Personal Review (No spoilers):
Purchased at 12:41 AM 7/16 US Eastern Time. Reading (competitive sprint) begun at 1:32 AM. Completed at 5:19 AM.
As we used to say back in the Babylon 5 days, WHAM.
Heh.
Points raised during reading: This book is in a noticeably different style - in keeping with the fact that Harry and his compatriots are in their sixth year, and that Scholastic explicitly intended the series to progress the reading skills of their customers. Sentences are more complex, themes are more adult, and handled more through matter-of-fact reference and assumed familiarity by way of implication (or actual slang) than the slightly cartoonish explanatory metaphor of books four and five.
Heh. Nasty typo on Page 10 of the U.S. edition, too.
While the change in writing tone is conceivably that of J.K. Rowling consciously bringing new style or choices to bear, it is also possible that heavy editing was employed. Although the story, characters and flow felt (to this reader) quite perfectly hers, the language was in places new enough to make me wonder. This is not a value statement, just an observation; I was quite satisfied (read: it's friggin' awesome) with the book. It did a better job (for me) with adult-themed plot issues than four or five did - themes which, given the already exposed bits of the plot arc (no, I'm not going to discuss them, go read up on them if you're confused - and if you are, why are you reading about book six anyhow?!) are unavoidable.
As indicated above, the U.S. edition clocks in at 632 pages in hardbound, and the CD edition (read by the awesome Mr. Jim Dale) comes in at 17 discs.
Must sleep now.