Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (original English title: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) is the sixth book in the Harry Potter literary series written by British author J. K. Rowling and first published in English on July 16, 2005.
The novel recounts the events following Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and preceding Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Developed in Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts College, the work explores the past of the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, as well as the preparations of the protagonist together with his mentor Albus Dumbledore for the final battle detailed in the following book, the last of the series.
For its home country, the United Kingdom, the Bloomsbury publishing house published the book on the same day that Scholastic Corporation shipped its edition to the United States, with an initial print run of 10.8 million copies in English-speaking territory. Instead, the publisher that owns the publishing rights in Spanish, Editorial Salamandra, published its version on February 23, 2006; the title of the Spanish edition differed from the meaning of the original, since it literally translates as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
The work achieved both commercial and critical success, breaking sales records and winning several literary awards and acceptance by literary industry circles. Many of the criticisms made of the novel revolved around the evolution of Rowling's style as she moved away from the childish tone with which she had built her previous novels, for which the gloomy setting that kept the story was emphasized. However, the fact that the ending seemed predictable through certain passages was the subject of various criticisms. In its first 24 hours of publication, nine million copies were sold, a record that would later be surpassed by its sequel.
An adaptation was made in audiobook format, which began to be distributed the same day as the novel of the same name. The feature film based on the novel, which was directed by David Yates, was released in theaters four years later, on July 15, 2009. Video games have also been created about the book, one released in 2009 with the aim of making to coincide with the film's debut, and another as part of the Lego Harry Potter game bilogy.
Plot
In the summer of 1996, former Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge visits the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to tell him that he has been sacked and that Rufus Scrimgeour will take over. The former official warns that Lord Voldemort has returned and that his wrath will be reflected in both the wizarding world and the Muggle world. Meanwhile, Severus Snape, a member of the Order of the Phoenix led by Albus Dumbledore and a former servant of Voldemort, meets with Narcissa Malfoy and is asked by Narcissa to help her son Draco of hers on a secret mission that Voldemort entrusted to him. The professor makes an Unbreakable Vow with the witch, promising that she will help Draco fulfill the Dark Lord's task.
Harry Potter accompanies Albus Dumbledore to the home of Horace Slughorn, a former Potions teacher at Hogwarts, and is persuaded to resume his duties at the institute. When Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione go to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies, they see Draco Malfoy heading to Borgin and Burkes, a store that supplies items related to the dark arts. Faced with this and covertly, the three protagonists follow in his footsteps and realize that Draco insists on the owner of the establishment to fix an unknown object. Immediately, Harry is suspicious of him, listing him as a Death Eater.
Back at school, Snape takes over as Defense Against the Dark Arts and is succeeded in Potions by Slughorn, in which Harry, unlike in the past, begins to excel. This is because he receives a potions textbook filled with numerous notations and which, he claims on the last page, once belonged to some individual called "the Half-Blood Prince." For much of the course, the young wizard follows Draco Malfoy's trail to validate his suspicions, only to realize that he is impossible to find on his Marauder's Map. The protagonist then deduces that when the map does not display Draco, it is because he uses the Room of Requirement, a place capable of transforming into whatever the user wishes. Harry is unable to enter the room unless he knows exactly what Draco is using it for.
Dumbledore regularly arranges meetings with Harry to use the Pensieve which enables them to witness memories of those who had direct contact with Voldemort, in order to take advantage of the already predicted final battle. In a memory of Slughorn, they observe that he reveals to Voldemort how to divide a person's soul and deposit the fragments in different objects called "Horcruxes". Dumbledore claims that the Dark Lord divided his soul before his body was destroyed: two of the so-called Horcruxes have already been exterminated, three of these belonged to three of the founders of Hogwarts, and that the last resides in the dark wizard's serpent..
