Book 6: The prologue to Book 7

Unfortunately, this book did not stand up when read directly after Book 5. Where the Order of the Phoenix dove deeply into scene descriptions, superfluous dialogue, and Harry's interiority, this book steps so far back from Harry's feelings that it could be a story from any character's perspective. The plot, while still being better and more cohesive than some other published novels, was very simple for a Harry Potter book. I would equate the Half-Blood Prince with the complexity of the Sorcerer's Stone, only a little more boring because of an utter lack of new and interesting ideas (really, mentioning inferi a million times does not significantly increase the worldbuilding...). This book is the Sorcerer's Stone for older readers.

I'm looking forward to reading the next book, where stuff actually happens again.