Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)

• Half-Blood Prince is easily one of the better books in the Harry Potter series, though each is a masterpiece. But the 6th installment of a 7-part series is bound to be full of great moments in the story. After completing this book, I was in a state of total shock and to this moment I wish only to read the seventh book.
  
  Half-Blood Prince is dark; I mean far darker than the last. This is the time I have always known was inevitable in the Harry Potter world, at last we are seeing chaos and war and battles break out within the walls of Hogwarts itself. Several of the chapters are particularly well-written, with great suspense and imagery; an example would be the time Harry and Dumbledore spent in the cave. Relationships blossom in this book at last, including Harry suddenly falling in `love' with Ginny Weasley, Ron dating Lavender Brown, Pansy and Draco clearly going out, and some serious hinting at a possible romance between Ron and Hermione when he gets rid of Lavender. Then, the useless couple of Tonks and Lupin was introduced in the end; all well and good, I suppose, but again not something that overjoyed me. The end of the book is very sad indeed, yet, I was not crying--I was merely shocked

• I'm one of those who couldn't wait until the morning to get hold of this book. I literally battled rain and cold weather with my sister to get our copies at 12.15 am, July 16, in a local bookstore in Argentina. According to my dad, I'm slightly nuts for doing that :)
  In my opinion, though, this book was well-worth the extra effort. After picking it up, I returned to my house and started to read it. I just finished it, and I can sincerely say that it is simply outstandingly good. Yes, the other books were awesome too, specially the 4th and the 5th, but I think that Harry's world is becoming more defined with each book, and that makes for a thoroughly engaging reading experience.
  

• This morning I woke up with a dull, aching, stung feeling in my heart. Why? Because I began, and finished, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yesterday, JK Rowling's 6th book in the series. Much like The Order of the Phoenix, Rowling manages to make the readers of her book feel as much as the characters, even hours, possibly days or weeks after you have finished it.
  The 6th Harry Potter book picks up in a slightly different way - the first two chapters are not Dursley filled, in fact the Dursley's hardly appear at all. The wizardry world is no longer the blissful place Harry entered into 6 years ago, and I'm sure many of you can guess why. Still smarting from the losses and destruction from the previous novel, Harry is scooped up from the Dursley's by none other than Dumbledore himself (and no this isn't a spoiler, it's on the jacket cover) who is looking worse for wear.

• This is my favorite book of the Harry Potter series, just ahead of the Goblet of Fire. It caught my interest from the very beginning, in the middle of the summer when Harry is at the Dursley's, which most of the other books did not do. After the first chapter, it was very hard to put down! I even ignored the phone ringing several times while I was reading.