During the last days of the school year, Harry and Dumbledore embark on a journey outside of Hogwarts to find and destroy one of the Horcruxes. They move to a cave in a cliff associated with Voldemort's childhood and protected by dark magic. Once there, they arrive at a container in which the supposed Horcrux is hidden under a potion. Dumbledore drinks it, weakens, and fights at Harry's side against Voldemort's army of resurrected corpses, the Inferi. They take the Horcrux, Slytherin's locket, and when they return to Hogwarts they see the dark mark – a symbol of the presence of Voldemort or his allies – above the astronomical tower.
| For the Dark Lord: I know I'll die long before I read this, But I want you to know it was me. who discovered his secret. I stole the real Horrocrux. And I will destroy it as soon as I can. I will face death in the hope that, When he finds the horma of his shoe, He'll be mortal again. |
| -R.A.B. |
In the tower, Dumbledore uses his magic to inadvertently freeze Harry as he hides under his cloak, Draco climbs up and disarms Dumbledore by threatening to kill him, thus fulfilling the mission Voldemort gave him – that is, allowing passage of Death Eaters to the school through a hidden passage between Hogwarts and Borgin and Burkes. Dumbledore tries to convince him that he is not a murderer, but Snape unexpectedly enters the tower and murders Dumbledore. For the murder, the spell that was petrifying Harry is undone and he immediately follows Snape to avenge the death of the old wizard. As a battle between the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army, and other students and faculty rages against the Death Eaters, Snape reveals his identity as the Half-Blood Prince and manages to flee. After what happened, Harry discovers that the locket that he recovered along with Dumbledore is not the real Horcrux, as it only houses a note from one «R. A.B."
After Dumbledore's funeral, Hermione explains to Harry that Snape dubbed himself "the Half-Blood Prince" since his father was Muggle while his mother possessed magical powers - whose maiden name was The prince-. Determined to find the remaining pieces of Voldemort's soul and thereby skip their final year at Hogwarts, Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on a journey, leaving the wizarding community at the mercy of the Dark Lord's second rising.
Composition
When she wrote The Goblet of Fire, Rowling hadn't planned her follow-up to the novel and ultimately found herself having to rewrite a third of what she already had. Due to this, in an interview the author expressed: "I have planned the sixth book for years, but before I started writing it seriously I spent two months going through the sketches again to make sure completely of what I was doing". write the manuscript before her second son, David, was born, but she left it for a while to take care of the child, since as the author recognized the dedication she gave to her children was not compatible with the eight or nine hours a day that she used to write the novels.
He added information that he had first written for the second volume of the series, The Chamber of Secrets, and that "didn't quite fit" as it was a premature disclosure of the plot. introduces the novel, "The Other Minister"—which details a meeting between the British Prime Minister, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, and the latter's successor, Rufus Scrimgeour—is a concept the writer intended to introduce as a first chapter in The Sorcerer's Stone, then in The Chamber of Secrets, and later as part of The Prisoner of Azkaban. She ultimately chose to include him in Half-Blood Prince , because she "finally agreed."
Although she stated that The Goblet of Fire had been the novel that had given her the most difficulty writing, the novelist noted that she was "seriously desperate" writing the ending of Half-Blood Prince. When asked if he liked writing the novel, he replied: "I liked it more than I liked [the] 'Goblet' [of fire], [the Order of] the 'Phoenix'." and [the] [secret] “Chamber”, when I finished them. With book six I show what I've always wanted to do and even if no one else likes it (some won't), I know it will remain one of my favorites in the series. In the end you have to please yourself before someone else likes you!" Nearly a year before her original publication, Rowling stated on her official website that she wanted another character to die—as of the fourth novel had used the literary device of character death as the end of the book—announcing that it was succeeded by a series of unofficial bets on the chances of which character it would be. Just as Rowling had concluded writing the novel his third daughter was born, so he dedicated it to her: "To my precious daughter Mackenzie, this ink and paper twin brother."
Rowling revealed the novel's title on her official website on June 29, 2004. Said language was published as Half-Blood Prince—it was the working title for The Chamber of Secrets and Rowling stated that she originally intended to present some "crucial pieces of information" in the second book., but eventually arranged that "the proper home for this information was book number six". July 16 of the following year. Also, Bloomsbury, the publisher in charge of its distribution in the United Kingdom, released the illustration that would accompany the cover of the book on March 8, 2005.
