Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

While I appreciated getting to learn a bit more about the world and certain families in this novel, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was a bit of a frustrating read for me.

Dumbledore’s riddles about the Horcruxes were rather grating to read (I mean it’s not like we’re on a time crunch here or anything 🙄) and the constant repetition of the flashback scenes / meetings became monotonous to read about after awhile.

I also understand why Dumbledore was so quick to brush aside Harry’s concerns about Draco’s allegiances, but I feel as though some others (Ron + Hermione + etc.) should’ve believed him after a certain point?

I know that Harry was mistaken about the situation that occurred at the end of OOTP, but it’s not as though his theories haven’t saved everyone’s lives numerous times before?

He even began to have more concrete reasonings to support his beliefs as the story continued, and yet everyone just brushed his findings aside as though they were unfounded. :(

#JusticeForHarry.

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sunnycollins_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This has been, by far, my favorite book of the series. Everything about it just felt... better; the characters, the writing, the world building, all of it.

The further I get into the series the more I find that it's not the characters that I'm drawn to, it's the world. Getting a look into

Voldemort's background + family history

is really cool and makes the world around Hogwarts feel more storied and realistic.

That being said, I did really enjoy the arcs that each of the main characters went on over the course of the book. Everyone felt a bit more mature in this book which was much appreciated after five straight books of childish arguments between the trio.

The last few chapters were

heartbreaking, especially the last chapter with Dumbledore's funeral and Harry coming to terms with the fact that he is now responsible for defeating the Dark Lord.

On a sillier note, Professor Slughorn is one of my favorite teachers so I'm always happy to see more of him. I think that his character does a great job of adding a bit of the, now classic, "silly wizard stuff" to this book's rather dark plot.

Overall this book was an excellent read and I can't wait to finish off the series.

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