On The Shelf

The verdict is out. Besides breaking yet more records, JK Rowling8217;s sixth Harry Potter installment has by most accounts set up a thrill...

The verdict is out. Besides breaking yet more records, JK Rowling8217;s sixth Harry Potter installment has by most accounts set up a thrilling finale. As Harry hurtles forth to his prophetic showdown in the seventh and final volume, here8217;s what some critics said about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

The darkest and most unsettling installment yet. It is a novel that pulls together dozens of plot strands from previous volumes, underscoring how cleverly and carefully J.K. Rowling has assembled this giant jigsaw puzzle of an epic. It is also a novel that depicts Harry Potter, now 16, as more alone than ever 8212; all too well aware of loss and death, and increasingly isolated by his growing reputation as 8220;the Chosen One8221;8230; At the same time, the suspense generated by these books does not stem solely from the tension of wondering who will die next or how one or another mystery will be solved. It stems, as well, from Rowling8217;s dexterity in creating a character-driven tale, a story in which a person8217;s choices determine the map of his or her life 8212; a story that creates a hunger to know more about these people who have become so palpably real.

Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

The penultimate book in JK Rowling8217;s Harry Potter series was always destined to be the trickiest of all seven novels. The books are a clever mixture of two hallowed genres 8212; the British boarding school adventure and epic fantasy 8212; with the earlier installments being more of the former and less of the latter. With each new volume, the balance edges more toward what we all know is coming at the very end: a major confrontation between good and evil, when Harry will face off against his nemesis, Lord Voldemort. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has the unenviable job of preparing the field for the final showdown, and for the first time, Rowling wobbles just a bit in pulling off the task she8217;s set for herself. In the end, though, she regains her footing and Half-Blood Prince comes together, making it not quite the most graceful novel in the series, but perhaps the most impressive.

Laura Miller, Salon.com

Enthusiasm and delight greeted the publication of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Elaborately stage-managed as the hoopla might have been, no one can doubt the excitement of all those children queuing for their copies. But then none of them had yet read the book. For, in truth, this sixth Harry Potter novel is designed to dampen any readerly high spirits. Concluding inconclusively, with puzzles unresolved and prophecies unfulfilled, there may be plenty to guarantee the mega-sales of number seven, which will complete the sequence. Yet Harry Potter8217;s fulfilment of his destiny has now become grim-faced.

John Mullan, The Guardian