Post
Prepublication disputes
Prior to the global launch of The Half-Blood Prince, a series of controversies arose associated with the theft of copies before their distribution, campaigns in favor of ecology, among others. In May 2001, several UK bookmakers closed down those discussing which character would die in the book, fearing the true answer would leak out and if anything be confirmed. A considerable number of high-value bets fell on the death of Albus Dumbledore's character, especially from the English town of Bungay, where the premature distribution of copies was accused. Despite the protests, the bets went their way. Additionally, in response to the campaign that Greenpeace, the National Wildlife Federation and other Internet organizations spread in favor of the manufacture of best-selling books with recycled paper, the Bloomsbury publishing house published the book with this class of material by 30%. Similarly, Scholastic released books without fiber from old growth forests, thus maximizing post-consumer recycled content with any virgin fiber from Forest Stewardship Council certified sources.
In early July 2005, in Coquitlam (British Columbia, Canada), the Canadian hypermarket chain Real Canadian Superstore accidentally sold 14 copies of Half-Blood Prince before the date it had been strictly established. The Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books, received an injunction from the Supreme Court of British Columbia prohibiting purchasers from both reading the books before the official release date and from discussing the content publicly. buyers were offered a Harry Potter T-shirt and an autographed copy of the novel if they returned their books by July 16.
On July 15, less than twelve hours before the installment was due to go on sale in the eastern time zone —ET—, Raincoast warned The Globe and Mail that if it published a critical review by a Canadian analyst after midnight, as the newspaper had anticipated, would be taken as a violation of the injunction. This order provoked a large number of newspaper articles stating that the mandate restricted fundamental rights. A Canadian law professor, Michael Geist, posted a comment about the situation on his internet blog; Richard Stallman called for a boycott, asking the publisher to issue an apology. Thus, The Globe and The Mail published a critique by two British writers in its July 16 issue and also published the Canadian writer's review on its official website at 9:00 that same morning. Raincoast also released an explanation and clarification about what happened on his website.
Launch and publicity
In early July 2005, Bloomsbury launched a multi-million dollar campaign to promote the novel around various cities in the UK. From this is that more than 20,000 buses began to circulate through England and the Republic of Ireland with the cover of the book and the phrase All Aboard For Harry -translated into Spanish as «All aboard by Harry"—printed on its sides. The publisher also took it upon themselves to provide many bookstores with a 16-day countdown clock, referring to the period until the midnight release of the work and the start of a series of festivities for such an event. Likewise, it distributed advertising posters with the slogan The Wizarding Hour Approaches - Set Your Alarm —"The magic hour is coming - Set your alarm"—. A contest was organized in which 70 young people had the possibility of being the first to get the book at an event run by Rowling —who also autographed her copies— attended by more than 2,000 fans; this in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the city's main castle was decorated to look similar to Hogwarts school, the main setting of the Harry Potter universe, for a whole week.
In the same way, Scholastic held a raffle for public libraries in all 50 states of the American Union, whose reward consisted of a copy of the first edition of The Half-Blood Prince, signed by the Rowling herself. One day before the launch, the publisher organized and broadcast live through the official Harry Potter site a reading of a fragment of the first chapter of the novel by the writer.
With an initial print run of almost 10.8 million copies in the West, all English-language editions of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince went on sale worldwide a minute after midnight, that is, 00:01 UTC+1, on July 16, 2005. For the occasion, a large number of bookstores and shopping malls in various countries stayed open all night leading up to the eve of the launch. The celebrations attracted great coverage from media circles. The translation of the novel into Spanish, whose distribution and edition to Spanish-speaking countries is in charge of Editorial Salamandra, was published on February 23 of the following year, 2006. This was marketed with an initial circulation of more than one million copies for Spain, Latin America and the Spanish-speaking community in the United States, coupled with the celebration of parties and contests, as well as various recreational activities in different bookstores. and other commercial points.
Literary analysis
Structure and gender
In this volume, for the third time in the history of the series, a point of view different from Harry's is adopted in one chapter. Previously, the figure of the omniscient narrator had been used by the author in the first chapters of The Philosopher's Stone and The Goblet of Fire. In The Half-Blood Prince, the story begins being narrated by the British Prime Minister, while the second chapter is narrated by Narcissa Malfoy; Harry is absent in both episodes. According to Rowling: "in these first two chapters I was trying to express that this conflict is becoming more and more intensifying", emphasizing the rise to power of the main antagonist of the series. According to the same writer, this volume it is like "the first volume of the end of the story". For this reason, the structure that constitutes the novel allows it to be the least autonomous of the whole, since it works more as a prelude to Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows than as a stand-alone adventure.
