J K Rowling - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

“Teachers say a chapter can silence the most rowdy of classes.”

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

So we’re there, almost! The penultimate book in the series and by the time of its release Rowling had confirmed that there was just one book left.

By Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince you get this real sense that Harry, Ron and Hermione have grown up, something has changed and the books have taken on a more grown up feel.

The trio get back to school to find that Professor Snape has been given the long coveted Defence Against the Dark Arts job and it has Harry worried! What follows is the most wonderful convoluted, unputdownable tale!

By the sixth book I was devouring Harry Potter, scared to see it end, but excited all the same and this book does not disappoint. Here’s where all the mystery starts to unravel. We learn about Tom Riddle, the man who grew up to be Voldemort, we learn about his plans, and many mysteries from the earlier books are also solved.

It’s not just a bridge to the last book though, this is maybe the most dramatic of the entire series. Sometimes it’s like someone turned out the light. Gone is the light heartedness, gone is the sense that Voldemort is some abstract threat. By the end of the book your entire Harry Potter experience will be turned upside down!

This remains my favourite book of the entire series! The one where Harry Potter becomes a man.