Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)
by J. K. Rowling
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Book Summary Information
Author: J. K. RowlingBrand: Scholastic
Illustrator: Mary GrandPré
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-07-16
ISBN: 0439784549
Number of pages: 672
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Product features:
- first Edition
- hardback
- collectible
- book 6
- Harry Potter
Book Reviews of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)
Book Review: Aiiinnhh....
Summary: 2 Stars
Reading this book is decidedly like being a budding teenager caught in that 'awkward time' when the body and the mind are in total disagreement with where the soul wants to go.
Unfortunately, that time, for Harry & Co should have passed many moons back and so 'realism' reflects badly upon an author terribly late in getting him out of shortpants.
Of many problems I encountered-
1. I can't endorse the notion of this continuing 'hatred of mudbloods' without some substance to back up the sense of mistrust or contempt (One idea: the Wizarding Community cannot always catch the rogue-talent that genetics and fate occasionally throws up and so there is a real fear of being hunted down and exploited if not exterminated 'as in times past' by a suddenly aware and unruly Muggle populace).
Given these people seem to live in an Avalon of temporal-distortion if not outright dimensional shift, it's not exactly clear how Rowlings would handle the development of such a 'real threat' but it is there as an option.
This rip off of racial prejudice -without cause- in a people who are not natively averse to black/white/pink/purple/light/dark skins, dress and magical attitudes makes for poor reading and bad teaching tool to young people. Nothing derives from nothing. However hollow the justification, it is there.
If you make the pride-and-prejudice idiots sound like they have a real reasoned belief for their idiocy 'that makes sense' and /then/ you hit home HARD when the 'perfect counter' erupts through the actions of the believers in a moral way of doing things. You can teach a lesson about acceptance of the unknown that goes beyond simple disbelief in profile labelling.
Otherwise it comes off preachy-shallow.
2. As with the Star Wars Prequels, I am getting _sick and tired_ of not seeing 'The Adepts BE Adept!' i.e. battles /without/ Harry showing the danger and threat to _adults_ as the New Death Eaters rise up. Indeed, there is little or no evidence of organization on -either- side as a function of how long the odds are and how scary the magic can be when the playtime teachings of Hogwarts are revealed to be but the ABCs of 'really tough magic'.
Silent Spellery helps only a little here. As does 'The Mark Of Zorro' which nearly cuts Malfoy in two.
But even so, the majesty and spectacle of wider fields of play needs to be brought out in a way that make the Quidditch tournament hassles seem mild.
And it needs to be done by someone /other than/ the principle characters so that you can start to make the reader's scared of what their favorite people are about to be immersed into 'all unaware' (of the pablumized Daily Prophet's published views).
Instead, we see the kids entirely too much the center of a 'forced to it by fate' (and an -incredible- amount of exposition) buildup that whimpers out rather than truly scaring or yielding triumphant outcomes (yawn, yet another end-of-novel magical combat).
This is wrong because it doesn't let the (natural at 15-16) kids deal with native fear of becoming an adult.
Even as it keeps the adults from having a leg up on "All well and good, but did you know that /this/ is how it -really happened-?!!" in curbing or developing their adrenal rush attitudes.
Let the SUSPENSE be that of 'the everychild' at the verge of this massive seachange, not simply a "Brave face and keep your pecker up, whot!?" not-so-subtle (and way too safe) propoganda.
It certainly would have made the death at the end more tragic if Harry keeps /thinking/ if he just tries harder, maybe he can stop the slide down the slippery slope. And each time the enemy get's stronger and makes him more uncertain of his innate rightness as death 'just happens' anyway.
Big Funerals were a mistake btw. if you are going to do a Ringling Bros act, you need to time it with yet another escalation in the 'greater war' distracting people from the immediacy of even a sad moment. So that only the central characters are left to ponder the passing of a Great Man in their memories of him (Which is also where a final Pensieve use would have actually been grandiose rather than abusively 3rd person testimonialed).
3. On Leaving Hogwarts and You Know Who's Death. Though I was looking forward to the 'larger world' aspects (dragons and giants and more exotic architecture if nothing else) of doing so, it seems unlikely to me that JKR will be unable to generate the same sense of emotional impact (youth flung into adventure through the gate of a heralds promise/death or a guardian's gauntleted challenge) 'out there' as she could have say, two or three books ago (the whole Goblet Of Fire contest was the portal she should have used, if only to pry Harry up from his roots on a 'scholarship' basis).
