Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a fantasy novel by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series, and takes place during Harry Potter's sixth year at the wizard school Hogwarts. The novel reveals events from the early life of Lord Voldemort, and chronicles Harry's preparations for the final battle against him.
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, a record eventually broken by its sequel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 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
Narcissa Malfoy convinces Hogwarts professor Severus Snape to make an Unbreakable Vow to protect her son, Draco, while Draco carries out a mission for Lord Voldemort at the school. Meanwhile, Harry Potter is escorted by Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore to spend the summer with the Weasley family. On the way, they stop to persuade former Hogwarts professor Horace Slughorn to return to the school to teach Potions. While shopping for school supplies, Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger see Draco making enquiries at a shop associated with the Dark Arts. Harry later overhears Draco claiming that he has become a Death Eater.
At Hogwarts, Harry excels at Potions after discovering an old textbook filled with annotations written by the "Half-Blood Prince"; Harry wins a vial of the luck potion Felix Felicis in a class competition. He learns about Voldemort's past by viewing memories in a Pensieve with Dumbledore. Voldemort grew up in a Muggle orphanage, where he used his powers to harm other children. In his later years at Hogwarts, Voldemort questioned Slughorn about a Dark magical object called a Horcrux, which grants immortality. Dumbledore asks Harry to retrieve a memory from Slughorn, as the memory he showed Harry had been altered.
Meanwhile, Gryffindor student Katie Bell is nearly killed. Harry suspects Draco is responsible but lacks proof. He continues trying to expose Draco while fulfilling his duties as captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He also realises that he has feelings for Ron's sister, Ginny. Ron feels excluded from his friend group because he is the only one not invited to an exclusive club run by Slughorn. Hermione invites Ron to the club's Christmas party, but he argues with her after learning about her past relationship with Viktor Krum. Afterwards, Ron begins to perform poorly in Quidditch matches.
Harry tries to repair Ron and Hermione's relationship and restore Ron's confidence, but he fails. Ron begins dating Lavender Brown to spite Hermione, prompting Hermione to lash out at him. At Slughorn's party, Harry overhears Draco refusing Snape's offer to help him with his mission. Harry informs Hermione, Arthur Weasley, and Remus Lupin, but they believe Snape was spying for Dumbledore. Ron and Hermione reconcile after Ron almost dies by poisoning. After multiple failed attempts to obtain the memory, Harry uses Felix Felicis to successfully persuade Slughorn to relinquish it.
The memory reveals that Slughorn told Voldemort how to create a Horcrux: by committing murder, a wizard can split their soul into parts which can be placed in enchanted objects. Dumbledore believes that Voldemort has split his soul into seven parts, each of which is contained in a Horcrux. Dumbledore deduces that two Horcruxes have already been destroyed, but four are still hidden. Meanwhile, Harry begins dating Ginny and duels Draco, severely injuring him with spells taken from the Potions textbook. Harry learns that Snape informed Voldemort of the prophecy concerning him, which led to the murder of Harry's parents. When confronted, Dumbledore defends Snape and claims that Snape regretted his actions.
Dumbledore and Harry encounter several obstacles while retrieving a Horcrux from a remote cave. Back at Hogwarts, a weakened Dumbledore is ambushed by Death Eaters, who have infiltrated the castle with Draco's help. Dumbledore immobilises Harry beneath the invisibility cloak, before Draco disarms Dumbledore. Harry then watches as Snape arrives and kills Dumbledore. The Death Eaters escape and Harry gives chase and subdues several of them, but is ultimately defeated by Snape. Before escaping with Draco, Snape also reveals that he is the Half-Blood Prince to Harry.
Harry learns that the Horcrux he retrieved with Dumbledore is a fake. At Dumbledore's funeral, Harry ends his relationship with Ginny to protect her and decides to find and destroy the Horcruxes with Ron and Hermione.
Development Series
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth novel in the Harry Potter series. The first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was originally published by Bloomsbury in 1997. Philosopher's Stone was followed by Chamber of Secrets (1998), Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Goblet of Fire (2000), and Order of the Phoenix (2003). Half-Blood Prince was followed by the final novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Half-Blood Prince sold 9 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release.
Background
J. K. 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. She started writing the book before her second child David was born, but she took a break to care for him. The first chapter, "The Other Minister", which features meetings between the Muggle Prime Minister, Minister for Magic Cornelius 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. She stated that she was "seriously upset" writing the end of the book, although Goblet of Fire was the hardest to write. 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!"
Rowling revealed the title of Half-Blood Prince on her website on 24 June 2004. 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. On 21 December 2004, she announced she had finished writing it, along with the release date of 16 July. Bloomsbury unveiled the cover on 8 March 2005.
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. Additionally, in response to Greenpeace's campaign on using forest-friendly paper for big-name authors, Bloomsbury published the book on 30% recycled paper.
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. Purchasers were offered Harry Potter T-shirts and autographed copies of the book if they returned their copies before 16 July.
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. Richard Stallman called for a boycott and requested the publisher issue an apology. 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. Commentary was also provided on the Raincoast website.
Style and themes Some reviewers noted that Half-Blood Prince contained a darker tone than the previous Potter novels. The Christian Science Monitor reviewer Yvonne Zipp argued the first half contained a lighter tone to soften the unhappy ending. 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." Christopher Paolini called the darker tone "disquieting" because it was so different from the earlier books. 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. 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.
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.
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. 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." 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." Paolini had similar views, claiming, "the children have changed...they act like real teenagers."
Publication and reception Critical reception