In the words of Stephen King, the Harry Potter novels are "clever tales of mysteries," and each book is constructed in the style of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, in which a number is left of clues hidden in the narrative sequence, as the characters pursue a series of suspects through unusual settings, leading to an unexpected conclusion. In this case, a central intrigue—Dumbledore's lessons on the Horcruxes—which is slowly being revealed. In turn, there is a secondary mystery that revolves around the identity of the Half-Blood Prince. However, the structure of the narrative material is more intended to create an interpretive maze, in which the reader is not able to determine which side Snape really belongs to—that is, whether his loyalty is to Dumbledore or to Voldemort—rather beyond wanting to create a surprise effect in the last passages - the revelation of the Prince's identity. To achieve this, Rowling constantly resorts to arguments and counter-arguments, and contrasts Harry's speech with that of Dumbledore and other characters. The foreshadowing technique—in which an author uses plot elements from from earlier works in a future story—is constantly used to link aspects described in The Chamber of Secrets to the potions book Harry uses in the sixth book.
Settings and themes
Certain analysts of the novel pointed out that The Mystery of the Prince addresses a darker atmosphere in its content in contrast to the novels of the novel cycle that precede it. Journalist Yvonne Zipp writing for The Christian Science Monitor called the tone of the novel's first half lighter compared to that surrounding the book's other episodes, which managed to soften the upcoming unhappy ending. to come. Liz Rosenberg, an analyst for The Boston Globe, expressed that "the lighthearted moments [are] rarer as the show gets darker [...] [it manifests] a new load of sadness and darkness. After having read two thirds of the novel, I had already become depressed. He also compared the book's setting to Charles Dickens' depictions of London, that is, "melancholic, destroyed, illuminated gold, like any living character". Christopher Paolini, however, cited the dark tone as "uneasy" because which differed greatly from previous Harry Potter installments. Liesl Schillinger, contributing to The New York Times Book Review, also mentioned that The Mystery príncipe is "much darker", without neglecting the "humour, romance and agile dialogue" that it also addressed. In the same way, he suggested an affinity with the attacks of September 11, 2001, since from the fifth book the series began to institute a darker trend after the terrorist event. David Kipen, chronicler of the newspaper San Francisco Chronicle , released his views on the parallels he found with the book's darkness and "our paranoid times", singling out the curfews and searches that were part of Hogwarts' heightened security as reminiscent of the real world.
Julia Keller of the Chicago Tribune highlighted Rowling's humor in her novel, citing it as the success of the Harry Potter series. She equally acknowledged that "sometimes books present darkness and fear" but "there is no darkness in Half-Blood Prince [...the book] is so immense that it cannot be rescued by a laugh or forced smile". She considered that the author envisions difficult times that can be dealt with with imagination, hope, and humor; Keller expresses that the style of works like A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle and The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame have some equivalence with which the British writer builds her books.
The main theme of the book is death, which, in the author's words, has been part of her work from the beginning: «[in The Mystery of the Prince] death appears not only as a word or thought, but as a possibility, an evidence and a reality". He even does not rule out that the theme of the loss of innocence is present in his texts: "I think that since The Order of the Phoenix they've seen them grow up", referring to the development of its protagonists. According to Rosenberg, the main themes that Half-Blood Prince explores are love and death, and he praised the "affirmation of its focus on lives human" that Rowling details. In his analysis, he declares that love is represented through various forms: the love of father to son, of teacher to student, and the romances that flourish between the characters. Zipp, on the other hand, assured that trust and redemption are the fundamental themes of the book and that these promise to continue in the final book, something that she felt "would add a broader layer of nuance and complexity on some characters that could urgently use it". Deepti Hajela also examined Harry's development. as a character, concluding that "he is no longer a wizard boy; he is a young man, determined to seek and face the challenges of a young man." Paolini expresses himself in a similar way, arguing that "the children [the protagonists] have changed [...now] they act like true adolescents".
Reception
Critic's Response
The book earned outstanding reviews from the international press, which generally praised Rowling's narrative turn focused this time on a tone far from childish. In his native United Kingdom, in addition to having received considerable commercial success, the book brought approval from several British newspapers. However, in The Guardian, reviewer John Mullan wrote in a review that the novel lacked form, an absence caused by Rowling's alleged disinterest in becoming involved in other aspects of the series.