IMO, the old codger deserved better as an ending than to be taken out of the game for convenience of pushing Harry's Pawn Forward (yawn, not even the youngest version of the actor can save that tired pretentiousness of role supposition).
And I have a /nasty/ feeling we are now left looking at something like a combination of the end of 'Dragonslayer' and 'Buffy the Vamp Slayer' (films) as The Chosen One either ends up 'blowing up evil in it's own grasping claw' thus and setting himself on the path to Headmaster himself. Or alternatively slides on out 'climbing a hillside, ever in pursuit of evil' whimsy after the next Great Evil (suddenly convenient) is discovered.
Bleeeyurgh.
Again, if you want to **DO IT RIGHT**, here's an alternative _HPATHBP_ ending. Make Harry seem the bad guy or at least the 'utter failure as a Chosen One' (ho boyee, let him realize he ain't all that!) whom Voldemort simply wipes off the battlefield without even a pretense of effort to combat. Let _Hogwarts_ (a more enduring symbol and one easier to resurrect without laughter from the peanut gallery) get nuked by a major force of magic (again, I like dragons) completely beyond all that we have seen before (Come on...Hagrid's /shack/? Snicker, can we say urban renewal project?).
And as/after the kids are evacuated, let it be a forgotten or repudiated Harry who stands over a small marked funeral mound. Lost if not abandoned by all sides as he finally begins his way down his own path, 'because nobody is looking anymore'.
In this, another great waste lay in the Ministry of Magic's continued ineffectual snobbery and attitudes which makes them seem both entirely too snide-similar and improbably able to dominate the Real World PM as The Hand Behind The Throne. Again, either MAKE IT REAL (the invasion of Magic into our World and vice versa) or don't dabble in scenic update convenience.
In the former case, one might even consider, as Voldemorte's 'Ultimate Infraction', the use of Muggles in some enterprise with the power of physical tools (spy cameras or simple numbers of those 'insulated against magic by their very impurity') as a mercenary means to broaden the war and really bring down the Kingdom of separate-but-not-equal that is itself a Jim Crow magic variation of elitism that has yet to be acknowledged.
I'm sure it would amuse Voldie to make his own superiority clear by doing the unthinkable in 'proving he didn't care about anything but power'. Even as it would let the Muggle thugs die horrible deaths that made Harry realize "Remembering how I felt when I first learned, there are some Muggles that don't deserve this...", in the aftermath.
4. The secondary 'love stories'. Especially in light of the movies, I find this to be trite and mistaken. First, because Harry has never been really offered 'The Heroes Choice' (Love or a continuing journey down the _lonely_ Path Of The Hero).
And second, because it denudes the supporting cast of what little open ended decency and insight they once had in making themselves seem special. For they have lost their humorously unique parts as a driving force in the development of Harry's 'not a spoiled but could become that way', inverted character, bringing him down from all the many 'all too ready to be proud' (adult = corrupt as well as wise) whisperers in his ear.
Of course, given the preceding books audiences, you can't do a REAL adolescent love story in a series of this type. Sex is forbidden and love is nothing without passion. So various secondary character's interactions come off as a needless (you know someone with a name like Lavender will never make it to the bigleagues) headlong rush into something doomed to be innocent. While 'all over each other, snogging like eels' comes off as a deliberate false-tease of antithetical attitudes of suggestion and probity. Kids get enough of that kind of mixed messaging from television.
And it effects the story (backfilling Harry's previously stilted romances) in it's apparent need to mirror the soulless evocation of 'young love everywhere' between Ron and Hermione and half the rest of the coed campus as a function of letting Harry finally get into act with the virtually unknown (and kind've icky to be honest) 1-2 years younger Silent Eyed Ginny.
Yet it goes beyond this because Ron especially strikes me as too-long a hapless git with 'confidence problems' to ever be pulled out of his flatline. And that is tragic given the 'tude he displayed in the Chess Game and with the younger Hermione actress as a foil of wit vs. common wisdom.
I don't need another Pacey Witter but given the film actor is freckled ugly, increasingly 'bulked out' to be playing a child part, and utterly lacking the native chemistry the producers seem to like showing between Harry and Hermione on-screen, it couldn't hurt to make the book version of the charactter more noble AND (for want of a love he didn't know he had and thinks he's lost) a LOT more interesting in his willingness to finally bury his nose in his studies so that 'solid' became _solid student_ in at least trying to match Hermione's aloof superiority.
Or indeed /anything/ not second fiddle to Harry to make his worthiness index rise in both his own, hers and OUR eyes.
