Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series, written by British author J. K. Rowling. Set during protagonist Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts, the novel explores the past of Harry's nemesis, Lord Voldemort, and Harry's preparations for the final battle against Voldemort alongside his headmaster and mentor Albus Dumbledore.
The book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury and in the United States by Scholastic on 16 July 2005, as well as in several other countries. It sold nine million copies in the first 24 hours after its release, a record at the time which was eventually broken by its sequel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. There were many controversies before and after it was published, including the right to read the copies delivered prior to the release date in Canada. Reception to the novel was generally positive and it won several awards and honours, including the 2006 British Book of the Year award.
Reviewers noted that the book took on a darker tone than its predecessors, though it did contain some humour. Some considered the main themes to be love and death, and trust and redemption. The character development of Harry and several other teenage characters was also remarked upon.


Rowling stated that she had Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince "planned for years", but she spent two months going over her plan before she began writing seriously. This was a lesson learned after she did not check the plan for Goblet of Fire and had to rewrite a third of the book.^[12] She started writing the book before her second child, David, was born, but she took a break to care for him.^[13] The first chapter, "The Other Minister", which features the meeting between the Muggle Prime Minister, the Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, and his successor, Rufus Scrimgeour, was a concept Rowling tried to start in Philosopher's Stone, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Order of the Phoenix, but she found "it finally works" in Half-Blood Prince.^[14] She stated that she was "seriously upset" writing the end of the book, although Goblet of Fire was the hardest to write.^[15] When asked if she liked the book, she responded, "I like it better than I liked 'Goblet', 'Phoenix' or 'Chamber' when I finished them. Book six does what I wanted it to do and even if nobody else likes it (and some won't), I know it will remain one of my favourites of the series. Ultimately you have to please yourself before you please anyone else!"^[16]

Rowling revealed the title of Half-Blood Prince on her website on 29 June 2004.^[17][18] This was the title she had once considered for the second book, Chamber of Secrets, though she decided that the information disclosed belonged better in book six.^[18] On 21 December 2004, she announced she had finished writing it, along with the release date of 16 July.^[19][20] Bloomsbury unveiled the cover on 8 March 2005.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Half-Blood_Prince