Liesl Schillinger of The New York Times praised the themes the novel introduces, coupled with the method of suspense used to climax the plot. He admitted that what stands out about Rowling is adjusted "not so much for her language as it is for her characterization and development of a plot", highlighting the humor and creativity that the writer used more than the prose with which she built her stories. stories. Editors at Kirkus Reviews wrote in their review that the tale "will leave readers satisfied, amazed, excited, terrified, enraged, delighted, saddened, surprised, thoughtful, and probably wondering what Voldemort has in between." hands, as he only appears in flashbacks." They also opined that the author's "ironic wit" turns into "resounding glee" and called the climax "tragic, but not uncomfortably surprising", nonetheless. Yvonne Zipp, writing for The Christian Science Monitor , highlighted in her column dedicated to the novel after its publication the way in which Rowling manages an evolution from Harry to a teenager, in addition to the method she uses to reveal elements that from The Chamber of Secrets concerned the readers. On the other hand, she expressed that the novel "begins to get more exposition-heavy in certain situations" and that readers familiar with the series can foresee the ending between which the plot flows.
Christopher Paolini, a journalist for Entertainment Weekly, pointed out in the magazine that the change in the atmosphere surrounding the environment was "out of place" as it flourished, and also praised the development of the characters; Despite his indications, he commented that, in his opinion, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was still the best in the series. "The book bears the insignia of genius on each of its pages" was the phrase with which Liz Rosenber of The Boston Globe joined the enthusiastic comments. The journalist highlighted the imagery and the dark tone that the narrative exposed, and reiterated that the author was in a process of transition from fantasy to horror for the genre of her books. The writer Deepti Hajela, of Associated Press, praised aging of Harry and his newfound emotional tones. to the point where "younger fans can see that [the series] has grown a lot". that the children's sector of readers could not control themselves before the content of the pages. Cultural analyst, Julia Keller wrote for the Chicago Tribune: "[the book is the] most eloquent and substantial addition to the series so far»; she even cataloged humor as the key to the success of the novels in the Harry Potter literary sequence.
In turn, from The San Francisco Chronicle, David Kipen was more divided, saying that the "biggest problem" lay in the fact that Rowling "has already written six of these bricks. Even if these began to consecrate, they certainly have not been refreshed. Being the penultimate volume of the series, Kipen considered that Half-Blood Prince was originally written with the purpose of "making us more dizzy"; Likewise, he included in his analysis that the book "often plays as a mere hint of the ending to come." Although he objected that the author was not capable of writing original writings, he assumed that romantic attitudes became realistic; despite this, he mentioned that Harry's parting with Ginny was reminiscent of similar situations with Batman and Superman.
Sales
Prior to its publication, a total of 1.4 million copies of Half-Blood Prince were pre-ordered on Amazon.com, the website in charge of distribution and e-commerce, breaking the record previously held by its predecessor with 1.3 million copies. The bookstore chain Barnes & Noble stated, in one of its records, that the number of reservations exceeded one million copies, a figure that placed it as the book with the highest number of pre-orders from that bookstore at that time.
The start of Half-Blood Prince consisted of an initial print run of 10.8 million copies, an unprecedented amount. During the first 24 hours after the book was released, sales they reached nine million copies worldwide; of these, two million in the UK and about 6.9 in the US, prompting Scholastic to rush another 2.7 million to print. Two weeks after its initial print run, The Mystery The Prince was already shaping up to be the best-selling book of the year. The Anglo-Saxon version of the audiobook, featuring the voice of Jim Dale, also broke some sales records, as 165,000 were purchased in just two days, thus surpassing the audio adaptation of The Order of the Phoenix by 20%.
Awards
After its publication and reception by specialized critics, the novel won various awards from various literary sectors. In its native UK, the novel received "Book of the Year" at the 2006 British Book Awards ceremony and the 2006 Royal Mail Award for Scottish Children's Books for the readers ages 8 to 12. Awards in the English-speaking world include the Pen Award for "Best Book of the Year" and "Best Children's Book," as well as recognition from the American Library Association when listing the book in "Best Books for Young Adults" of 2006.
