Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate novel of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series. The book series about a young wizard who is set to defeat a dark wizard named Lord Voldemort, who killed his parents when he was only one year old. Lord Voldemort tried to killed Harry, but failed, because of the love of Harry's mother protected him, resulting in Voldemort losing his powers; Harry became the first and only survivor of the deadly spell cast by the wizard feared by all. Originally the title “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was considered for the second book of the series “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.” In this book, the first chapter “The Other Minister” was a concept that Rowling originally had when writing the first book of the series, she tried to add it to her earlier books, but when writing this story, she knew it was perfect.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published worldwide on July 16, 2005. Fans waited until midnight in their local bookstores to finally read the next story of the young wizard. It was upsetting for the author J.K. Rowling to write the end of the book, since one of her characters had died. However, to her, it wasn’t a shock, since she knew of that character’s demise since she began plotting the Harry Potter universe.
The title of the book is determined by the storyline. In potions class, Harry uses an old book in which one of the former students left his notes and signed it as "The Half-Blood Prince". Thanks to these comments, Harry becomes the first in the class, although he used to lag behind in this subject. Meanwhile, the young magician, together with the headmaster of Hogwarts, is trying to find and destroy the Horcruxes. Events are developing rapidly, Harry finds out who else is involved in the death of his parents, the secret of the Half-Blood Prince is revealed, and the finale is overshadowed by the death of one of the heroes.
The film adaptation of the Half-Blood Prince premiered on July 15, 2009, one day short of the book celebrating its fourth year since it got published. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who played the roles of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
