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JK Rowling excels herself in 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', which is to be the penultimate book of her series. It's not as long as the fourth or fifth books, and I felt that was much better edited. For one thing, Harry seems believable again. He is angry when anger is appropriate, but otherwise back to his generally likeable character.
Once again there are amazing plot twists and turns. As usual, Harry begins the year at the Dursleys' home at the end of the Summer holidays. More surprisingly, we don't actually see him until chapter three. This time he is visited by Professor Dumbledore himself, the old and wise headmaster of Hogwarts. What an enjoyable scene that is, as Dumbledore gently but firmly tries to teach the Dursleys some manners, and takes Harry away with him.
But the book opens with quite a different scene: the UK Prime Minister having a conference with the Minister of Magic. Apparently JK Rowling had wanted to use a variation of this for a couple of the previous books but it had never seemed quite right. However it works extremely well in this book, giving a sense of urgency and also cleverly explaining a little of the major plots of previous books from a point of view that does not seem tedious.
Almost immediately we switch to a very dramatic chapter featuring some rather dubious characters, and a plot twist which Harry and Dumbledore know nothing about. Could it be a bluff? I did wonder vaguely. But no, I figured that this was where we, the readers, learn something we had suspected for a while. This knowledge heightens the suspense in the rest of the book - and yes, it's very dramatic, with plenty of action and suspense.
I had heard that there was 'lots of teenage hormonal stuff' in this particular book, and wasn't entirely sure what to expect. It turned out to have a great deal of kissing and a fair amount of talking about who was going out with whom. But there is really nothing unsuitable for young children. Indeed, those under about the age of twelve would probably find those sections rather boring and would want to move on rapidly.
Much of the book involves Harry learning - at last - about his destiny, and also more about Voldemort's childhood. This is done very cleverly, showing not telling as Harry and Dumbledore enter the Pensieve which takes them back into somebody's memory. These episodes do fill in a lot of gaps.
The ending is thrilling - unputdownable! - as we have come to expect with this series. And it leaves the way wide open for book seven... which I hope won't take as long to complete as this one did!
Is it a Christian apocalyptic series? I'm still in two minds. There is a lot of Christian symbolism in the Harry Potter books, and the values honoured are certainly Christian ones. The plot developments in this book fit right in with what might be expected in a series giving the same kind of loose analogies as the Narnia books, or Lord of the Rings. It remains to be seen how the last book will finish, but I'm more confident that Harry will emerge the winner, even if he loses much along the way. I wasn't so sure after the rather dark book four.
I don't think this book stands alone very well. It would be extremely confusing for someone who had not read any of the previous books (or perhaps seen the movies). I think I'd have found it pretty confusing, for that matter, if I hadn't re-read all the others immediately beforehand. There's a large cast of people. If I didn't already know most of them from the earlier books, I would have become immensely muddled. I also would not have appreciated the various subplots properly.
I also think it's really a book for older children and teenagers. Some of the concepts could be a bit frightening or puzzling for a child of six or seven. But no doubt it will be read by (or read to) children of all ages - it's already one of the fastest-selling novels of all time.
Highly recommended.
Here are my reviews of the earlier books in the series after re-reading them all recently:
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