Book Review: Harry Potter Series Part 3

Hi, I haven't been blogging for a while but this is the third segment of my book review of the Harry Potter series. In this post, I will be covering the 5th and the 6th books of this 7-part fantasy thriller, namely Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

The 5th book finally shows Voldemort taking action. The novel begins with Harry and his cousin Dudley being attacked by Dementors (Recall: Book 3). In order to save them, Harry performs the Patronus and in turn violates the wizarding law of underage wizardry. He is notified that he has been expelled from Hogwarts and is devastated. However, he is notified soon after that the ban has been suspended and that he needs to attend a disciplinary hearing. Furthermore, from the previous book (Goblet of Fire), we know that Voldemort has rised again. Dumbledore reactivates the Order of the Phoenix, a secret society found by Dumbledore himself, in response to Voldemort's rise. However, despite Dumbledore's belief in Harry's word and Harry's vivid descriptions of the rise of Dumbledore, the wizarding world refuses to acknowledge the rise of Voldemort.

The Ministry, in an attempt to wrest control of Hogwarts, deploys Dolores Umbridge as the next DATDA teacher. She is later promoted to High Inquisitor. She changes the school into a quasi-dictatorial regime and refuses to teach students the practical way of defending themselves, limiting them to the basics using theory books as a tool. He is persuaded into teaching his classmates the high-level charms and curses he has learned. Harry learns of a prophecy about himself and Voldemort and also discovers the telepathic connection between him and Voldemort. As the novel enters the climax, Harry and his friends are locked into a battle between themselves and the Death Eaters. They are on the losing end when reinforcements in the form of the Order arrives. The Death Eaters are defeated but Sirius Black dies in the process. Harry is devastated and rushes after Bellatrix Lestrange, the murderer. At this moment, Voldemort appears and Harry is in hot water. The timely arrival of Dumbledore, however, saves Harry's life. The truth of the return of Voldemort is confirmed in the wizarding world.

The 6th books has a smaller focus on Voldemort and places a larger role on Snape and Malfoy (Harry's rival). Snape is the new DATDA teacher and a new teacher, Horace Slughorn, replaces him as Potions teacher. Harry did not think he would be doing Potions for NEWT level and did not buy the necessary books and equipment. Harry borrows a textbook from Slughorn and discovers the book belongs to the Half-Blood Prince. The Prince has annotated along the sides of the book, refining the potion-making techniques and hence, making Harry into a Potions pro.

Harry discovers his true feelings for Ginny Weasley (Recall: Book 2). He fears the friendship between Ron and him would become strained because of this. Ron starts dating Lavender Brown (Gryffindor girl), causing a rift between him and Hermione. The rift is healed only when Ron get poisoned by some mead planted probably to kill Dumbledore. This leads to Harry suspecting that Draco Malfoy has joined Voldemort and is the instigator of this. No one believes Harry, however.

Dumbledore and Harry starts to have some private lessons between them. Throughout the year, the Pensieve (Object that stores past memories) to explain Voldemort's past. A memory Harry obtained from Slughorn confirms a suspicion of Dumbledore - that Voldemort has split his soul into 7 parts. This is Voldemort's attempt at immortality and 6 of the 7 fragments are magically stored in objects and these are known as Horcruxes. Two of the 6 have been destroyed, them being the diary of Tom Riddle in Book 2 and Voldemort's grandfather ring, destroyed in this very book. The remaining Horcruxes are suspected to be Salazar Slytherin's locket, Helga Hufflepuff's cup, two artefacts belonging to Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw and Voldemort's pet snake Nagini.

I'll skip the irrelevant details (KISS SCENE). As we enter the climax of the book, Harry is notified that Dumbledore has located one of the Horcruxes and requests that Harry follows him on this quest. They travel to a cave and retrieves the locket but Dumbledore has been severely weakened by a magical potion used to protect the locket. They arrive back at Hogwarts to see Voldemort's mark, or the Dark Mark hovering over the Astronomy Tower. At the very top, Dumbledore is confronted by Draco. Draco admits that he was the mastermind behind the attacks and that he was ordered by Voldemort to kill Dumbledore to save his own life. He is unable to bring himself to kill Dumbledore but Snape comes and murders Dumbledore there and then. Harry is enraged and pursues Snape. Snape finally admits that he is the Half-Blood Prince before he disapparates (teleport).

Harry recovers the locket but discovers that the locket is a fake and that the real one had been stolen by someone with the initials R.A.B. The year ends with Dumbledore's funeral and his wand is buried next to him. Harry, Ron and Hermione decide not to return to Hogwarts the next year and to hunt for Horcruxes instead.