As is, I see a Hagrid and McGonnagal pair in the making and that is beyond 'incompatible'. Not every love is that of opposites attracting without a mergeance of interests and self respect (maturity) before love you know.
In any case, there should be something, in some one of the characters, that befits an alternative ending. If only to keep the readers guessing. Maybe something utterly unrelated to magic. Maybe something that involves 'dealing with Muggles' as a shared insight to what is wrong (or right) with the Wizarding World. Something that busts the bubble on frantic but undeveloped and certainly /untender/ byplay that passes itself off as romantic interest here.
For the latter seems nothing if not hypocritical and deliberate in it's forced "I know, let's give the hyper-estrogenated teen fembots a nod!" appeal.
Come ON Ron, she held your hand, what do you _think_ that means?! Have a conversation with Harry that makes ONE of you look smart.
'Being a girl' herself, I don't know what's wrong with JKR here. It's like she herself has not yet had a kid go deep enough into that 'undiscovered country' of pubescent shy-wildness to know how to model a teenagers fluctuating _intellectual_ responses to understanding vs. coping with problems. Instead, she makes, particularly the females, alternate between an "Awwwwwh!" of mothering first year students (introduced as hapless gits 'doing all the wrong things' but for Harry & Co.). Or ripping into each other about "He's MY boyfriend!" competitive idiocy that doesn't show smarts or true (magical) sneaky-insight viciousness as much as plodding plotlines of expected emotive reaction.
Sorry, but evoking a parental vs. mate search impulse towards others 'not in your age group' (mental or otherwise) does not repeal the loss of whatever innocence each individual main character has supposedly undergone in the previous books. Give us a break. Make someone act like a _real teenager_. Confused and Isolative if not outright rebellious-shallow against the obvious 'moral requirements'. But not stupid. Certainly not stupid in comparison with the instinctive responses/preferences they have already shown each other.
If you can do that (write love as smartly delivered inciteful challenges), and then show us how they deal with the consequences of acknowledging their realized emotions, without making it a character skit about Won-Won and Lav-Lav vs. Angry Squirrel Hair, you can truly begin to devote portions of the book to EACH characters romantic development. Even without sex.
5. Not Well Grounded MAGIC.
There are a lot of moments in which you kind've tend to sit back and go "Hmmmmm." in this one. Malfoy using a Forbidden Curse and Harry conveniently being 'taken out of the game' (literally) without a fight or a run to Dumbledore and a Veritaserum or Legilemency truth-potioning "NOW do you believe me?" rebuttal for one. The notion that the Castle is not secured against Dark Magics /inside it/ for another. As is stated specifically in the book, these are young wizards and witches thrown together in one seething mass of ignorance and emotional separation from home and hearth. 'Anything could happen'. If you don't take precautions.
The seeming vacuous behavior and lack of a good response protocol/doctrine on the part of the 'hired specialists' (OOTP) is another blunder of vaguery. I was kind've hoping Tonks was the latest in Benedict Arnolds here and it certainly would have been less degrading to her character if she had not been just another woman under love's brain-dulling spell stereotype.
And of course there is the inevitable: What IS Apparating? Why is it /different/ from a magical teleporter closet? Major Plot Hole moments.
All these things could have been rendered much more interesting in a 'life goes on!' (continuing education, something that all adolescents need to remember 'leads to bigger and better things', past the angst) or as 'FINALLY, the villain is caught in his own arrogance!' (Snape is forced to mind-read Malfoy before Dumbledore and matters escalate from there).
Even things like Harry's convenient head smacking with a bludger seemed too repetitious based on what the former Team Captain said and there was no 'sense of making it work' that would let you get deeper into the game of Quidditch, like variable gravity. Or a new understanding of why brooms seem to behave without inertia. I like the latter game btw. but I am entirely willing to admit that it needs a facelift if not a major overhaul of physics and rules.
The fact that so many of these magic-but-not-important areas lead to blind alleys of plot convenience is also disappointing. Slughorn's connection to a famous bunch of Quidditch players for instance is never developed. Nor his vulnerability or added potency as a 'corporate interest' player to replace Ministry involvement. Rather he comes off as too brief an intro to be fearful or fawning and is left with some kind of closet pedophile 'complete with the overweight balding baby look' metaphor.
