Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series. Set during Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts, the novel explores the past of the boy wizard's nemesis, Lord Voldemort, and Harry's preparations for the final battle against Voldemort alongside his headmaster and mentor Albus Dumbledore.
The book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury and in the United States by Scholastic on 16 July 2005, as well as in several other countries. It sold almost seven million copies in the first 24 hours after its release,[1] a record eventually broken by its sequel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.[2] There were many controversies before and after it was published, including the right-to-read copies delivered before the release date in Canada. Reception to the novel was generally positive, and it won several awards and honours, including the 2006 British Book of the Year award.
Reviewers noted that the book had a darker tone than its predecessors, though it did contain some humour. Some considered the main themes love, death, trust, and redemption. The considerable character development of Harry and many other teenage characters also drew attention.
Plot
New Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, meets with the Muggle prime minister to discuss recent wizarding events affecting the non-magical world. Meanwhile, Harry, grieving his late godfather, Sirius Black, endures another summer at the Dursleys. Dumbledore unexpectedly arrives to escort Harry to the Weasleys' home. First, they visit retired Hogwarts professor Horace Slughorn, whom Dumbledore wants to resume his former post. Slughorn agrees only after meeting the famous Harry Potter. Elsewhere, Bellatrix Lestrange and her sister Narcissa Malfoy secretly seek out Severus Snape at his home. Narcissa asks Snape to make an Unbreakable Vow to protect her son, Draco, and to carry out a task, should he fail.
While school shopping in Diagon Alley, Harry, Ron, and Hermione observe Draco suspiciously slipping into Knockturn Alley. On the Hogwarts Express, Harry, wearing his Invisibility Cloak, overhears Draco claim he may not return to Hogwarts the following year to instead, "go on to better things." Harry suspects that Draco may have become a Death Eater. During the Welcome Feast, Slughorn is introduced as the new Potions teacher while Snape is now the Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor. Harry and Ron take Slughorn's advanced potions class. Harry finds a tattered potions textbook bearing the inscription, 'The Half-Blood Prince.' The book contains tips, as well as new spells, scribbled in the book margins that yield better results than the printed instructions. With it, Harry rises to the top of the class and wins a vial of Felix Felicis, a luck-enhancing potion. Hermione says Harry is cheating while Slughorn compares his potions skill to his mother, Lily.
Dumbledore begins tutoring Harry on Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort, to prepare him for their foretold battle. He shows Harry memories of Riddle's past, including his meeting young Riddle in an orphanage. One memory from Slughorn's early Hogwarts' days suddenly goes dark when Riddle utters the word, 'horcrux'. This memory has been altered, and Dumbledore tasks Harry with retrieving Slughorn's true one. To that end, Harry attends the Slug Club, an informal group of Slughorn's favourite students. Hermione and Ginny are also included, though Ron is excluded.
Hermione invites Ron to Slughorn's Christmas party, but he remains upset about her previous relationship with Viktor Krum and begins seeing Lavender Brown, inducing strong jealousy in Hermione. Harry takes Luna Lovegood to the party but leaves early to follow Draco when he gatecrashes the event. Shortly after, Ron is poisoned drinking mead that Slughorn had intended as a gift for Dumbledore. Ron survives but while he is in the infirmary, Lavender breaks up with him when he favors Hermione. Also, Harry and Ginny become romantically involved.
Using the Felix Felicis potion, Harry successfully obtains Slughorn's unaltered memory. It reveals how Tom Riddle created six Horcruxes to become immortal. Horcruxes, magical objects encasing one's soul, are created with ancient dark magic. Two, Riddle's diary and a ring, have been destroyed, but Dumbledore believes four Horcruxes remain.
Dumbledore discovers another Horcrux location, and he and Harry journey to a remote cave. Inside, a Horcrux is hidden under protective enchantments in the middle of a lake. Dumbledore nearly dies retrieving a Locket Horcrux. Returning to Hogwarts, Dumbledore and Harry see the Dark Mark hovering above the Astronomy Tower. Atop the tower, they hear footsteps approaching. Dumbledore casts a protective spell on Harry, forcing him to watch helplessly when Draco arrives and disarms Dumbledore. A distressed Draco reveals that Voldemort ordered him to murder Dumbledore. He is unable to follow through, however; Snape arrives and casts the Killing Curse at Dumbledore.
Released from Dumbledore's protection, Harry pursues Snape, firing a curse at him. Snape easily deflects it. Snape taunts Harry for using his own spell against him and reveals that he is the Half-Blood Prince. Snape escapes with Draco through the ensuing battle between Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore's lifeless body is found at the base of Astronomy Tower. Representatives from all wizarding races attend his funeral. Later, Harry discovers that the Locket Horcrux is fake, switched by someone whose initials are, R.A.B. Ron and Hermione vow to help Harry find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes. To protect Ginny, Harry ends their relationship.
