Summary from GoodReads:
The war against Voldemort is not going well; even Muggle governments are noticing. Ron scans the obituary pages of the Daily Prophet, looking for familiar names. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses.
And yet . . .
As in all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate — and lose a few eyebrows in the process. The Weasley twins expand their business. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.
So it’s the home front that takes center stage in the multilayered sixth installment of the story of Harry Potter. Here are Hogwarts, Harry will search for the full and complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort — and thereby find what may be his only vulnerability.
Book & Movie Review:
So it took me reading and re-reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince about 4 times before I finally picked up the book with the knowledge that the half-blood prince was NOT Voldemort. I’m not sure why I kept thinking that, even after re-reading the book that many times, but I did. So it was nice approaching the book with that knowledge firmly encased in my head this time.
I just finished re-watching the movie, and I have to say the book wins on this one, hands down. And this is, in my opinion, where you really start to lose out on things if you haven’t read the books and have only followed the movies. For example – how would you know what those things are that attack Harry and Dumbledore and that they are chased away by fire? How would you know where Harry got the knowledge to help Ron when he was poisoned by the mead (and furthermore, where was Rosmerta in all of this?), since when does the Burrow get burned up? Where were Bill and Fleur? Who was the scary man running around with Bellatrix? So many small details are left out of the movies, details that make the book so much richer and give so many answers.
While I appreciate that the movie did things to make them special, such as Harry and Ginny’s kiss, the tribute to Dumbledore, etc, the way the book had them laid out made me laugh out loud with delight, in the case of the kiss, and weep with sorrow in the case of Dumbledore. Rowling had hit her stride in the previous book and just kept pushing forward, making The Half-Blood Prince one of the best books in the series.
I wondered when I watched the movie what people would think about the Horcrux hunt. So many of the Pensieve scenes are cut out and how on earth is Harry going to know which objects he is looking for? In the book he didn’t know what the Ravenclaw horcrux would be but in the film he isn’t told what they are at all except for the Slytherin locket. It will be interesting to see how they try to fix the oversights in the final film. I also missed Dumbledore’s funeral from the film. I need to watch the movie again. I am currently listening to Half Blood Prince on audio. Great review!
Right – it’s so easy to fill in the gaps if you have read the books, but there are members of my family who keep turning to me asking for explanations since they HAVEN’T read the book. There’s just so much background information, I can’t see any way they will be able to make it all fit without just leaving key elements of the final part of Book 7 out – which horrifies me lol
Just a little under 48 hours and I’ll be seeing the final movie. I cannot wait.
HP6 is probably my least favorite movie for all of those reasons you listed (I especially hated that the Burrow was burned and that the explanations for Horcruxes). On the bright side, Alan Rickman has some great scenes and since I’m eagerly awaiting Part 2′s depiction of “The Prince’s Tale,” I’ve been paying closer attention to his performance in preparation.
Alan Rickman is brilliant. I fell in love with him in Sense and Sensibility and, while he’s definitely darker and creepier in Harry Potter, he is no less brilliant.