Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (Hardcover)

It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind. He was waiting for a call from the President of a far distant country, and between wondering when the wretched man would telephone, and trying to suppress unpleasant memories of what had been a very long, tiring, and difficult week, there was not much space in his head for anything else. (from the first line)

Annotation:
As Harry Potter and his friends enter their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the fight of their young lives looms larger then ever as the nefarious shadow of their most feared and hated adversary, Voldemort, grows. Although more information about this eagerly awaited novel is still hard to come by, the author has announced that neither Harry nor Voldemort is the Half-Blood Prince of the the title. In addition, the book's American editor, Arthur Levine, was interviewed on the March 8, 2005, episode of the TODAY show, and noted that in this installment of the series readers will learn a great deal more about Voldemort, and a new Minister of Magic will be appointed.Packed with mystery, subterfuge, and a more intimate understanding of the challenges that lie ahead of him, Harry Potter?s sixth year at Hogwarts overflows with his growing sense of responsibility regarding the defeat of Lord Voldemort, a relentlessly sneaking suspicion that classmate Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater in cahoots with the dastardly Professor Snape, and a host of romantic entanglements that hilariously plague everyone. Harry?s busy N.E.W.T.-level schedule includes Potions, where he surprises himself by excelling due to strangely helpful, handwritten margin notes in his book, ascribed only to the enigmatic "Half-Blood Prince." Sporadic, private lessons with Dumbledore center on the personal history of Lord Voldemort, which both unnerves and fascinates Harry. At the same time, the romantic ups and downs of Ron and Hermione threaten to destroy their friendship. The sixth installation in the phenomenally successful Harry Potter series opened with record-breaking sales of an estimated 6.9 million books on July 16, 2005. Named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of 2005. A New York Times Notable Book of 2005.Packed with mystery, subterfuge, and a more intimate understanding of the challenges that lie ahead of him, Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts heaves with his growing sense of responsibility regarding the defeat of Lord Voldemort, a relentlessly sneaking suspicion that classmate Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater in cahoots with the dastardly Professor Snape, and a host of romantic entanglements that hilariously plague everyone. Harry's busy N.E.W.T.-level schedule includes Potions, where he surprises himself by excelling due to strangely helpful, hand-written margin notes in his book, ascribed only to the enigmatic "Half-Blood Prince." Sporadic, private lessons with Dumbledore center on the personal history of Lord Voldemort, which both unnerves and fascinates Harry. At the same time, the romantic ups and downs of Ron and Hermione threaten to destroy their friendship. The sixth installation in the phenomenally successful Harry Potter series opened with record-breaking sales of an estimated 6.9 million books on July 16, 2005. Named both one of Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of 2005 and a New York Times Notable Book of 2005.