Harry's got a Girlfriend!!!!!! (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling)

Member Name: sewbizzie

Product:	Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling
Date:	04/06/09 (111 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: gripping reading, wonderufl characters, darker story than the previous books

Disadvantages: A few words which some children may struggle to read

Getting back to reading the series of Harry Potter books, this was the next one in the series which is called Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It is book 6 out of 7.

The book starts with the Prime Mister getting a visit from the Minister of Magic and having to explain that all of the goings on in the country are in fact caused by wizards and magic and that the much feared Dark Lord has returned and is reeking havoc. The wizard world is facing a hard time as the Dark Lord has his death Eaters out causing murder and mayhem.

Harry is back with the Dursleys and spending his summer holidays there when he gets a letter by owl to say that Dumbledore will be collecting him later that evening to help him with something before going to stay with his friends the Weasleys. Harry and Dumbledore are off to try and pursued Slughorn to come and work at Hogwarts with them as they are in need of a new teacher. Finally they get him to agree and Harry soon finds himself with his friends, Ron, Hermione and Ginny spending the rest of the holidays enjoying themselves before returning to school. Harry finds out now about all the trouble which is being caused and soon realises how bad things have got.

Upon a very secure visit to the wizard shops Harry spots his old enemy sneaking around and threatening an old man working in one of the shops and Harry decides that he is up to no good and he is determined to find out what it is but when on their way back to school aboard the Hogwarts Express Harry gets on the wrong side of Malfoy and they end up fighting.

School brings a comfort to Harry now he is back and he is also working with Dumbledore trying to get behind the Dark Lord's past so they can find a way to bring him down as from the last book we found it is Harry's destiny to kill him. Harry is still also trying to find out what Malfoy is getting up to.

In their Potions lesson Harry finds he has not got the book he needs so gets one from the store cupboard but is a bit disheartened when he finds it is covered in writing and notes but he soon finds that these are a great help to him and after some research he finds that the writer called himself the Half Blood Prince and he has him own different ways of making the potions and has also come up with new spells. Hermione warns Harry of the dangers of using these but he takes no notice and soon finds he is excelling in his Potions classes.

As the school year continues the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters and still killing and causing big problems but Harry is still trying to work out who the half Blood Prince is and just what Malfoy is being ordered to do by the Dark Lord. Will he be able to work all of it out and will he again have to face the Dark Lord himself?

This book is by far the best so far in my opinion. I have briefly touched on the plot but it is hard to do this as there is a lot going on in this book and the characters all have their own bits of storyline with other things happening to them. I did like the return of the old favourite characters and especially Hagrid as for some reason I think he brings an element of humour to the story. I liked how he showed his emotions in this book as is showed a different side to him and made him more human.

The difference in the characters this year did reflect in the writing and J K Rowling managed to put across the aging of them all very well. I did think that she touched upon the romance and the fact that Ron gets himself a girlfriend very well and handled it with a slight amount of humour. I also liked how Harry was in love with Ginny and struggled with his feeling for his best friend, Ginny's brother and this made the characters more real in my eyes as these are the problems which teenagers face all the time.

J K Rowling has managed to write this book is a wonderful way which makes it appeal both to children and adults and it is so easy to read and follow. I did find that there were a few tricky words which children may struggle with, like names of spells and potions, but with a bit of help they will soon be able to read them for themselves and a lot of the words are repeated so they will become much simpler to read.

I found that whilst reading this book I was feeling so many different emotions, I would be scared and worried for the characters but then the next minute I would be laughing at something silly they had done and the worst part of the book comes towards the end when I was feeling very sad indeed and I think it bought out my maternal side!

This book is definitely much darker and scarier than the previous once but I don't think it is too scary for children as we all know Harry doesn't die as there is another book to follow! I still cannot make any reference to the film of this book as I have managed to stay away from it as I do not want to spoil the images of the characters and places which I have by watching the films.

I was bought this book as a gift for my Birthday but the retails price on the back cover is £7.99 for the paperback edition but I have seen this in Tesco for just £5 which I feel is a great price. The book was written by J K Rowling and published by Bloomsbury.

I do recommend this book and indeed the whole series as it is just such a wonderful story with great characters which will have both children and adults feeling so many different emotions.

Well of the read the final book next!

Summary: Book 6 in the series of Harry Potter books, Best so far in my opinion!