THE END.
You definitely want to know whats going on and how Harry and his buddies hunt down the Horcruxes.
Thats why you should definitely read the books. The next post would be the review on the FINAL book. Have fun waiting!

zyle;

Book Review: Harry Potter Series Part 2

Hi guys I'm back.
This will be the second edition of the book review on the Harry Potter series. Well, from my previous post, the first two books have been briefly summarised. Just a basic recap. Harry found out he was a wizard. He saw Voldemort. They fight. Harry wins. The end. Okay, now onto the third book. Some say that this book was the most boring book in the series. You shall be the judge of that in due time. In this book, a new character is introduced and his name is Sirius Black. Black is supposedly a Dark wizard that murdered 13 wizards with one spell. However, this is all just a facade. Not to spoil it now, lets dive into the magical world of Harry Potter.

The third book is the only book in the whole series that does NOT feature Lord Voldemort. This is the third year Harry is in the magical world and he is loving it. However, he finds out that a mass murderer in Azkaban has escaped and is targeting him (Azkaban is the jail for wizards). This mass murderer is none other than Sirius Black. Black is supposed to have a hand in the deaths of Harry's parents. Harry is obviously angry at Black and swears to get vengeance. However, as Black was a notorious mass murderer, the Ministry of Magic (yes there is one) deploys the guards of Azkaban to locate Black. These foul creatures are called Dementors and the drain the life out of people. Their most dangerous weapon is the Dementor's Kiss where they suck the soul out of a living being. Harry is extremely vulnerable to the Dementors but he seeks help from the new DATDA (Defence Against the Dark Arts) teacher, Remus Lupin, on how to overcome this troubling matter. Now to cut the long story short, Harry finds out that Sirius was not the actual traitor and that another close friend of Harry's parents, Peter Pettigrew, maligned Black and was the real murderer of the 12 people (He was thought to have been killed by Black). Black and Lupin collaborates to take down Pettigrew once they find him. However, as they were about to kill him, Harry stops them from tainting their clean hands. He suggests taking Pettigrew back to the castle to clear Black's name. However, on the way back to the castle, disaster strikes. A full moon appeared and Lupin transformed into a werewolf (Harry found out earlier on). Black holds Lupin back but Pettigrew has taken the opportunity to escape. Black ends up getting badly injured and Dementors descend on him to perform the kiss and leave him in a state of neither life or death. As Harry knelt by him, somebody produced a Patronus (Charm used to drive away the Dementors). Harry thinks that it is father who produced the Patronus. Harry faints. Sirius is captured and is held in custody. Harry, in order to save Sirius, travels into the past with Hermione via a Time-Turner. All the scenes that happened before are reenacted and Harry finds out he was the one that actually performed the Patronus. He saves Sirius and happily ever after. I do agree it may be boring but this is necessary as it eventually builds up to the most important scenarios in the series.

Now, moving on. The fourth book has achieved good reviews and this book is definitely more exciting than the previous one. Two new wizarding schools are thrown into the mix as the Hogwarts prepares to host the Triwizard tournament, a dangerous tournament that was once banned. It also introduces a telling character in the form of new DATDA teacher Alastor Moody, aka Mad-Eye Moody. The novel begins with Harry's infamous lightning-shaped scar begins to hurt as he discovers a connection between him and Voldemort. Harry is currently with the Weasleys at the Quidditch (Wizard sport) World Cup where the Death Eaters (Voldemort's underlings) run riot and sends the entire camp into chaos. Harry is lost in the crowd but he sees a strange man shooting something into mid-air. He is attacked by a group of Ministry wizards who suspect him for shooting the Dark Mark (Earlier mentioned, Voldemort's sign). However, he is proved innocent. Nevertheless, this signifies the impending rise of Lord Voldemort once again. Harry returns to Hogwarts where he learns about the Triwizard tournament from Dumbledore. Harry doesn't want to get involved and is sort of relieved to hear that only students aged 17 and above would be able to participate in this tournament and vie for eternal glory. The two other schools arrive at the scene and the Goblet of Fire is unveiled, signalling the start of the tournament. One student of each school would be chosen to fight and take on this arduous quest. Eventually, the three chosen ones were Viktor Krum representing Durmstrang, Fleur Delacour representing Beauxbatons and Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts. However, we all know that the story cannot continue without Harry being involved and the Chosen One, his nickname, is thrown into the mix and has to complete as once chosen, you cannot back out. Therefore, Harry has no choice but to compete in the tournament. There will be three tasks to be completed and all completes it with relative ease. However, after the second task, the overall-in-charge of this tournament Bartemius Crouch is found dead. Something is wrong and there is an enemy within the ranks of the wizards in Hogwarts. The last and final task is a maze and Harry and Cedric makes it to the cup together. However, upon touching the Cup, they are teleported into the scene of Harry's recent nightmares (I mentioned that Harry's scar was hurting). It was the graveyard where Voldemort's father was buried. Cedric was killed by Pettigrew immediately and Harry is caught. There is a cauldron where Pettigrew starts performing a ritual and chanting and incantation. The potion in the cauldron is ready and Voldemort rises from the cauldron reborn. He calls forth the Death Eaters and he tortures them for not searching for him. Voldemort challenges Harry to a duel and through some bizarre occurrence, their spells connect. Harry reaches for Cedric's body and grabs the Cup, teleporting him back to Hogwarts. This is where they found out Mad-Eye was a fraud and that he was a Death Eater in disguise. Dumbledore now knows that the Dark Lord or Voldemort has rised again. The story ends with a toast to Hagrid and the students heading back to their respective homes.

