By Elyse Merlo

“And now, Harry,” says Dumbledore in the beginning of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” “Let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.”

This statement doesn’t disappoint as J.K. Rowling’s sixth “Harry Potter” book of a planned seven in the series is full of not only adventure, but romance and the classic struggle between good and evil.

In what is the darkest episode yet in Rowling’s series, the now-16-year-old Harry Potter is more alone than ever. Christened by the wizarding community as “the Chosen One,” Harry is ostracized from everybody but his closest friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. While dealing with this unwanted celebrity, he has to cope with past and present deaths, schoolwork, girls, and the fact that he really is the only one that can get rid of Lord Voldemort and restore peace.

As the novel opens, the wizarding world is at war. Lord Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters, have become so powerful that their evildoings have spilled over in the Muggle (non-magical) world. With uncanny echoes of the current political climate in England the novel begins with the English Prime Minister being accused of not doing enough to keep the public safe from attacks. While Prime Minister Tony Blair’s name is never mentioned and “Half-Blood Prince” was finished before the London Bombings on July 7, the social commentary is there and reminds that not only the wizarding world is at war.

The novel’s ominous overtones continue as Harry goes back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and has an extra class with Dumbledore, the headmaster of the school on his schedule. Using Dumbledore’s “Pensieve,” a magical device that allows one to look into other people’s memories, Harry learns of Lord Voldemort’s past, what made him the evil creature he is today and finds the key to destroying him.

On top of this, Potter has to deal with the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, being in N.E.W.T classes (think Honors courses), and his school-boy arch enemy Draco Malfoy, who is suddenly more threatening than annoying in this installment.

The only thing that seems to be going right for Harry is the appearance of an old Potions textbook scribbled on with notes by the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. The Prince’s notes initially provide Harry with helpful hints to win a competition with his classmates, but soon prove to be much more than a study guide.

On the lighter side, which is slowly being eclipsed in Harry’s ever-darkening world, the characters, particularly Harry, Ron and Hermione, date, “snog,” hook-up, and break-up in the slightly hilarious, slightly awkward way that only 16 and 17-year-olds can. Ron’s twin brothers Fred and George are back as well, selling not only love potions and gag gifts out of their new shop, but also inventing defensive weapons for the Ministry of Magic.

If nothing else, “Prince” is a testament to the long-standing literary theme of love and death. Love is the power that Harry has and the “Dark Lord knows not,” which Rowling describes as “a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature.” Whether or not Harry’s ability to love will be enough to overpower Lord Voldemort’s aptitude at death has yet to be seen, but the drama established leading up to the final book sets the anticipation for a climax of epic proportions.