Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2005
672 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
The war against Voldemort is not going well; even Muggle governments are noticing. Ron scans the obituary pages of the Daily Prophet, looking for familiar names. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses.
And yet...
As in all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate -- and lose a few eyebrows in the process. The Weasley twins expand their business. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.
So it's the home front that takes center stage in the multilayered sixth installment of the story of Harry Potter. Here at Hogwarts, Harry will search for the full and complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort -- and thereby find what may be his only vulnerability.
"… the darkest and most unsettling installment yet … It is a novel that pulls together dozens of plot strands from previous volumes, underscoring how cleverly and carefully J. K. Rowling has assembled this giant jigsaw puzzle of an epic" - The New York Times
"Rowling shepherds her hero's arduous trek to maturity with her customary grace and good humor, though she has infused her story with more bone-cracking and blood-spattering than may be tolerable for many of the young readers who have followed Harry's adventures so far." - The Washington Post
"The dark tone, snogging (kissing), and a shocker of an ending make this a better choice for older readers. (ages 8 to 12)" - Child Magazine
"Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults." - KLIATT
"All in all, a great read. Fans of Harry Potter will not be disappointed." - Children's Literature
"This sixth book may be darker and more difficult, but Potter fans will devour it and begin the long and bittersweet wait for the final installment." - School Library Journal
This information about Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Joanne Kathleen Rowling (pronounced rolling) was born on July 31st, 1965 in
Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England. Her sister, Di, was born a little
under 2 years later. Rowling can remember telling stories from early on
and writing down her first story when she was 5 or 6 years old - about a rabbit
called Rabbit who got the measles and was visited by friends including a giant
bee called Miss Bee.
She moved house twice while growing up. The first was from Yate, just
outside Bristol, to Winterbourne - also close to Bristol. In Winterbourne
she was friends with a brother and sister whose surname was Potter. She
says she always liked the name, and preferred it to her own because the children
always made annoying jokes about rolling pins!
...
... Full Biography
Link to J.K. Rowling's Website
Name Pronunciation
J.K. Rowling: rolling
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