length and complexity of the novel. The fifth in
the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,
was released in 2003. Two additional titles are
planned.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
J. K. Rowling(2005)
The sixth book in the wildly popular Harry Potter
series sets the stage for the final confrontations to
come in the seventh and final volume. The war be-
tween the forces of good magic are divided and in-
decisive, while Lord Voldemort and his Death
Eaters are organized and focused. Security precau-
tions at Hogwarts are higher than ever, although
predictably the villains find various ways to cir-
cumvent them and introduce dangerous objects
and people into the midst of their enemies.
Harry is suffering from mounting distractions
of his own. He must organize Gryffindor’s Quid-
ditch team, which is beset by problems. The death
of his godfather has left him heir to a house filled
with magical artifacts, as well as the rebellious
Kreacher, a house elf with ties to the Malfoy family.
Not all of the distractions are bad ones. Harry has
grown interested in girls, particularly Ginny
Weasley, although the fact that she is his best
friend’s sister complicates that as well. Ron Weasley
and Hermione Granger are also in the throes of ro-
mantic entanglements and feuding with each
other. Headmaster Dumbledore has taken Harry
into his confidence but refuses to take his suspi-
cions of Professor Snape seriously.
Against this backdrop of plots and secrecy
come two revelations. The first is that Draco Mal-
foy is in the service of Voldemort and planning an
attack against someone in Hogwarts, presumably
Harry, although that proves to be a red herring.
The second is that Dumbledore reveals the secret
of Voldemort’s apparent immortality, but in the
process he is magically killed, or at least so it ap-
pears, by Snape. Harry now knows how to destroy
the evil wizard, but only if he can locate the sepa-
rate components of Voldemort’s twisted soul.
Rowling is here much more in control of her
story and her characters than in the previous
books. The mystery is revealed logically and pro-
gressively, and there are some plot twists that will
certainly catch readers by surprise. She also pro-
vides a number of clues hinting at the nature of
the final confrontation between good and evil and
throws in several jabs at the shortcomings of bu-
reaucracy, politicians, and public opinion. The rev-
elation of the secret of the “half-blood prince” is
particularly suggestive, since the notes left behind
by that former Hogwarts student prove very useful
to Harry during the course of this story.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
J. K. Rowling(2003)
Firmly established as a publishing phenomenon on
or beyond the scale of Stephen KING,J. K. ROWL-
INGfollowed up the very long HARRY POTTER AND
THE GOBLET OF FIRE(2000) with the even longer
fifth installment in the seven-volume series. Harry
is now 15 years old, and, like most midteenagers,
he is confused about his relationship with girls,
prone to rebel against the rules imposed by adults,
and given to fits of sudden emotion sometimes out
of proportion to the stimulus. Although all of the
novels are in a sense about young people learning
to be adults, this is the one that shows most power-
fully the different tensions that make the process
so painful.
As if that were not enough, Harry has a host
of new problems to deal with. Voldemort has been
revived, more powerful than ever, and no one
knows what he has in store for the world, and for
Harry in particular. Most of the good wizards refuse
to accept the fact that he has risen again, and
Dumbledore is on the receiving end of much criti-
cism for his efforts to organize a defense against the
dark powers. There is also a new teacher at school,
one of the most unpleasant characters to appear in
the series, a swipe by the author Rowling against
educators who are more concerned with the pro-
cess than with the results. The unrest engendered
by Voldemort’s activities has resulted in consider-
able paranoia, and even at Hogwarts a version of
the Inquisition is underway to root out all trouble-
makers and doomsayers. Finally, a newspaper seems
to have devoted itself to ruining Harry’s reputa-
tion, discounting his success during the previous
year’s competitions and generally making him a
laughing stock.154 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince