In light of the latest Harry Potter film, I decided to reread the book before going to see it. This review is acting as a reanalysis of my original opinions on the novel.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Having seen the trailers for the film, I realised that I don’t know this book nearly as well as the first five. This and the seventh in the series are the only two Harry Potter that I hadn’t reread. I therefore took the new movie as an excuse to read it again, something my father is not impressed with. He always told me when I was younger to read stuff other than Harry Potter for a change. Perhaps this was the reason why I stopped reading books more than once (except for studies, of course).
Reading this again I realised just how easy the Harry Potter series is to consume. J. K. Rowling’s style is extremely accessible, yet it doesn’t feel childish. This is one of the charms of the series; children can easily read them without getting lost or confused, and adults can read without feeling patronised by the narrative voice. The entire series reads very quickly. The plot moves quickly, but not too fast to keep up with.
It was a book I got lost in. Although I have read it before and knew the basics of what would happen, it was still an emotive and shocking read. Rowling did an excellent job at manipulating the emotions, particularly during the climax and the very end of the novel. The tension, revelation, and aftermath are all expertly conducted, and I even felt tears welling in my eyes as I was reading.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince UK Cover
Rowling reintroduces the beloved characters of the previous instalments, but they are clearly growing up. There are few new characters, but there are now so many in this universe that this is probably not a bad thing. The maturity of the main characters is also evident in the theme and tone of the novel. Compared to first few books, it is much darker and deeper than any of them. Rowling seems to be aware that the readers who first read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone are growing up.
Perhaps one thing that made me not enjoy this novel as much as the others is the fact that it is nearly all exposition. The scenes with Dumbledore and Harry are excellent for filling in vital information about the plot, and cleverly answer the questions that readers have been forming over the series, but this is an entire book of exposition. There is certainly less action than in the previous instalments, and seems to move along at a slower pace. There is little conflict, but this is contrasted with the exciting climax that the novel comes to.
It is evident from this novel that Rowling is taking a slightly different track with her series. It is, after all, the second to last of the series, but the change in approach seems a little drastic. There seems little connection between the revealed secrets and the rest of the series. True, she does develop some ideas that seem thrown in earlier books cleverly (I’m not sure if she planted them consciously, or thought about using them afterwards; either way, she does a good job of using older material), but Harry’s new task of finding the Horcruxes seems far flung from his previous adventures.
Overall, this novel is another excellent addition to the series. Rowling does a great job of further developing the intriguing plot, and whilst the book does feel a little saturated with exposition and backstory, none of it is irrelevant. Little of this book would make sense unless you have read the first five novels, so I would recommend this only if you intend on reading the entire series from start to finish.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince US Cover
Character: 10/10
Plot: 8/10
Style: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
