This is the sixth book in the Harry Potter series, and for me this is where the story started to go bad.

And since it was a long time ago that I read it I will leave it to this: I liked it, but this is where the story started to turn and lost quality. It didn't get bad, but I don't find it as good as the books before it. ( )

Excuse me while I cry my eyes out. ( )

2008 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature (for the series)

There's some nitpicky stuff about this book that bugged me:

The first two chapters about the Prime Minister and Snape making the Unbreakable Vow felt very out of place. I could be wrong, but I think these are the first chapters in the whole series that were not written from Harry's point of view. The Prime Minister one probably could have been edited out and Scrimgeour introduced later. The Snape one I think is meant to set us up to wonder about Snape and increase the suspense for the whole book, so that one kind of worked for me, but it was still awkward to introduce a new viewpoint other than Harry's third-person limited one.

It's hard for me to buy the Ron-Hermione relationship. Even the Harry-Ginny one seems a little bit forced, although less so. I get why it makes sense plot-wise for Harry and Hermione to both end up attached to the Weasley family--then at least they both have an extended family. I still kind of agree, though, that Harry and Hermione would have made a saner couple. I don't get what Hermione sees in Ron at all--he's jealous, dense, and at times very petty. It almost seems like they just end up together because Ron can't even function without Hermione, which is not a recipe for a healthy relationship. I guess nobody said it had to be healthy, though.

Other than that, I like the way this book again deals with grief, although not really until the end, in which Harry learns that choices in how we deal with life's problems matter maybe especially when we feel like we have no choice.

The theme of love, lust, snogging, etc. is pretty consistent throughout, and I liked how it was tied together with the idea of potions and Snape's character (Voldemort's mother having entrapped his father with a love potion; Harry finding Snape's book that led him to create better potions; Ron swallowing a love potion by accident, then almost being poisoned to death by another potion, etc.)

Looking forward to reading the final book and watching the film version of this one again.

"It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew - and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents - that there was all the difference in the world." ( )

Honestly, my least favorite out of the HP series. Harry in this book was insufferable, and I didn't care about his thing with Ginny at all. ( )

Mini HP6 Review:
Did not disappoint. The story reaches a crescendo through Book 6 of the HP series, and I raced through the latter 400 pages.

Let's see, what "happens"... Ron and Hermione grow up a little bit, Harry grows up a lot, Ginny becomes a "young lady," and we can see why she's so popular. Professor Snape shows some true colors and perhaps some strength. Professor Slughorn shows more colors and perhaps some strength. We see Draco's pressure. We see Hagrid's pain. We see Dumbledore's love and we hear Fawkes' pain.

We laugh, we cry, we hope, and we feel anger.

Although I love this series, i feel that Book 6 is where Rowling takes a step up. This is the best book in the series (in my humble opinion) because the characters show the most dynamics and the storytelling shows the most range. So much happens in a "mere" 600-some or 700-some pages (depending on your version).

Eager to finish the series again!
I will be taking my time w/ Book 7 this time around... ( )