth, isn't it?

         A budding romance for Harry...Hmm, who could it be?

         A student is poisoned.

         A student is cursed.

         Harry ends up in the Hospital wing...again.

         Someone is making wedding plans.

         Someone is attacked by a werewolf (not Lupin; how could you think such a thing?)

         A lake full of the walking dead, guarding a glow of green.

         The Dark Mark above the school.

         The identity of the Half-Blood Prince revealed.

         And lastly...

                                       A death that will rock the whole wizarding world to its foundation. A death that even left me gasping and crying at the injustice.

                                                           And so my friends, Harry learns some very good lessons this year. And the most important is that he has to do what he has to do. And he must do it alone.

the suspense. What's Malfoy doing? Is Snape helping him or the Order? Where does Dumbledore disappear to? And who in the world is the Half-Blood Prince?

kill Ms. Rowling. But I will not elaborate on this. You will certainly understand once you have read this book.

too many things to explain.

Ms. Rowling knows how to create a character that people love. She also knows how to create characters that people hate. They are so real, you find yourself wanting to shout at them through the book, or offer a comforting hand, or even a hug. As a writer, I aspire to create the kind of memorable characters that will go down in history the way Ms. Rowling has.

if you love Harry Potter the way I do, you'll never be able to resist. Don't even fight it. When you finally turn the last page, you won't be sorry... at least not that you read it anyway.

For you Quiddich fans...Gryffindor house wins again!

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Created Jul 26, 2005 at 9:33pm • Submit your own review...