Book Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

plot: as the driving force of this expository tome, the plot truly thickens in rowling's sixth installment in the harry potter series. the stage is set for the seventh, which will obviously have the requisite showdowns and epilogues. the plot progresses at a good clip for most of the book, bordering on breakneck speed at the end. relative to the pace of the fifth book, anything would feel fast.

character: thank you! harry potter is not an angry git anymore. romance is laid on more heavily than usual in children's fantasy books; but harry potter wasn't a children's book to begin with. the budding of certain relationships is contrasted with the dark times that have befallen what is supposed to be a key growing time. it offers a glimpse of what life for harry and co. would be like if there was no war raging.

notes: you have to take it for what it is: exposition. this book is laden with exposition. Voldemort's backstory is revealed piece-meal: an evocative tragedy of circumstance that sort of parellel's Harry's own history. readers should expect heavy plot movement and action-packed chapters. fans of quidditch will be disappointed, but in the face of open war, who really has time for sport?

4/5 - mildly bloated, though it's pretty clear that rowling was keeping it as short as she could. detentions were glossed =P the big death was obvious and necessary, but no less painful.