By JK Rowling
Read by Stephen Fry
Reviewed by Gabby
Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince (Book 6)
Get the Stephen Fry Audible version here
Half Blood Prince Overview:
The war against Voldemort is not going well; even the Muggles have been affected. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses.
And yet . . . as with all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Harry receives some extraordinary help in Potions from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. And with Dumbledore’s guidance, he seeks out the full, complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort — and thus finds what may be his only vulnerability
Harry Potter Half-Blood Prince Audiobook Review:
STORY
The Good:
The Half Blood Prince has some of the most scandalous plot twists and breath taking scenes of the whole series. I know i’ve said all the other books are darker than the first 3, but this one where things become twisted. I guess you could say that the ethics of magic come into question? Rowling lifts the veil that had been shrouding so many of the mysteries of the magical world. Tom Riddles disturbed past and circumstances of his birth, the secret of apparating successfully and what Dumbledore has been up to all this time. The twists and turns in The Half Blood Prince constantly surprised and delighted me. The emotions of the characters are made more intense in this audiobook with Fry’s flawless narration, Harry’s jealously, Ron’s lust, Ginny’s sassiness. It’s the story of three teenagers try to preserve some sense of normality in their lives whilst their government and superiors struggle to keep everything together. Everything is grimmer and moodier, but in saying that, there are some very funny moments in this audiobook. Standouts include the jokes in Fred and George Weasley’s joke shop, Ron eating a box of love chocolates and his kissing technique being likened to that of ‘a wriggling eel’. Such fun.
The Bad:. There is very little action in this audiobook, save towards the end. I didn’t mind this, but it’s definitely noticeable. One point i’d like to make is that when there is any action it’s a lot more violent than it has been before. Harry gets his face smashed and battle spells are used. This audiobook is definitely a lot grittier than the others.The nuts and bolts of the story involve Harry learning about Voldemorts past. But we get very little information about what Voldemort is actually doing and how the magical world is coping with his return, we’re just here to learn. I didn’t mind this because I thought that Voldemorts beginnings were incredibly fascinating. Some might not appreciate all the flashbacks though. The plot itself is definitely not as complex or multi layered as the past two books. Some twists were definitely predictable. Others blew me away completely.
I also felt that whilst the little crushes and love stories were lovely and all, they were a bit fluffy for me. Rowling doesn’t really know how to build any kind of sexual tension or passion between two people and this bothered me. It meant that characters that really have no chemistry whatsoever just end up getting together. The relationships that occurred in the book felt very forced and there didn’t seem to be any real tenderness there, more that Rowling just randomly decided she wanted these characters to be together and bam! Done. Hardly any build up or anything! But then again, it’s not like this is supposed to be all about Harry’s ‘wand’.
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CHARACTERS
The Good:
Dumbledore became so much more than a mentor in this audiobook and that was great. Rowling shows him to be only human. A very wise human with a great beard, but just as capable of hurting others, making mistakes and doing the wrong thing. Dumbledore also becomes one of the sketchiest characters in the whole book (apart from Draco). Dumbie’s always sneaking around, not telling Harry anything, teasing us with little snippets of information. It’s great to see this side of Dumbledore though, he’s so weird, he uses candy names for the password for his office. He’s feared by the darkest wizard of all time, but he looks like the most harmless old man in the world, his speeches very rarely make any sense but he’s constantly dropping this little bits of wisdom. Dumbledore is the awesome old grandfather who can solve any problem whatsoever.
I also really liked Horace Slughorn. Funnily enough I was never able to shake the image of him being an arm chair from my mind. So now whenever I imagine him he’s about the height and width of a plush arm chair. Slughorn was sort of the wizarding version of an old, washed up socialite. It was very amusing. Slughorn managed to establish his own little clique and all in the name of building his connections with the rich and the famous. He’s only interested in himself and his connections, it’s hilarious. Slughorn should come across as tacky, but he’s so fabulously written, Rowling has created a character that makes you feel like you want to impress them, even when they’re not that impressive themselves.
The Bad:
Tom Riddle should have been the most interesting character and yet he seems to have jumped right out of a psychology 101 textbook: spotting a psychopath. Uh yes, tortures children does he? Killed a rabbit you say? Wonderful, we’ll take him. I’ve mentioned this in another review, but I don’t think Wizards have really grasped the whole ‘psychology thing’. The more I learnt about Voldemort the more I wondered why no one had ever bothered to: a) keep a closer eye on him or b) lock him up. The guy is a total nut job and yet Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of the age, didn’t do anything about it? One part I found particularly amusing was Tom Riddle coming to ask for a job at Hogwarts. He’d clearly been busy splitting his soul because he was beginning to look more snake like. What was he thinking?
‘ I is evil but I love Hogwarts, give me job’.
Anyway, another issue I had was the ‘beginnings’ of love between Hermione and Ron. NO. NO. NO. There is no chemistry there. Ron is such a bully sometimes and can be very cruel. Hermione needs someone as smart as her otherwise she’ll spend the rest of her time doing his work. She deserves someone who is as generous and kind as her. Grrr. I just. No idea what Rowling really was thinking there.
NARRATOR
The Good:
There are two versions of the Half-Blood Prince, one is narrated by Stephen Fry, the other Jim Dale. Below is our outline, and a video for comparison.
Stephen Fry I have to mention Fry’s brilliant interpretation of Ron being intoxicated by a love potion. It was a mix between crazy and drunk and really very funny to listen to. Fry also does a great job of voicing Draco Malfoy and his slow descent into darkness over the course of the year. Draco is less snarky and much more malicious in this book. He becomes a much darker character and Fry easily matches new tones and pitches to complement this development. Fry’s narration style is much more nuanced and realistic where Dale’s is more theatrical. I recommend listening to both in order to decide who you really like, I will always be biased towards Fry though! Fry is also excellent at capturing the feeling of the text he’s reading because he’s already aware of the text around it. For example ‘what do you mean?’ laughed Harry. Fry will actually laugh while saying the sentence. I believe Dale often misses these situations and it’s only when the nuances are described ahead of the dialogue that he does it.
Jim Dale
Dale is more of a voice artist than Fry, he does a great job of creating other worldly voices, which certainly fits the setting. One big plus for Dale is that his characters voices are easily distinguished, he lacks Fry’s subtlety, but that’s not a bad thing.
The Bad:
At times Fry doesn’t give the intense action scenes the sense of excitement and tension they really need. Dale has the tendency to miss the mark in some of the gentler scenes. His over exaggeration can be quite painful when what the scene in the story really needs is a bit of Fry’s tenderness.
Check out a side by side comparison here! (**SPOILERS**)
[kad_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJobfh62WAo” width=300 height=300 maxwidth=300 ]
More Harry Potter Reviews
- Harry Potter and Philosopher’s Stone
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I hope you enjoyed our ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ Audiobook Review, come back soon!
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