6. THIS IS NOT A KID'S BOO.
In case you were still wondering, sorry folks, there are just too many adult themes here which will not bode well for parents trying to explain what was originally a wondrous escapist fantasy the likes of a modern day _The Last Of The Really Great Wangdoodles_ to kids under about 8-9. It may break more than a few hearts to realize that big brother/sister can continue to yawn-on into 'young adult' soap-serial improv but it would probably be better to break the chain here for the younger set.
In many ways, this is particularly shameful as it seems that the Real World is encroaching more and more on the Magical One than the opposite way (implying new laws for new times rather than old hoary truisms about staid dramatic character archetypes) and so the chance to explain morality and development of identity 'in a special way' (psyche 101 of magic as a coming of age tale) is being lost to the everyday mechanics of something far too like our own lives.
You get this from the very start in which The Hogwarts Express now seems like any other rush-for-the-bus moment (admittedly, it turns into an Orient Express 'thriller' and ends with a terrible act of violence that is far too readily repaired with magic compared to a subsequent [always secondary] characters mutilation by a Werewolf.).
Missing are things like the wonders of the 'snack cart' with all the magical, wonderful, chocolate frogs and Wizard Cards and so forth that once helped lever up the image of something special hidden just below the manhole cover of everyday life. Rather we are left with an education in boarding school politics of class seniority and snobbish teens obsessed with each others 'moods' which most tweeners will laugh at. Most teeners will groan over. And most true children will only find heartwrenchingly confusing if not outright boring.
In many ways, such is to be expected in a COA fantasy as teenagers 'themes' (fad of the moment) shift quite a bit and indeed they are themselves terrified of being caught doing 'kiddie things'. But Harry's transition in particular is less that of a young boy growing towards a terrible destiny through _wise_ mentoring. Than that of a young man floundering completely with the attitude of an adult but absolutely none of the competencies (his continued 'I know, let's copy the smart ones!" irresponsibility in the face of a desire to be 'doing important things' could have been better set against Draco's similar ego problems than excused by hanging temporary blame on Snapes' skirts).
And thus his being forced (by selfsame mentors) into commiting to deliberate action after ineffectual inaction ultimately costs peoples lives without seeming purpose (or enough engenderment of frustration/guilt/suspicion of manipulation) of teaching him caution. Which leaves you with a certain 'Drowning victim sees sharkfin coming and thinks "Oh well, maybe it's not /really/ hungry..."' lack of direction or purpose in the overall story.
Unfortunately, not much works for adult readers either. Certainly the Dumbledore who was so heartbroken when he told Harry "I didn't make you a prefect because I thought you already had too many worries on your plate..." would NOT have been the agent of Harry's Stupefication (no matter what the ultimate motive), knowing how badly Harry had been shaken by Sirius' similar death while he could do nothing. Even the strongest heart can only afford to lose so many Father Figures before the emotional breakdown destroys him. Or the lack thereof leaves you with robotic entropy.
If Dumbledore needed to take one for the team, he would have made it happen some other way. Or he would have brought Harry in on the plot, right or wrong, and let HARRY be the one holding a secret _separate from the expositional interchange_ which is their endless confirmation of the obvious (i.e. another writing stylistic change from what the book shows).
That JKR seems to want us to catch this absent sophistication of mannerism and character interaction, among her many other vague and rambling attempts at red herring and 'private dilemma' divertive story telling doesn't seem to argue much for her as a 'speaker to all audiences'.
Or indeed, any.
Certainly "Love" doesn't seem like much (not in Ginny's John Wayne 'admiration' moment of yet another convenient separation from stuck up Harry) to drive an overly self obsessive young man who is neither thrown by the hurly burlies of 'the life most interesting' around him. Nor able to react with convincing earnestness in driving off the people he has known longer than his latest young love and who themselves are clearly in a position not to be able to survive lethal outcomes to one another.
When you have a serious case of vengeful hero complex added to an utter (and continuing) display of how little he BELONGS in this world, the result is a complete loss of what the 'one story, one hero' fixed viewpoint of the previous works have been trying to show us to be a miniature clip-scenic view of a single character's development.
CONCLUSION:
The last is perhaps my greatest sadness. Because everytime JKR pulls another "Ma and Pa" or "Uncle and Prof" moment out of the hat on a momentary need basis of maudlin 'sympathy' (with or without the aid of a bawling Hagrid) they don't make me think that Harry is particularly sad so much as saturated as to be missing the obvious.
Nor that "If only he still had his parents and an immersion in this world that was more authentic to his nature from birth, he would be wiser...". Because this belief in himself as a function of those who manipulate him from every side is itself indicative of a person grasping at whatever straws he has until the only ones left are a false belief in self-destiny. None of which is achievably believable for such a mooch.
