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Outstanding
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Boston Globe Liz Rosenberg
As usual, Rowling's powers are startling, beautiful, original, wholly inimitable. The book bears the mark of genius on every page.
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Outstanding
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Chicago Sun-Times Deepti Hajela
Rowling's latest has lost none of the charm, intelligence and hilarity that have catapulted her series into publishing history. But this book also has a poignancy, complexity and sadness. There's an emotional punch you won't believe.
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Outstanding
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Publishers Weekly
She [Rowling] spends a bit more time in the set-up but she accomplishes a great deal in this book, pulling together threads from all the previous books and expertly poising readers for the planned finale.
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Outstanding
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Wall Street Journal Meghan Cox Gurdon
What leaps out from the intricate storyline and wonderfully fresh prose -- still, after six books! -- of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the jaw-dropping scope of J.K. Rowling's achievement even before she publishes the last in the series.
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Outstanding
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The New York Times Book Review Liesl Schillinger
At a time when everyday life is increasingly charged with dark and deadly deeds, the temptation to believe that a good wizard is coming of age, a wizard who may vanquish the greatest evildoer, holds even more attraction. Give 'em hell, Harry! And now the wait for Volume 7 begins.
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Favorable
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Sydney Morning Herald Angie Schiavone
After the catastrophic events of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the new book eases off on the doom and gloom. Granted, there's a devastating incident towards the end, but the overall tone is less intense and, as a result, it's much more enjoyable.
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Favorable
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Entertainment Weekly Christopher Paolini
One of the great pleasures of these novels has been watching Rowling's storytelling skills develop. And she certainly spreads her wings in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
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Favorable
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The Globe And Mail [Toronto] André Alexis
It is a book that, as with all the books in the series, adults will find flawed. Children are unlikely to notice, or care about, Rowling's shortcomings. And that's the truest testament to her talent.
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Favorable
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USA Today Deirdre Donahue
It has clearly evolved from a charming tale of a mistreated orphan making his way through the world's coolest boarding school to the serious saga of a knight going forth to battle evil in the fascinating form of Lord Voldemort.
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Favorable
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Sydney Morning Herald Kerryn Goldsworthy
The previous book was damned by critics who insisted it sagged and "needed editing" - ah, well, don't we all - and, whether or not in response, Rowling has streaked out of the blocks this time.
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Favorable
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The Independent Frank Cottrell Boyce
The atmosphere of this book is as sweaty and paranoid as any thriller, but the characters behave like we do.
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Favorable
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Christian Science Monitor Yvonne Zipp
As always, Rowling excels at propelling the action forward, and her creativity is undiminished.
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Favorable
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Washington Post Jabari Asim
Rowling shepherds her hero's arduous trek to maturity with her customary grace and good humor, though she has infused her story with more bone-cracking and blood-spattering than may be tolerable for many of the young readers who have followed Harry's adventures so far.
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Favorable
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Salon Laura Miller
What finally makes "Half-Blood Prince" work is Rowling's commitment to going beyond all the wildly popular and genuinely charming trademarks that no doubt make her feel safe as an author.
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Favorable
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Los Angeles Times Emily Green
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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Favorable
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The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Elizabeth Renzetti and Doug Saunders
Ms. Rowling's novel may contain magical potions that shift time and mess with minds, but from the very first sentence it feels firmly placed in contemporary events.
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Favorable
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The New York Times Michiko Kakutani
In addition to being a bildungsroman, of course, the Harry Potter books are also detective stories, quest narratives, moral fables, boarding school tales and action-adventure thrill rides, and Ms. Rowling uses her tireless gift for invention to thread these genres together, while at the same time taking myriad references and tropes (borrowed from such disparate sources as Shakespeare, Dickens, fairy tales, Greek myths and more recent works like "Star Wars") and making them her own.
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Favorable
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Kirkus Reviews
This newest excursion into the Potterverse will leave readers pleased, amused, excited, scared, infuriated, delighted, sad, surprised, thoughtful.
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Favorable
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PopMatters Shandy Casteel
While heartbreak will surely affect anyone emotionally invested in these books, Rowling has laid her tracks with precise reason, something that has been the most addicting facet of Harry Potter, the slow unraveling of a tale where all the parts are now coming back around and taking their rightful place in the puzzle.
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Favorable
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The Onion A.V. Club Tasha Robinson
Longtime fans who fixate on anyone but Harry himself may be disappointed that their favorite character doesn't get more face time, but in the end, the only way Half-Blood Prince really disappoints is in how quickly it reads and how fast it's over.
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Mixed
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The New Republic Sacha Zimmerman
All of which is perfectly thrilling--for an eight-year-old. But J.K. Rowling is not C.S. Lewis nor Madeline L'Engle, and her novels do not carry into adulthood--unless your idea of excitement is meeting Hagrid's beast du jour.
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Mixed
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San Francisco Chronicle David Kipen
It's not that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is dull, exactly. In places, it rises to a pitch resembling suspense, or at least a passing curiosity about what might happen next. No, the main problem is that J.K. Rowling has now written six of these bricks. Even if they were getting better, they're certainly not getting any fresher.
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Mixed
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The Observer John Mullan
It is difficult not to think that, rich and adored, JK Rowling's gusto has gone. Now she is just, like her hero, set on completing the grand scheme. Into the gloom she is determined to take all those devoted readers.
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