Book Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (No Spoilers!)

Boy, has Jo Rowling done it. I'm not sure if Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince isn't my favorite in the series. Before this it was The Goblet of Fire. But the two books are very different.

They are both very tight, but where Goblet of Fire is more adventure, Half-Blood Prince is more psychological, delving into the backstory of Tom Riddle, Snape, Dumbledore (a little) and others, where we get most of the answers.

We all had our questions: What did Harry get on his O.W.L.S? Will he get the grades he needs to be an Auror? Will certain persons get together? Who will die (Jo told us more would)? Who is the Half-Blood Prince?

Jo, herself, said her fans asked great questions, except for one thing: She wondered why no one had asked why Voldemort didn't die when his killing curse rebounded upon himself, and why no one had asked what he meant when he said that he had gone further into immortality than any other wizard.

All these questions are answered in this book, but along with the answers come new questions. I had a fleeting thought before I read the book, that a certain person would die, and it turned out I was right, but the big surprise is who does the killing.

The 'why' and the 'how' of the enmity Voldemort has for Harry (and why Voldemort didn't die) are taken care of. The big question left? Whether Harry will be able to do what he needs to do to end it.

Good editing, good character development and interesting backstories are just some of the things that I like about Half-Blood Prince.

I can't wait for the seventh book. Hats off to Jo Rowling! It just keeps getting better and better.