Book Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I just completed the sixth book in the series - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was good to be reading a book in the series that I did not have any previous data on (I saw the films for the first five books before reading them). I didn't have those thoughts about how 'this was different in the film' or 'I can't believe they dropped this subplot', etc. It was a pure straight read.

I found the evolution of Draco Malfoy's character interesting, especially given the light of the events in the fifth book. He went from being a character you hoped someone would sock in the eye to someone you'd want to sock in the eye yourself. I have an inkling a horrible fate will befall him in the end.

Also, the revelations into the past of Tom Riddle helped give more understanding to the overall villain of the series - knowing how he came to be. That means the sixth film will be full of a lot of these flashbacks of sorts.

This book really had a penultimate feel to it. Unlike previous books that had major events as the backdrop to them, this book was more of a foundational one. It set up ideas and events to build into the seventh and final book. With such a large amount of preparation set by this book, the expectation of the payoff in the final book is a big one. I am hoping Rowlings delivers.