"Break out the tissues," warns Associated Press reviewer Deepti Hajela.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/07/16/launching.harry.ap/index.html



NEW YORK (AP) -- All of those happy Harry Potter fans, books at last in hand, may well be in for a good cry.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth of J.K. Rowling's phenomenal, record-breaking series, is also her darkest, most grown-up work -- haunted by death, complicated by love and heartbreaking to critics. "Break out the tissues," warns Associated Press reviewer Deepti Hajela.

But the age of Potter VI dawned at midnight Saturday with millions of smiles and a bit of a wink from Rowling. In Edinburgh, Scotland, the author emerged from behind a secret panel inside the city's medieval castle, settled into a leather easy chair and read an excerpt from the sixth chapter to a super-select group of 70 children from around the world.

"You get a lot of answers in this book," Rowling, a resident of Edinburgh, said as she arrived at the castle before thousands of adoring fans. "I can't wait for everyone to read it."