Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I read the final two books in the Harry Potter series in record time (for me).  At the end of last August I was scheduled to start taking classes for my master's.  At the end of July I decided my main goal for the rest of the summer was to finish book 6 before my classes started.  Luckily, we went on vacation at the beach which is like reading heaven.  I actually ended up finishing book 6 at the beach so I decided why not try to finish the whole series?  Once I had the final book I read and read.  It actually ended up taking me until Labor Day but still I finished both books in about a month!!! That's good stuff when you read like molasses.  However, in my rush to finish the books I neglected my book review post...until NOW!!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 

Fave Scene: Dumbledore and Harry take a journey to find a piece of Voldemort that will help defeat him.  The entire book is leading up to this moment.  It's dark and late in the scene.  They travel to a cave along the side of a cliff with waves crashing up from the sea beneath it.  An eery setting foreshadows the dark magic inside the cave which only gets worse as their time inside the cave lasts longer. 

Fave Character: Dumbledore. I know, I know this seems pretty obvious but he is a great professor and headmaster.  Not only does Dumbledore think out-side of the box when it comes to running Hogwarts but he loves each student and thinks the best of people.  Dumbledore trusts the students and strives to create an environment for them to self-teach.  Learning happens in all forms and avenues at Hogwarts, and Dumbledore likes it that way. 
Even though, Severus Snape (the professor who hates Harry) seems awfully sketchy ALL of the time, Dumbledore still trusts him because Snape says he is trustworthy.  By the end of the book, you want to kill Dumbledore for still trusting him.  Dumbledore invests so much time in Harry and other people who don't seem worth it.  I know it's a character but isn't that what life is all about, investing time in others!

Dumbledore and Harry preparing to use the Pensieve.

Fave Magical Item: The Pensieve. The stone basin holds memories and offers a way for one to look back on memories their mind may have become too full to remember.  Dumbledore takes Harry under his wing for regular meetings, in an attempt to help him learn as much about Lord Voldemort's past as possible.  Memories can already be in the Pensieve or one can add a memory to it.  To review the memory, one must look into the Pensieve and lean over it.  This allows them to enter the memories in a non-obtrusive kind of way.  The on-looker, is just that, they can see the memory taking place but cannot become involved in the events or be seen by the people in the memory. 

I have always loved flashbacks in books and movies.  The Pensieve basically offers several flashbacks throughout the book, which I also enjoyed because I love to learn more about a person's or character's background.  The memories helped piece together Lord Voldemort's past, and shed a light on why he is the way he is.