Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince takes up the story of Harry Potter's sixth year at ... more
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at this point as Voldemort's power and followers are increasing day by day, in the midst of this battle of good and evil. (courtesy Bloomsbury)
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In the previous book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the last chapter, titled ... more
'The Second War Begins,' started: 'In a brief statement on Friday night, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned to this country and is once more active. (courtesy Bloomsbury)
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Advantages: hard to put down, well written, great author Disadvantages: last in series:-(
him.
In this seventh and final book by J.K.Rowling, Dumbledore has given Harry the dark, dangerous and seemingly impossible task of locating and destroying Voldemort.
Harry has two close friends called Ron and Hermione, who have all been together from the beginning of the first year;
Ron is the sixth child in the Weasley family to go to Hogwarts, his five older brothers have also attended/attending the school, his sister Ginny is a year younger and started when Ron was in year 2. His family is well known around the wizarding world and his father works in the 'Ministry of magic.'
Hermione is not from a magical family and therefore referred to as a 'muggle', as it's all to do with their blood line. She has magical powers, so is therefore accepted at Hogwarts, she is very prim and proper, likes to work hard, read a lot and think she ...
Advantages: great characters, great story, original ideas, brilliant and witty writing Disadvantages: length could be a big turn-off for younger kids, but if already enthralled by the rest of the series I doubt it!
Any of you who have happened upon my previous opinions of J.K. rowling's work will have noticed I have referred to her as an 'Enid-Blyton-alike'. But after getting my hands on the fourth and (so far) final book of the series I am forced to revise my opinion. As far as I am concerned, Rowling has finally shown herself to be an author like no other, and in years to come, people will doubtlessly be referring to her as one of the major benchmarks of children's fiction.
Now, most of the time as I read this book I was feeling either a)extremely tired, b)extremely queasy or c) both. No, the book did not bore me, and no the book did not make me feel sick, but so addictive it was, I was reading it late into the night, and the next morning, I unwisely chose(and continued to choose) to read the book on the bus to college(I suffer mildly ...
Advantages: A strong ending, sets up the final book nicely Disadvantages: Over-long, tedious and dull, largely unremarkable
I know not what happened to J.KRowling's editor, but it seems that somewhere along the way, certainly by the previous installment of the Harry Potter series, The Order of the Phoenix, they must have met some untimely end. Perhaps they're hopping around as a bearded frog somewhere, paying the price for daring to suggest that the author may wish to chop a bit out here or there. For whilst books 1-3 were of a sensible, manageable, and above all, enjoyable length, the second three have slowly been ballooning, overfed on rich, fatty success.
Although The Half-Blood Prince hasn't quite swollen to the size of the bloated mass that was its predecessor, it's still a hefty tome, weighed down by 600+ pages of Pottering. One could ponder that this substantial length is necessary to cope with the greater scale and complexity of the plot, perhaps ...
