Half-Blood Prince and Prisoner of Azkaban routinely compete for my favorite HP novel, and for similar reasons — humor and backstory. It is far, far more than that, however: Prisoner of Azkaban had both in spades, but HBP is a different beast altogether. It is the book that ushers Harry through the end of his youth and lays on him the mantle of adulthood and responsibility — not because he turns 17, but because events in motion are ushering in the Endgame. HBP marks itself as different from the beginning, opening not at Privet Drive but in the offices of the prime minister. The PM is aghast to be visited by the “other” minister — the Minister for Magic — and informed that Voldemort is indeed among the living, and that the strange streak of deadly weather and disappearances and deaths owes to the magical world’s new war bleeding into his own. We then visit Death-Eaters before finally returning to Harry, who is snatched away by Dumbledore on a mission. Harry and Dumbledore on a mission is a recurring theme of this book, because Voldemort’s rise means Dumbledore must redouble his efforts — and recruit Harry as an ally — in his very secret plan to strike at the heart of Voldemort’s dark power. This is a novel rich in story, in laughs and heartbreak. For me, it has pushed the full-cast audio books into new terrain — I am growing to see them more and more as the optimum way to experience the story of Harry Potter.

If The Goblet of Fire eased us into the exit of normality onto the freeway of Intense Magical Drama, one whose stress we experienced more intensely by virtue of being crammed into a little car with Dolores Umbridge, in Half Blood Prince we are fully in the thick of things. School is happening in the background, yes, and in fact Harry has an interesting school year. His nemesis Snape has finally gotten the promotion he’s long desired, to teach Defense against the Dark Arts, and Harry has a new potions teacher (Horace Slughorn) who was quite fond of Harry’s mother. Better yet, Harry uses an old textbook with annotations from the previous owner, a boy who was something of a potions savant, and grows in confidence now that he’s no longer being brow-beaten by Snivelus. Quidditch continues apace, as well. But Half Blood Prince has a far more serious undercurrent that continues growing stronger with every chapter until towards the end when all the minor chatter about exams and House Cups is swept away by Dumbledore and Harry’s quest to understand the rise of Voldemort — and his rebirth. What led to the young Tom Riddle becoming the dark wizard he was, and why did Voldemort seem to die in the attempt to kill Harry, only to be reborn? The answers lie in the particular dark arts that Voldemort was pursuing: this is hardly a spoiler, given that his name means ‘flight from death’ and his followers call themselves Death-Eaters. I won’t go into spoilers, of course, but in the last fifth of this book Dumbledore introduces Harry to a theory he has regarding Voldemort’s approach to defeating death, an approach they must frustrate by research, hard work, suffering, and boldness. The battle against Voldemort will not be bloodless, not even at this early stage.

Shifting now to the audio: the new voice actors are good, especially the man (Bill Nighy) voicing Slughorn. He had a rough mark to beat, as I adore Jim Broadbent’s Slughorn (despite being more morally dodgy than his book version) , and he also has a demanding performance. A running part of the book is Dumbledore sharing memories from various people with Harry regarding Voldemort’s rise, and Slughorn unwittingly played a large part of who Voldemort came — something he’s very ashamed of. Harry is tasked with getting Slughorn to share the memory with him, and Slughorn is extremely defensive and emotionally touchy in general about this. He loved Harry’s mom and feels partially responsible for her death, so there’s a lot of emotion work here: there’s also a drunken singing scene with Hagrid, which is hilarious. I don’t know if the lyrics are in the actual book, but at one point Harry is thinking and Slughorn and Hagrid are besottedly pouring themselves into some wizard folk song, and despite knowing what darkness the reader is in for, I couldn’t help but be tickled. There’s an incredible amount of emotion work throughout this book, actually, and the atmospherics are top notch as possible. Toward the end there is an extended bit of dialogue in a tower where there’s a fight going on below, and as the scene progresses we can hear the fight getting closer, closer, closer, and while the emotion in the room is rising we can also feel the stress and pressure that the combat is putting on the people in the tower. They’re all circling around action, but not yet taking the leap.

This was quite the performance: the more of these I listen to the more addictive and compelling I find them, so I wind up sitting in the car after I get home from work just trying to make it to the end of the chapter, or falling asleep with the story playing and then waking up in the middle of the night to turn it off so I can get some sleep. I really cannot recommend the full cast audio editions enough, and I almost dread the arrival of Deathly Hallows because it means this exquisite ride is almost over. Yes, I will be listening to the stories again, but there’s nothing, nothing like that first time. It makes me think of the month I got into Red Dead Redemption 2, and I wound up playing the last two chapters through nearly in one weekend, not because I was in a hurry to finish but because the story was so good I kept wanting to wade in deeper despite knowing the faster I went the sooner I’d find myself rather rudely deposited back in the real world. This is simply masterful and deeply human entertainment.

Quotations

“I don’t mean to be rude – ” he began, in a tone that threatened rudeness in every syllable.
“ – yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often,” Dumbledore finished the sentence gravely. “Best to say nothing at all, my dear man.”

“What have you been doing to that book, you depraved boy?’
‘It isn’t the library’s, it’s mine!’ said Harry hastily, snatching his copy of Advanced Potion-Making off the table as she lunged at it with a clawlike hand.
‘Despoiled!’ she hissed. ‘Desecrated! Befouled!’
‘It’s just a book that’s been written in!’ said Harry, tugging it out of her grip.

“Do you remember when I said we were practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?”
“Yes.”
“‘Yes. sir.'”
“There’s no need to call me ‘sir’, professor.”

“I am not worried, Harry. I am with you.”

“Think your little jokes’ll help you on your deathbed?”
“Jokes? No,no, these are manners.”

“Tonks deserves someone young, and whole.”
“But she wants YOU, Remus.”