Disclaimer: I received this book from my mother. Thank you mom! All opinions are my own.

Book: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Author: J.K. Rowling

Book Series: Harry Potter

Rating: 3.5/5

Publication Date: September 16, 2006

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 14+ (violence, gore, death)

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Pages: 652

Amazon Link

Synopsis: The war against Voldemort is not going well; even Muggle governments are noticing. Ron scans the obituary pages of the Daily Prophet, looking for familiar names. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses.

And yet . . .

As in all wars, life goes on. The Weasley twins expand their business. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate - and lose a few eyebrows in the process. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, through Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.

So it's the home front that takes center stage in the multilayered sixth installment of the story of Harry Potter. Here at Hogwarts, Harry will search for the full and complete story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort - and thereby find what may be his only vulnerability.

Review: Overall, I really liked this book! I loved the continued development of the trio and I loved seeing the relationships form. I loved the world building and the writing was pretty well done. The plot also kept me intrigued throughout the book.

However, I didn’t like this one as much as others. I loved to see the start of the horcruxes, but I think that this book could have been written better. I think that a duel POV with Harry and Draco would have been better and would have saved the word vomit at the end of the book explaining everything that happened. The ending of the book was also chaotic and the beginning was super slow.

Verdict: It was decent.