If this is your first
Harry Potter book, prepare to be confused. Author J.K. Rowling again provides little background information about this unusual boy and how he ended up at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If you've read and enjoyed them all, the sixth book should be a blast.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince starts off with no hesitations, giving readers adventure in the first three chapters. In this book, both the Muggle and the wizard worlds are falling apart. Ever since Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban prison three years before, the wizard who serves as the Minister of Magic started paying explanatory visits to the Prime Minister of England, but things are getting worse. Attacks by Lord Voldemort (the Dark Lord, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named) are beginning to be noticed by Muggles.
Is Hogwarts no longer safe for Harry and his friends? Who is this half-blood prince? You will find yourself spinning along in the rush of Rowling's latest, a rich and complex work. The main group of characters-Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger-are joined by Ginny Weasley, Ron's little sister, who plays a bigger part in their lives and adventures. Draco Malfoy, Harry's arch enemy, also plays a more prominent role than in previous books. Harry, for his part, has matured greatly after his rough fifth year at Hogwarts.
As Rowling established in earlier books, Harry and Voldemort are linked by fate, so Headmaster Albus Dumbledore decides to help Harry by giving the young wizard as much insight to the Dark Lord as possible. This information helps readers understand events and stories scattered throughout the earlier books. I loved the book; I only wish that some of the events did not happen, including the death of an important person in Harry's life. (I'm trying not to give away the plot, you know!) Still, I understand why Rowling included them, and I accept that.
As in book five, this one builds to a race of adventure in the last chapters, leaving readers another ending that makes them want to read more.
Torry-Schrag, 10, will be a fifth-grader this fall at Oak Tree School in Forest Grove.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceBy J.K. Rowling (Arthur A. Levine Books, 672 pages, $29.99.)
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