Really? my feelings were pretty much the opposite. While the series did start going downhill in book 5, book 6 was far worse. Half-Blood Prince didn't really have a story as such, while the other books started with Harry and his friends having to work out what the whole mystery/plot is through detective work and whatnot, Book 6 throws that completely out the window and tells you the villains' entire scheme within the first couple of chapters, leaving only the more finer details to be discovered by our bespectacled hero. As well as that, the story without any mystery to it lacked any shocks or surprises. I knew that Dumbledore would kick-the-bucket sooner or later, giving Harry another excuse to seek revenge on the rather incompetent villain, so his death came as no surprise. The rest of the story just meanders around, Harry becoming more unlikable as he goes through puberty and flies off the handle at his friends or mopes around being miserable. The Half-Blood Prince search goes nowhere either, just a sidestory to Harry's teenage issues and black-flashes. We find out who it is and isn't particularly surprising as not a whole lot of tension was built around it. He's mentioned and discussed at first , then just forgotten about until the end when Snape just offhandedly says "oh yeah, I'm also the Half-Blood Prince. See ya!" The movie actually made something from it, never thought I'd ever say that.
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Ah yes! That's better.
Everyone deserves a second chance, and I am pleased to say that Rowling has redeemed herself after the disappointment that was "book 5." Getting the plot rolling again after the introduction of Umbridge stagnated it, and then advancing it to the point where it is actually ready to be completed in the following book was no small task. The Half-Blood Prince handles it beautifly though, and even manages to add in some backstory while its doing it too. I don't think its quite on the level of The Goblet of Fire or The Deathly Hallows but it's pretty damned close.