Here are the awards that were given to The Half-Blood Prince:
| Year | Distinction | Category | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | British Book | «Book of the Year» | |
| 2006 | Nickelodeon's Choice | «Book of the Year» | |
| 2006 | United States Library Association | «Best books for young adults» | |
| 2005 | The New York Times | "100 notable books of the year" | |
| 2006 | Royal Mail | «Books for Scottish children for ages 8-12» | |
| 2005 | Pen | «Book of the Year» and «Quill Children's Chapter / Middle Grade Book of the Year» | |
| 2005 | Oppenheim Toy Portfolio | «Platinum Seal» | |
| 2005 | CCBC Choices | "CCBC Choice" | |
| 2005 | Cuffie Publishers' Weekly | "Best Sequel" and "Biggest Sales Disappointment" | |
| 2006 | Booklist Editor's Choice | «Booklist Editor's Choice» | |
| 2006 | Chicago Public Library | «Older Fiction» |
The novel was also nominated for the New York State Children's Choice Award category, as well as the 2006 Indian Paintbrush Book Award.
Social Reactions
The launch of the novel brought with it celebrations and contests in different bookstores and shopping centers around the world that, even when they were not organized by them, fans made it possible (in the United States alone, a total of 5,000 approximated of these around the country). Midnight parties became popular thanks to the community of fans after the release of the fourth book in the series, becoming one of its hallmarks. Even the long lines that were made at the time to purchase a copy of Half-Blood Prince expedited its promotion. The bookstore chain WH Smith canceled a midnight event planned at the subway station King's Cross given the contemporary attacks of July 7 in the city.
Researchers at Oxford found that in the weeks following the publication of Half-Blood Prince, a significant number of children were admitted to emergency rooms in London with a diagnosis described as 'Headache'. head of Hogwarts", a term coined by a doctor in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine shortly before the release of The Order of the Phoenix. This therefore consists of a tension headache probably accompanied by pain wrist and neck; the cause of these headaches lay in the tension produced by long reading sessions of the Harry Potter books.
As had previously happened with the previous installments of the novel sequence, the work was also distributed illegally via online due to the leaks of all its pages. Outside of the electronic landscape, a massive book piracy also began, offering various discounts in multiple countries; in fact, at that time it was recorded as the fastest book to be sold illegally (it had not taken more than 12 hours for the complete book to circulate on the Internet). Thanks to the rapid spread, the phrase "Snape kills Dumbledore" ("Snape kills Dumbledore") became an Internet meme that prompted all kinds of videos and graphics.
A week before the launch, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger –later Pope Benedict XVI– gave permission to publish his response to the submission of the work Harry Potter: Good or Evil by Gabriele Kuby he wrote and had granted him; Ratzinger described the novels as a potentially corrupting influence on children, stating that they possessed "subtle allurements, acting subliminally and thus deeply distorting Christianity in the soul before it can properly develop". The book is also credited with giving the aura that the Amazon.com company witnessed in 2005, which translated into a sales increase of 25%, with $1.75 billion earned during the third quarter of the year.
Translations
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released simultaneously in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Along with the rest of the volumes in the Harry Potter literary series, Harry Potter, a total of 67 different versions of the book were eventually made in a different language each. Both Bloomsbury and Scholastic even released braille versions for the blind community. However, in order to keep the book secret According to the argument, authorized translations (that is, those that would be disseminated by the publishing houses that owned the rights to each language) could only begin after the book was published in English. Therefore, there was a delay of several months until the translations were available, although those already translated had a release date scheduled at the latest in the fall of 2005.
In Germany, a group of "hobby translators" offered online PDF downloads of unauthorized translations of content into other languages 45 hours after the official release, long before German translator Fritz Klaus translated and published the text. book. To avoid legal disputes, the fans pledged not to distribute their efforts to third parties. Spokesperson Katrin Hogrebe told the Netzeitung news portal: "We would not have issued a judgment against a group of people who were translating in groups in their kitchen." Such was the impatience to read the book in France that its British edition reached the top 5 on the French list of best sellers.
