I have avoided this series
BOOK REVIEW
Harry and his readers must be brave
The latest installment is not a book for babies. Children of mettle will be rewarded richly.
By Emily Green
Times Staff Writer
July 16, 2005
'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'
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This much can be said about "Half-Blood Prince" without spoiling the plot. Once Harry was 10 and stars rained down on England to augur his arrival. Now he is 16, and as the book opens, bridges are collapsing. Wizards from the Ministry of Magic are popping out of the Prime Minister's fireplace to explain that the cause is not bad construction. It's evil. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back.
In what even a newcomer can detect as an alarming cabinet reshuffle, the charming Cornelius Fudge has been replaced as Minister of Magic by the shrewd Rufus Scrimgeour. Harder times demand harder characters.
Relief comes in the form of well-observed personality quirks and some first-class toilet humor. Bored figures in paintings are not above picking their ears. Amid the potions in Fred and George's magic store, there is a sign that reads "Why are you Worrying about You-Know-Who? You should be worrying about U-No-Poo — the constipation sensation that's gripping the nation."
Then there's the romance. Yes, yuck, love — which turns out to be a liability when fighting evil. The days are too dangerous to become bogged down by sentiment. There is simply too much treachery afoot in the Hogwarts School of Witchraft and Wizardy, unsecured portals, secret enemies. As Harry accompanies Professor Dumbledore into the heart of darkness, tolls are not money, but blood. Corpses line lake bottoms, not kelp. His ability to obey his mentor is pushed to the limit.
The good news is that Harry is courageous and true. The bad news is that Voldemort's agents have more than Peruvian Vanishing Powder on their side. This is a book for children of mettle. It will reward them richly, but they must not whine, they must be sunny and true and above all brave. The ending is almost too much to bear. I haven't cried so hard since Charlotte the Spider died.
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