Indeed, JKR makes me BELIEVE that Harry would have been better off if he had died as an infant. Rather than be toting around these presumptions of 'ability to do something about it' in the continuing wake of disasters which overcome his betters. Voldemorte sensed weakness in himself and others as a function of situational ethics. And when Harry left his foster parent's house for the first time, there was a real belief that he could do much the same, simply by looking empathically into the motivation of their moods.
Now, he has lost that and gained nothing better.
Maybe this is great storytelling, a final level of suspense as JKR at last (too late) learns the art of adding a sorta-cliffhanger based on yet another 'tragic death'.
Yet somehow I don't think so because, while I naturally root for the good guys, it natively seems to me that we are going to see a forced 'victory hauled by main force from the backside of stupidity' (yet another Voldemorte dark deux ex machina'd moronic moment) rather than good winning because it has some particularly slick trick up it's sleeve.
Certainly Harry's 'paranoia' (and his friends hormonal refusal to play 'The Chosen One' game anymore, based on unending correctness of _shared_ assumptions before) doesn't seem to apply equally to all sides of this puzzle as it it should given the clumsily uninspiring ending.
So long Hogwarts, I think when we leave you, we will depart what little was supremely magical and certainly -beautiful- about this tale. Without a far shore to set our bemused imaginations back upon a beriddle plotline's horizon.
KPl.
Summary of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)
As the Harry Potter sequence draws to a close, Harry's most dangerous adventure yet is just beginning . . . and it starts July 16, 2005.
We could tell you, but then we'd have to Obliviate your memory.
We could tell you, but then we'd have to Obliviate your memory.
The long-awaited, eagerly anticipated, arguably over-hyped Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has arrived, and the question on the minds of kids, adults, fans, and skeptics alike is, "Is it worth the hype?" The answer, luckily, is simple: yep. A magnificent spectacle more than worth the price of admission, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will blow you away. However, given that so much has gone into protecting the secrets of the book (including armored trucks and injunctions), don't expect any spoilers in this review. It's much more fun not knowing what's coming--and in the case of Rowling's delicious sixth book, you don't want to know. Just sit tight, despite the earth-shattering revelations that will have your head in your hands as you hope the words will rearrange themselves into a different story. But take one warning to heart: do not open Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince until you have first found a secluded spot, safe from curious eyes, where you can tuck in for a good long read. Because once you start, you won't stop until you reach the very last page.
A darker book than any in the series thus far with a level of sophistication belying its genre, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince moves the series into murkier waters and marks the arrival of Rowling onto the adult literary scene. While she has long been praised for her cleverness and wit, the strength of Book 6 lies in her subtle development of key characters, as well as her carefully nuanced depiction of a community at war. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, no one and nothing is safe, including preconceived notions of good and evil and of right and wrong. With each book in her increasingly remarkable series, fans have nervously watched J.K. Rowling raise the stakes; gone are the simple delights of butterbeer and enchanted candy, and days when the worst ailment could be cured by a bite of chocolate. A series that began as a colorful lark full of magic and discovery has become a dark and deadly war zone. But this should not come as a shock to loyal readers. Rowling readied fans with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by killing off popular characters and engaging the young students in battle. Still, there is an unexpected bleakness from the start of Book 6 that casts a mean shadow over Quidditch games, silly flirtations, and mountains of homework. Ready or not, the tremendous ending of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will leave stunned fans wondering what great and terrible events await in Book 7 if this sinister darkness is meant to light the way. --Daphne Durham
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Begin at the Beginning
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Hardcover Paperback | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Hardcover Paperback | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Hardcover Paperback | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Hardcover Paperback | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Hardcover Paperback |
Why We Love Harry
Favorite Moments from the Series
There are plenty of reasons to love Rowling's wildly popular series--no doubt you have several dozen of your own. Our list features favorite moments, characters, and artifacts from the first five books. Keep in mind that this list is by no means exhaustive (what we love about Harry could fill ten books!) and does not include any of the spectacular revelatory moments that would spoil the books for those (few) who have not read them. Enjoy.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