Rowling spent years planning Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Rowling stated that she had Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince "planned for years," but she spent two months revisiting her plan before she began writing the story's first draft. This was a lesson learned after she did not check the plan for Goblet of Fire and had to rewrite an entire third of the book.[12] She started writing the book before her second child, David, was born, but she took a break to care for him.[13] The first chapter, "The Other Minister", which features meetings between the Muggle Prime Minister, Minister for MagicCornelius Fudge, and his successor, Rufus Scrimgeour, was a concept Rowling tried to start in Philosopher's Stone, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Order of the Phoenix, but she found "it finally works" in Half-Blood Prince.[14] She stated that she was "seriously upset" writing the end of the book, although Goblet of Fire was the hardest to write.[15] When asked if she liked the book, she responded, "I like it better than I liked Goblet, Phoenix or Chamber when I finished them. Book six does what I wanted it to do and even if nobody else likes it (and some won't), I know it will remain one of my favourites of the series. Ultimately you have to please yourself before you please anyone else!"[16]
Rowling revealed the title of Half-Blood Prince on her website on 24 June 2004.[17] This was the title she had once considered for the second book, Chamber of Secrets, though she decided the information disclosed belonged later on in the story.[18] On 21 December 2004, she announced she had finished writing it, along with the release date of 16 July.[19][20] Bloomsbury unveiled the cover on 8 March 2005.[21]
Controversies
The record-breaking publication of Half-Blood Prince was accompanied by controversy. In May 2005, bookmakers in the UK suspended bets on which main character would die in the book amid fears of insider knowledge. A number of high-value bets were made on the death of Albus Dumbledore, many coming from the town of Bungay where it was believed the books were being printed at the time. Betting was later reopened.[22] Additionally, in response to Greenpeace's campaign on using forest friendly paper for big-name authors, Bloomsbury published the book on 30% recycled paper.[23]
Right-to-read controversy
In early July 2005, a Real Canadian Superstore in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, accidentally sold fourteen copies of The Half-Blood Prince before the authorised release date. The Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books, obtained an injunction from the Supreme Court of British Columbia that prohibited the purchasers from reading the books before the official release date or discussing the contents.[24] Purchasers were offered Harry Potter T-shirts and autographed copies of the book if they returned their copies before 16 July.[24]
On 15 July, less than twelve hours before the book went on sale in the Eastern time zone, Raincoast warned The Globe and Mail newspaper that publishing a review from a Canada-based writer at midnight, as the paper had promised, would be seen as a violation of the trade secret injunction. The injunction sparked a number of news articles alleging that the injunction had restricted fundamental rights. Canadian law professor Michael Geist posted commentary on his blog.[25]Richard Stallman called for a boycott and requested the publisher issue an apology.[26]The Globe and Mail published a review from two UK-based writers in its 16 July edition and posted the Canadian writer's review on its website at 9:00 that morning.[27] Commentary was also provided on the Raincoast website.[28]
Style and themes
Some reviewers noted that Half-Blood Prince contained a darker tone than the previous Potter novels. The Christian Science Monitor's reviewer Yvonne Zipp argued the first half contained a lighter tone to soften the unhappy ending.[29]The Boston Globe reviewer Liz Rosenberg wrote, "lightness [is] slimmer than ever in this darkening series...[there is] a new charge of gloom and darkness. I felt depressed by the time I was two-thirds of the way through." She also compared the setting to Charles Dickens's depictions of London as it was "brooding, broken, gold-lit, as living a character as any other."[30]Christopher Paolini called the darker tone "disquieting" because it was so different from the earlier books.[31] Liesl Schillinger, a contributor to The New York Times book review, also noted that Half-Blood Prince was "far darker" but "leavened with humor, romance and snappy dialogue." She suggested a connection to the 11 September attacks, as the later, darker novels were written after that event.[32] David Kipen, a critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, considered the "darkness as a sign of our paranoid times" and singled out curfews and searches that were part of the tightened security at Hogwarts as resemblances to our world.[33]
Julia Keller, a critic for the Chicago Tribune, highlighted the humour found in the novel and claimed it to be the success of the Harry Potter saga. She acknowledged that "the books are dark and scary in places" but "no darkness in Half-Blood Prince...is so immense that it cannot be rescued by a snicker or a smirk." She considered that Rowling was suggesting difficult times can be worked through with imagination, hope, and humour and compared this concept to works such as Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time and Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows.[34]
Rosenberg wrote that the two main themes of Half-Blood Prince were love and death and praised Rowling's "affirmation of their central position in human lives." She considered love to be represented in several forms: the love of parent to child, teacher to student, and the romances that developed between the main characters.[30] Zipp noted trust and redemption to be themes promising to continue in the final book, which she thought "would add a greater layer of nuance and complexity to some characters who could sorely use it."[29] Deepti Hajela also pointed out Harry's character development, that he was "no longer a boy wizard; he's a young man, determined to seek out and face a young man's challenges."[35] Paolini had similar views, claiming, "the children have changed...they act like real teenagers."[31]
