Spoiler warning: Important plot details from this book are written on this page. If you have not yet read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince you may wish to abstain from reading this article.
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth part of the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. Taking place during Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts, the book goes into detail about Voldemort's past.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released on July 16, 2005 and was the first book in the United Kingdom to have a simultaneous standard print, large print, and Braille edition release.
Editions
- Bloomsbury (United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada etc)
- ISBN 0747581088 Hardcover
- ISBN 074758110X Hardcover (adult edition)
- Scholastic (United States etc)
- ISBN 0439784549 US Hardcover
- ISBN 0439791324 Deluxe Edition
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Bloomsbury edition (children)
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Bloomsbury edition (adult)
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Scholastic edition
Dedication
Rowling became pregnant with her third child during the writing of this book, and often joked about them racing each other into the world. For this reason, the book was dedicated to her:
- To Mackenzie,
- My beautiful daughter,
- I dedicate
- Her ink-and-paper twin
Plot Synopsis
Template:Spoiler Harry and his friends return to a Hogwarts with extra security measures as Voldemort and his followers grow in power. The new teacher is Horace Slughorn, who enjoys creating coteries of people he sees as potentially useful. He takes over the teaching position that he held during his previous Hogwarts tenure. Harry receives extra lessons from Dumbledore centering on what is known of Voldemort. He struggles in Potions class and makes use of notes in the margins of the textbook scribbled in by someone who seems extremely competent. News of death in the family reach several students at Hogwarts, and there are mysterious attacks on students in and on the premises of Hogwarts (major characters are involved). Despite this, romantic relationships flourish, and jealousy along with resentment surface. Harry and Dumbledore come to a working theory of how to reduce Voldemort's power. The climax of the book begins as they leave Hogwarts on an expedition to attempt this. Template:Endspoiler
Rumours
There was naturally much rumour and speculation about the contents of the sixth book. All verifiable information has since been archived at Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Crystal Ball).
Factoids
- The CEO of Barnes and Noble in the United States announced that the sixth book will sell more than 50,000 copies in the first hour alone, which he said is more than most books sell in a lifetime.
- The Canadian edition of the book, published by Raincoast Books, was published on 100% recycled paper. The American edition of the book, published by Scholastic Press, was printed with a percentage of recycled paper that Scholastic declined to make public. Before and after the release of the book, the environmental organizations Greenpeace and the National Wildlife Federation advised consumers in the United States who planned to buy Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to do so from the book's Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books [1].
Other bits of controversy have pop up like those in the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict believes the Harry Potter books subtly seduce young readers and "distort Christianity in the soul" before it can develop properly, according to comments attributed to him. Gabriele Kuby, who has written a book called "Harry Potter - Good or Evil," which attacks J.K. Rowling's best selling series about the boy wizard, published extracts from two letters written to her by Benedict in 2003, when he was a cardinal.
However, other Christian readers have pointed out themes in the Harry Potter books which reflect values exemplified or preached by Jesus. Lily Potter sacrificed her own life to save her child (John 15:13). Harry's Muggle guardians attempt to keep him from knowing of his gifts, yet he is taken away and set to learn to use his powers responsibly (Math. 5:13-16). Harry has died, or come close to death, in several stories, yet is resurrected and more determined than ever to fight evil. Some Christian bookstores even sell the Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowling is on record as a Christian who admires C.S. Lewis, and says she did not emphasize Christian ideals in the book because if she had, any intelligent reader would be able to guess how it all turns out.
Controversy
A grocery store in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada accidentally sold 15 copies of the sixth Harry Potter book before the authorised release date. The Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books, obtained an injunction (PDF copy) from the Supreme Court of British Columbia prohibiting the purchasers from reading the books in their possession. On July 15, less than 12 hours before the book would go on sale in the Eastern time zone, Raincoast warned The Globe and Mail newspaper that publishing a review from a Canada-based writer at midnight, as the paper had promised, would be seen as a violation of the anti-reading injunction.
The injunction sparked a number of news articles questioning the injuction's restriction on fundamental rights [2] [3]. Canadian law professor Michael Geist has posted commentary on his weblog [4]. Richard Stallman has posted on his weblog calling for a boycott until the publisher issues an apology [5]. The Globe and Mail published a review from two UK-based writers in its July 16 edition and posted the Canadian writer's review on its website at 9 am that morning [6].
At a Chicago Walgreens the same week, a woman mistakenly bought a copy of the book, thinking it was on sale. When she got home, she read about the Canadian incident on the internet. The woman said she would not turn herself in, but that she would not read the novel until the U.S. release date.
Mistakes
On page 10 of the American edition, there is a sentence that reads "The site, therefore, of Fudge...". The word should be sight. In the Bloomsbury Edition (p. 15, line 28–29 there) the word is spelled correctly.
There are an unknown number of books with pages 533–564 replaced with the preceding pages 501–532. The extent of the misprint is unknown. One was purchased in the Concord, New Hampshire Wal-Mart.
Before the final Quidditch match we are told that Gryffindor has to win by 310 to win the house cup, if they lose by 100 they will be behind Hufflepuff and losing by more than 100 puts them in last. The last line should be a loss by more than 160. We know the scores of the 2 games involving Gryffindor. If the standings going into the last match are:
Ravenclaw 2-0 +290 Gryffindor 1-1 -10 Hufflepuff 1-2 -110 Slytherin 1-2 -170
then this works. The way it is written the total points scored don't balance. (We have to assume all ties are broken on total points rather than head to head competition; likewise we don't know all the points that were awarded to, or taken from, students by professors and prefects, which are also counted for the house cup)
Translations
Various publishers have announced release dates [7] for local translations of the book:
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External links
- Rowling's responses to various rumours
- Veritaserum's "HBP" section: information and theories
- HPANA's complete archive of book 6 news and rumors
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince News & Info
- Everything there is to know about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Archive of mysterious door openings
- Press release announcing the publication date by British publishers Bloomsbury
- Press release on PRNewsWire
- National Public Radio discusses Braille publication
- New York Times review