| | * Harry's first trip to the zoo with the Dursleys, when a boa constrictor winks at him. * When the Dursleys' house is suddenly besieged by letters for Harry from Hogwarts. Readers learn how much the Dursleys have been keeping from Harry. Rowling does a wonderful job in displaying the lengths to which Uncle Vernon will go to deny that magic exists. * Harry's first visit to Diagon Alley with Hagrid. Full of curiosities and rich with magic and marvel, Harry's first trip includes a trip to Gringotts and Ollivanders, where Harry gets his wand (holly and phoenix feather) and discovers yet another connection to He-Who-Must-No-Be-Named. This moment is the reader's first full introduction to Rowling's world of witchcraft and wizards. * Harry's experience with the Sorting Hat. |
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
| | * The de-gnoming of the Weasleys' garden. Harry discovers that even wizards have chores--gnomes must be grabbed (ignoring angry protests "Gerroff me! Gerroff me!"), swung about (to make them too dizzy to come back), and tossed out of the garden--this delightful scene highlights Rowling's clever and witty genius. * Harry's first experience with a Howler, sent to Ron by his mother. * The Dueling Club battle between Harry and Malfoy. Gilderoy Lockhart starts the Dueling Club to help students practice spells on each other, but he is not prepared for the intensity of the animosity between Harry and Draco. Since they are still young, their minibattle is innocent enough, including tickling and dancing charms. |
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
| | * Ron's attempt to use a telephone to call Harry at the Dursleys'. * Harry's first encounter with a Dementor on the train (and just about any other encounter with Dementors). Harry's brush with the Dementors is terrifying and prepares Potter fans for a darker, scarier book. * Harry, Ron, and Hermione's behavior in Professor Trelawney's Divination class. Some of the best moments in Rowling's books occur when she reminds us that the wizards-in-training at Hogwarts are, after all, just children. Clearly, even at a school of witchcraft and wizardry, classes can be boring and seem pointless to children. * The Boggart lesson in Professor Lupin's classroom. * Harry, Ron, and Hermione's knock-down confrontation with Snape. |
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
| | * Hermione's disgust at the reception for the veela (Bulgarian National Team Mascots) at the Quidditch World Cup. Rowling's fourth book addresses issues about growing up--the dynamic between the boys and girls at Hogwarts starts to change. Nowhere is this more plain than the hilarious scene in which magical cheerleaders nearly convince Harry and Ron to jump from the stands to impress them. * Viktor Krum's crush on Hermione--and Ron's objection to it. * Malfoy's "Potter Stinks" badge. * Hermione's creation of S.P.E.W., the intolerant bigotry of the Death Eaters, and the danger of the Triwizard Tournament. Add in the changing dynamics between girls and boys at Hogwarts, and suddenly Rowling's fourth book has a weight and seriousness not as present in early books in the series. Candy and tickle spells are left behind as the students tackle darker, more serious issues and take on larger responsibilities, including the knowledge of illegal curses. |
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
| | * Harry's outburst to his friends at No. 12 Grimmauld Place. A combination of frustration over being kept in the dark and fear that he will be expelled fuels much of Harry's anger, and it all comes out at once, directly aimed at Ron and Hermione. Rowling perfectly portrays Harry's frustration at being too old to shirk responsibility, but too young to be accepted as part of the fight that he knows is coming. * Harry's detention with Professor Umbridge. Rowling shows her darker side, leading readers to believe that Hogwarts is no longer a safe haven for young wizards. Dolores represents a bureaucratic tyrant capable of real evil, and Harry is forced to endure their private battle of wills alone. * Harry and Cho's painfully awkward interactions. Rowling clearly remembers what it was like to be a teenager. * Harry's Occlumency lessons with Snape. * Dumbledore's confession to Harry. |
Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem: A Conversation with J.K. Rowling
"I am an extraordinarily lucky person, doing what I love best in the world. I?m sure that I will always be a writer. It was wonderful enough just to be published. The greatest reward is the enthusiasm of the readers." --J.K. Rowling
Find out more about Harry's creator in our exclusive interview with J.K. Rowling.
Did You Know?
 | The Little White Horse was J.K. Rowling's favorite book as a child. |  | Jane Austen is Rowling's favorite author. |  | Roddy Doyle is Rowling's favorite living writer. |
A Few Words from Mary GrandPré 
"When I illustrate a cover or a book, I draw upon what the author tells me; that's how I see my responsibility as an illustrator. J.K. Rowling is very descriptive in her writing--she gives an illustrator a lot to work with. Each story is packed full of rich visual descriptions of the atmosphere, the mood, the setting, and all the different creatures and people. She makes it easy for me. The images just develop as I sketch and retrace until it feels right and matches her vision." Check out more Harry Potter art from illustrator Mary GrandPré.
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