Publication and reception
Critical reception
On Metacritic, the book received a 77 out of 100 based on 23 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[36] Liesl Schillinger of The New York Times praised the novel's various themes and suspenseful ending. However, she considered Rowling's gift "not so much for language as for characterisation and plotting."[32]Kirkus Reviews said it "will leave readers pleased, amused, excited, scared, infuriated, delighted, sad, surprised, thoughtful and likely wondering where Voldemort has got to, since he appears only in flashbacks." They considered Rowling's "wry wit" to turn into "outright merriment" but called the climax "tragic, but not uncomfortably shocking."[37] Yvonne Zipp of The Christian Science Monitor praised the way Rowling evolved Harry into a teenager and how the plot threads found as far back as Chamber of Secrets came into play. On the other hand, she noted it "gets a little exposition-heavy in spots," and older readers may have seen the ending coming.[29]
The Boston Globe correspondent Liz Rosenberg wrote, "The book bears the mark of genius on every page" and praised the imagery and darker tone of the book, considering that the series could be crossing over from fantasy to horror.[30] The Associated Press writer Deepti Hajela praised the newfound emotional tones and ageing Harry to the point at which "younger fans may find [the series] has grown up too much."[35] Emily Green, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, was generally positive about the book but was concerned whether young children could handle the material.[38] Cultural critic Julia Keller of the Chicago Tribune called it the "most eloquent and substantial addition to the series thus far" and considered the key to the success of the Potter novels to be humour.[34]
Awards and honours
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince won several awards, including the 2006 British Book of the Year Award[39] and the 2006 Royal Mail Award for Scottish Children's Books for ages 8–12 in its native United Kingdom.[40] In the United States, the American Library Association listed it among its 2006 Best Books for Young Adults.[41] It won both the 2005 reader-voted Quill Awards for Best Book of the Year and Best Children's Book.[42][43] It also won the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Seal for notable book.[44]
Before publication, 1.4 million pre-orders were placed for Half-Blood Prince on Amazon.com, breaking the record held by the previous novel, Order of the Phoenix, with 1.3 million.[45] The initial print run for Half-Blood Prince was a record-breaking 10.8 million.[46] Within the first 24 hours after release, the book sold 9 million copies worldwide: 2 million in the UK and about 6.9 million in the US,[47] which prompted Scholastic to rush an additional 2.7 million copies into print.[48] Within the first nine weeks of publication, 11 million copies of the US edition were reported to have been sold.[49] The US audiobook, read by Jim Dale, set sales records with 165,000 sold over two days, besting the adaptation of Order of the Phoenix by twenty percent.[50]
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published simultaneously in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.[51] Along with the rest of the books in the Harry Potter series, it was eventually translated into 67 languages.[52] However, because of high security surrounding the manuscript, translators did not get to start on translating Half-Blood Prince until its English release date, and the earliest were not expected to be released until the fall of 2005.[53] In Germany, a group of "hobby translators" translated the book via the internet less than two days after release, long before German translator Klaus Fritz could translate and publish the book.[54]
Editions
Reproductions of artwork by Mary GrandPré (pictured) were available with the Scholastic Deluxe Edition.
Since its wide hardcover release on 16 July 2005, Half-Blood Prince was released as a paperback on 23 June 2006 in the UK.[55] Two days later on 25 July, the paperback edition was released in Canada[56] and the US, where it had an initial print run of 2 million copies.[57] To celebrate the release of the American paperback edition, Scholastic held a six-week sweepstakes event in which participants in an online poll were entered to win prizes.[58] Simultaneous to the original hardcover release was the UK adult edition that featured a new cover[59] and was also released as a paperback on 23 June.[60] Also released on 16 July was the Scholastic "Deluxe Edition," which featured reproductions of Mary GrandPré's artwork and had a print run of about 100,000 copies.[61] Bloomsbury later released a paperback "Special Edition" on 6 July 2009[62] and a "Signature Edition" paperback on 1 November 2010.[63]
The film adaptation of the sixth book was originally scheduled to be released on 21 November 2008 but was changed to 15 July 2009.[64][65] Directed by David Yates, the screenplay was adapted by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman and David Barron.[66] The film grossed over $934 million worldwide,[67] which made it the second-highest-grossing film of 2009 worldwide[68] and the fifteenth-highest of all time.[69] Additionally, Half-Blood Prince gained an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography.[70][71]
^Knapp, N.F. (2003). "In Defense of Harry Potter: An Apologia"(PDF). School Libraries Worldwide. 9 (1). International Association of School Librarianship: 78–91. Archived from the original(PDF) on 9 March 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
^"Speed-reading after lights out". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media Limited. 19 July 2000. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
^Rowling, J.K. (15 March 2004). "Progress on Book Six". J.K. Rowling Official Site. Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
