Harry Potter is stuck at his aunt and uncle's house, nervously waiting for Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster at Hogwarts. He has almost given up all hope of being rescued from this dreadful place when the doorbell rings, and Dumbledore steps in. Harry is taken to an old Hogwarts teacher, Horace Slughorn, to convince him to come back to Hogwarts and teach potions there. After a successful visit there, Harry is taken to live with the Weasly-family until the school starts again. This year, Harry is taking private classes with Dumbledore to find out how to defeat Lord Voldemort. Harry finds out that Voldemort has ripped his soul into pieces, and created horcruxes (a piece of soul concealed inside an object). It means that to kill Voldemort, Harry has to destroy all the horcruxes first.

Harry's new potions book was a previous belonging of someone calling himself the Half-Blood Prince, which apparently was a master in potions. He doesn't find out who this person is, but his performance in potions gets remarkably better. Towards the end of Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts, Dumbledore finds another horcrux, and he asks Harry to join him destroying it. They apparate (a way of teleporting) to the cave where the horcrux is hidden, but danger lies ahead of them. In order to get the horcrux, Dumbledore has to drink a potion that makes him relive his worst memories. They barely get out of the cave alive, but even worse things are about to happen at Hogwarts. The people there are no longer as safe as they used to be…

I really enjoyed reading the book, because it is written in a very good way. It is exciting from the beginning to the end, and I was never bored reading the book. The author builds up the HANDLING in a very good way (it was several times almost impossible to put the book away). As I was halfway through the book, there were so many questions that needed to be answered. This ignorance made me keep reading until I found those answers. Nevertheless, as I did so, new questions occurred. This was one of the main things that really raised the excitement throughout the book.

I think that the ending of the book is about as good as it could have been. The author takes you on an emotional journey as you follow the main character through the ending. It is unpredictable, and the highlight of the book comes as a shock, which makes it even more exciting. After finishing the book, I'd say it's almost impossible not to read the next book in the series about Harry Potter, because the ending is written in such a masterly way.

I don't really think that this book would have made a great film, especially not for people who have read the book first, but it wouldn't have been a miserable movie either. All the previous Harry Potter-books have been made into films and, surely, none of them can be compared with the original books. The reason why I don't think this book would make a good film is mostly that the moviemakers would have needed to take away so much of the content. The history in the book would be so diminished, and the “magic” you experience while reading the book, would be gone as a film. But altogether, for people who hasn't read the book before watching the film will probably think it's a very good one, because they wouldn't know what's missing.

The author writes in a very good (almost magic) way. She makes you feel like you're not just reading the book; you're really a part of it. There's a lot of good description in the book, of both the characters and the environment. She uses a very dramatic build up, especially towards the end of the novel. It almost feels like the main character isn't just a fictional character, but someone you know. You learn to know his strengths and his weaknesses, his feelings and emotions…

One thing I really like about the authors writing style is that she has managed to keep one single question alive in all of the books; what is Severus Snape's true identity? Is he with Dumbledore, or with Voldemort? This question has haunted both the fictional characters and the readers. This question will be answered in the seventh and last book about Harry. And it is one of the things that really encourage you to keep reading about Harry Potter. I think it's amazing how she manage to make the question remain a mystery through six books…

Everyone that has read the previous books (or seen the movies) about Harry Potter, is strongly recommended to read this book. It is a top fantasy-novel, and it may even be compared with the Lord of the Rings-trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. Anyone who enjoys reading fantasy-novels will simply love this book.

A New Year at Hogwarts

Harry has returned to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry for his 6th year, but things have changed, he has help from the Half-Blood Prince and Dumbledore is absent from school for long periods of time. Hogwarts has new teacher by the name of Horace Slughorn whom everyone expects to be the new defense against the dark arts teacher but to everyone’s amazement is teaching potions, the former potions teacher is teaching defense against the dark arts, a job he has wanted for many years, but dumbledore mysteriously kept him from the job, possibly fearing that his old ways as a death eater would come back to him.

The Secrets of Tom Riddle

Dumbledore has decided to give Harry personal lessons but Harry finds out that Dumbledore is not going to teach him special magic or defense spells, but teach him more about Lord Voldemorts past. They search through memories using a pensive and are able to find out more about Voldemort but there is one memory that is missing and this memory comes from the new potions teacher Horace slughorn who is not so willing to give the memory up, Dumbledore sends Harry on the quest to retrieve the memory from slughorn.

Horcruxs

Harry retrieves the memory and finds that Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort) has been using horcruxs to keep himself immortal. But in order to make these horcruxs Voldemort would have to murder one person for each horcrux splitting his soul and storing it into objects of value. The only way to kill Lord Voldemort would be to destroy all of his horcruxs.

The Quest

Harry and Dumbledore set off to find a horcrux, Dumbledore is forced to drink a horrid potion in order to get the horcrux at the bottom of the goblet. They barely escape the cave and the creatures that inhabit the cave. But when they reach Hogwarts they are met by the dark mark sparkling over the castle ( lord voldemorts mark) and in a twist Harry is frozen solid and invisible by Dumbledore as Draco Malfoy attempts to kill Dumbledore but was unsuccessful, but then Snape shows his true colors and kills Dumbledore afterwards Harry finds that the Horcrux that they retrieved from the cave was not a horcrux at all but merely a fake, the real one was taken by the mysterious RAB.

This book is definitely a good read for people of all ages. It keeps you on your toes and leaves you wanting more. J.K. Rowling has an amazing talent for fantasy novels and she keeps the magic alive in this one, making it in my opinion the best book yet.