Book Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

An ex Satanist looks at the new book

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It has not been the policy of Refuge Ministries to openly review material, written or otherwise, secular or Christian. Given the overwhelming popularity of certain books and movies that sport an occultic life style, however, we feel as though we can no longer stay silent. Leading the way, at this time is J.K. Rowlings' Harry Potter series. And so we set to the task of reading and reviewing so that an honest assessment might be given.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, is the sixth book in the series that will contain seven. It is published in the U.S. by Arthur A Levine Books a division of Scholastic Inc. (Scholastic is the company that sells reading material to elementary school students through order sheets that the teacher passes out. Orders are taken and delivered in school classrooms often with out parental knowledge.)

As popular as the series is, I am sure that there are some people who still don't know the premise of the series and so let me get you "up to date". Before Harry Potter was born a very powerful wizard who named himself "Lord Voldemort" (his real name is Tom Riddle) went very bad and killed a lot of people. A prophecy was made about a child who would stop him, (Harry Potter) and so Voldemort set out to kill the baby Harry. Harry's parents both gave their lives trying to protect Harry and thus gave Harry the greatest magic gift of all: sacrificial love. This love that covered Harry also undid the majority of Lord Voldemort's magic and thus left him virtually powerless. The first 6-books concentrate on how Harry learns that he is a wizard and his adventures with his two best friends Ron and Hermione. A good deal of time is spent on Harry's never ending search to discover his past, another good portion is devoted to how Lord Voldemort recovers his powers and his followers. Lord Voldemort is always resurfacing in a different form to try to kill Harry and take over the world.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince opens as the others do during the end of summer vacation. The "Wizarding community" is at war and even the Prime Minister of England is aware of it. In this book even more than the others the lines are being drawn to distinguish the good wizards from the bad. People are being killed muggles (a term meaning non-magic or normal people) and magic folk alike by the forces of Lord Voldemort that call themselves "Deatheaters". No one is safe anywhere, and the wizzarding world is looking for protection to Albus Dumbledore and his "Order of the Phoenix" as the only wizard that Voldemort ever feared and to Harry as the one person who has faced Lord Voldemort (three times now) and lived, as their hero. Harry, who is 16, is once again residing at the "Muggle" home belonging to his Aunt and Uncle Dursley and their horribly spoiled son Dudley. Harry is rescued from his boring summer by his mentor and the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore. The story that follows for the next 652 pages is one that would capture the attention of any young adult reader and many adults as well. Harry, in potions class is in need of a textbook and is given a used copy which once belonged to a student who had written on the inside cover "This book is the property of The Half Blood Prince". The sidelines of this book are full of The Half Blood Princes hand written hints and helps that make Harry the instant head of the Potions class. These hints as the semester goes on become more and more dark. Harry's friend Hermione reminds Harry that nothing ever good comes from cheating. Advice which Harry chooses to ignore. In the meantime Harry's mentor Dumbledore is meeting with Harry on a regular basis in order to discover the past of Lord Voldemort. This says Dumbledore might help Harry understand how to defeat Voldemort when the time comes. The climax of the book entails a trip that Harry and Dumbledore make to capture a piece of Voldemort's soul that the villain has left hidden in a cave to ensure his immortality. (There were 6 altogether 2 already destroyed) In order to capture this "Horcrux" Harry and Dumbledore must cross a lake full of Zombie like creatures, which of course attack them later. Dumbledore opts to drink the deadly potion protecting the Horcrux in order to retrieve the object in hopes of getting back to Hogwarts in time for an antidote. They return to Hogwarts to find that the Deatheaters have made an open attack and that some of them were students who were secretly Deatheaters. The battle that ensues is a bloody one especially by children's literature standards. In it, Dumbledore is betrayed and killed, and Harry is left with the Order of the Phoenix to finish the fight and drive the Deatheaters from the castle. The identity of the Half Blood Prince is finally revealed as the teacher "Snape"- the wizard who killed Dumbledore. Harry is left to wonder if he had spoken up, might Dumbledores death have been prevented. After the battle, everyone who was injured recovers, though some are left with permanent scars. Dumbledore is buried and the students are sent home for summer holiday. Harry with Ron and Hermione at his side, now must find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes. Harry knows he alone must ultimately face (in the last book apparently) Voldemort in a final battle in which only one of them will remain.

The Pros and Cons of Harry Potter

Pros

Probably the biggest one, despite all the evil that is done to him, Harry still loves. Quite a big point to make in the secular world.

Although the characters do practice magic, never in the series is there ever a "real" Wiccan (or any other occultic) type ceremony.

Never blatantly evangelizes. Either you are born with powers or you are not. You can't just decide not to be a "Muggle".

For what it's worth they always celebrate Christmas, although there is yet to be any acknowledgment of why Christmas is celebrated.

The characters are human who make mistakes and later learn good moral lessons. I.e.: cheating never leads to anything good.

There are adult mentors who continue to put themselves in danger and ultimately die in order to defeat evil.

Laying your life down for someone is the ultimate gift of love and is worth it.

All in all taken from a secular point of view a person who is not a devoted Christian would have no real reason not to read this series or to deny that their child read it. It is, from a secular standpoint, fun, captivating, imaginative and moral. And this series has undoubtedly gotten quite a few non-readers reading again.

Cons

Probably the biggest: Although this series never blatantly celebrates (real) occultic ceremonies or openly evangelizes it is what we consider to be a "Hook". Something that gently stirs the interest of the reader. Adding a teaspoon of sugar to the poison makes it taste good and easy to swallow. This series makes a life of Magick look "magical".

Excessive graphic violence. Although in today's callus society it really is quite tame. In our opinion, there is far too much blood and death for the young audience it is being marketed to.

The book teaches that kids most often know more than adults do. Dangerous lesson.... These characters typically obtain important information that adults blatantly ignore or dismiss.

Kids most often think that they know more than adults do. These characters know that adults won't believe them or might actually mess things up and quite often don't offer up information even if they have to lie about it.

Characters take the Lords' name in vain. (No they never say "Jesus") but they do say "Oh God!" quite a bit.

They always celebrate Christmas, but never once indicate that they know why they celebrate Christmas.

When characters fight evil, they fight alone. In other words...their power comes from within. It is a very scary idea to face "the ultimate evil" without The Lord.

Teaches that when a person dies they are "simply behind a curtain" No real heaven, just another dimension. No mention of what happens to bad wizards who die.

Makes the thought of ghosts in your home "fun". (Yikes!)

As a Christian parent letting your child read Harry Potter will be a judgment call. It will also however be very hard to avoid since there is such saturation these days of anything to do with Harry. As we stated earlier, your child may well even be able to order it in his or her classroom with out you ever even knowing. We at Refuge Ministries recommend that if Harry is an issue in your family, that you read the series together. (No, you don't have to buy the books if you don't want to. Most libraries carry them now; they are located in the children's chapter book section.) This will enable you to "train up your child", teaching them to think and process things that are not of God. You might not even have to read the whole series.... It might take just one book for your child to decide on his or her own that Harry is not for them. Try not to tell them what to think, help them to think on their own, and make their own conclusions. When a person young or old makes a good quality decision with out coercion they usually stick to it.

If you need help with this issue or any other occultic or non-occultic problem please feel free to contact us.


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