Despite the constant demands made by Spanish-speaking fans for an official Spanish translation as soon as possible at that time, it was not offered for sale until February 23, 2006, along with the Spanish edition. Catalan. The translation reached the Spanish-speaking market in three editions: one for South America, another for Mexico, Central America and the US Hispanic market, and the third for Spain; The reason for this lies in the different local idioms of each region and changes of more appropriate words to enable a better understanding by readers. A notable and distinctive feature of the translation was the editors' choice of book title. Although it literally means Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it was titled Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Given this, discontent was unleashed on the part of the followers of the series who preferred the original title. The main supervisor of adapting the transfer to neutral Spanish, María José Rodríguez Murguiondo, stated that the chosen title is more appropriate than the literal translation from English because ""Half-Blood" alludes to both the prince's surname and the mystery of his lineage.". Gustavo Puerte Leisse points out that "This variation is very significant since it reveals the presence of the imperative of political correctness that so suffocates the local production of children's and youth literature." The distribution of the book was carried out through the strictest possible anonymity in order to avoid what happened at the launch of the previous volume, The Order of the Phoenix, when a van was robbed and the books were stolen.
Editions
Since its hardcover release on July 16, 2005, Half-Blood Prince has gone through various formats and editions. On June 23, 2006, as an example closest to its initial release, the paperback version was released for the British market. Two days later, on July 25, this type of version was also released in Canada and the United States., a country in which the initial circulation was made up of around two million copies. On the occasion of the celebration of the American paperback publication, Scholastic organized a six-week raffle in which participating fans of the series signed up in an online survey with the aim of acquiring prizes.
Simultaneous to the original hardcover publication was the UK edition for adults, with a different front cover, and the paperback was also published on June 23 of the following year. On July 16 of the same year, the "deluxe edition" of the Scholastic publishing house, which incorporated special illustrations by Mary Grandpré, included a printing of almost 100,000 copies. Similarly, for the British case, Bloomsbury premiered its "special edition" on July 6, 2009 and was followed by the paperback "signature edition" on November 1, 2010 with the aim of "appealing to the next generation of readers who didn't 'grow up' on the side of Harry Potter and therefore have not yet experienced the vivid feeling that Hogwarts provides."
Accommodations
Audiobook
The book, like all the novels in the series, was also published in audiobook format in its original language. This happened as an accompaniment to the actual version of the novel in English in its original publication of July 16, 2005 and featured the voice of actor Stephen Fry for the version distributed in Great Britain, while in the version of the United States the narration was in charge of Jim Dale, who traveled through different important cities of the country to carry out a promotional campaign for his work. In addition, the versions were marketed in cassette format (12 units of these) and CD (18 units of these). discs). As with translations of the novel, audio formats for other languages were never released on the day of the English version, so translators began their work after the release of the English audiobook. there was in itself an official version in Spanish, since only the first volume was published for the literary series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
Movie
Fulfilling the agreement Rowling signed with Warner Bros., the world premiere of the film adaptation of the sixth book was originally scheduled to take place on November 21, 2008, but the date was pushed back to July 2009. This This was because the writers' strike that took place in early 2008 had delayed several box office hit projects that the company had planned for a 2009 release. the Serie; However, the film – released in theaters on July 15, 2009 – managed to earn enough at the box office to be among the most successful films of the year (it was the second biggest box office success after the blockbuster Avatar) due to grossing an estimated $934 million worldwide.
Directed by David Yates –who had already directed the previous installment– and the adaptation of the script thanks to Steve Kloves, the feature film was produced by David Heyman and David Barron, owners of the production company in charge of distributing the films. In this way, The mystery of the prince earned them an Oscar nomination in the category of "Best Cinematography".
Video Games
Loosely based on the novel of the same name, Electronic Arts developed and marketed the video game Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in 2009 to coincide with the release of the film of the same name. Officially released on June 30 in the United States and Canada, on July 2 in Australia, and on July 3 in the European market, the game initially had a scheduled release date of November 21, 2008. Electronic Arts distributed and released the game for the PC platforms (with Microsoft Windows and Mac OS operating systems), Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, and for smartphones.
Furthermore, the video game Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 adopts in its history a full year associated with the plot issue of Half-Blood Prince. Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 was produced by TT Games and released on November 15, 2011. Since then the game has been available for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Microsoft Windows operating systems and iOS mobile.