Well, this is the third and fourth book of the series and I hope you are ready for more.

Zyle;

Book Review: Harry Potter Series Part 1

Hi all, this is my first post and it will be a review of the whole Harry Potter series.
As most of you know, the Harry Potter series has achieved global acclaim, selling 400 million copies worldwide. Imagine that. There must be something within this seven thrilling books that draws the reader to read more and desire to know what is coming next, to satiate their taste for more. Read on.

Important characters:
Harry Potter (duh)
Lord Voldemort
Albus Dumbledore

The Books:
Harry Potter and the 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 Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

First, a simple introduction of the protagonist of this whole series, undoubtedly Mr Harry James Potter. Harry Potter was a baby when his parents were killed by the antagonist of the series, Lord Voldemort. Voldemort tried killing Harry Potter but his curse rebounded and it left him in a near-death state, and only leaving Harry with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. He reaches instant fame in the wizarding world for ending the reign of terror of Lord Voldemort. Howeverr, at the request of his patron, Dumbledore, he lives with his relatives, totally ignorant of his past and that he was actually a wizard.

If I were to talk and go into specifically all seven books in the series, it would take me ages to complete the review. Hence, I would just give a brief summary of each book. In the first book, Harry discovers the truth of his past and that he was a wizard. He leaves his relatives and heads for Hogwarts, his actual home in his opinion. However, he is thrown into a frenzy as one of the teachers has fallen victim to Voldemort. The teacher, Quirrel, has allowed Voldemort to share his body. Quirrel tries and plans to finish Harry Potter but is thwarted time and time again. However, Harry knows that Voldemort is seeking the Philosopher's Stone as it contains the Elixir of Life which will give him immortality. Harry then seeks out this elusive stone to stop Voldemort from rising once again. He ends up in the dungeons where he enters a trap door guarded by a Cerberus. He overcomes obstacle after obstacle created to protect the stone alongside his two mates, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. He eventually makes it to Quirrel but he is all alone as his friends have fallen before the final obstacle. In the final room, stood Quirrel and a magical mirror. As Harry stands before the mirror, the stone is magically transported into Harry's pocket. Harry tries to bluff his way through but Voldemort sees through his bluff. Thereafter, a battle ensues between Harry and Quirrel, which Harry obviously prevails as Quirrel is unable to touch Harry. Voldemort leaves Quirrel to die. However, Harry faints and ends up in the school hospital. The stone was destroyed and Harry returned to his relatives for a another long and dreadful summer.

Onto the second book. The second book involves a 50 year-old mystery in the school. The main characters in this book are once again Voldemort, Harry, and Hagrid (Harry's good friend). The mystery begins as strange words appear on the walls of the school, saying that the heir of Slytherin will kill all the Muggle-borns in the school (Muggles are normal humans like you and me). Harry discovers a diary and finds more about the myth through the memories stored within the diary. He learns about Tom Marvolo Riddle and how he blamed Hagrid for the accident that occurred 50 years ago. He also finds out that he can understand snakes. Soon after this strange wordings appear, numerous cases of petrification occurs and Hermione was one of the victims. However, when Harry goes to see her in the hospital, they discover a note clutched in her hand. She has found out the creature responsible for the petrification occurrence within the school. She determines accurately that the creature, in this case the Basilisk, is moving around the school via the piping systems and it is released through a specific female toilet in the school. Suddenly, Ron's sister Ginny has been taken away by the heir of Slytherin and the teaching staff unanimously votes for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher to settle the issue. However, the teacher is found to be a fraud and Harry and Ron has no choice but to take action themselves. They enter the Chamber but is separated through a freak accident. Harry has to venture into the Chamber alone and finds Ginny's body and the diary lying lifeless on the floor. He discovers she is unconscious but soon after, Tom Marvolo Riddle appears. Harry finds out that Tom is actually a memory from the book and is Lord Voldemort himself. Tom unleashes the Basilisk to kill Harry. Harry is obviously unable to challenge a monstrous snake but Dumbledore's pet phoenix appears in the nick of time to give Harry a weapon. The weapon is a sword made for Godric Gryffindor himself and Harry uses it to kill the Basilisk but he is unfortunately bitten by the snake. However, the phoenix cries into the wound and magically heals it. Harry uses the fang of the snake to stab the diary and therefore removing the memory trapped within the diary. All is saved and the novel ends here.