Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Book Review

Title: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Author: J.K. Rowling

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
My Rating: 5 Stars
Buy The Book:
-HERE-

"The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girl's bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny.

But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone - or something - starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects... Harry Potter himself?"

As neither Dudley nor the hedge was in any way hurt, Aunt Petunia knew he hadn't really done magic, but he still had to duck as she aimed a heavy blow at his head with the soapy frying pan. Then she gave him work to do, with the promise he wouldn't eat again until he was finished.

While Dudley lolled around watching and eating ice cream, Harry cleaned the windows, washed the car, mowed the lawn, trimmed the flower beds, pruned and watered the roses, and repainted the garden bench. The sun blazed overhead, burning the back of his neck. Harry knew he shouldn't have risen to Dudley's bait, but Dudley had said the very thing Harry had been thinking himself...maybe he didn't have any friends at Hogwarts. ~pg. 86

A year has gone by and nothing but misery has befallen poor Harry Potter. Forced to spend a summer with his horrible aunt, uncle and cousin Dudley, he would give anything to be back at Hogwarts . Yet the promises of his friends back from school, Ron and Hermione, to write to him have not come true. Waiting anxiously from a letter from either friend, he wonders if he possibly has any friends at Hogwarts at all. But when a mysterious 'house-elf' by the name of Dobby appears one night in Harry Potter's bedroom, everything is explained; also, a warning is given. Harry has to promise Dobby that he will not go back to Hogwarts next term as great trouble lurks or the house-elf will be forced to wreak havoc on Harry's life by ruining an important dinner party hosted by his aunt and uncle downstairs. Not willing himself to even consider not attending Hogwarts, Dobby is forced to make Harry's life even more miserable before he disappears.

Now confined to his room until term begins, Harry wonders if his life will ever be normal. Before he can become too bored, Ron and his troublesome twin brothers, Fred and George, arrive to save the day. They don't arrive by walking, though, but by a flying car. After rescuing the poor imprisoned Harry, they zoom off to their house where they spend the last days until they all leave for Hogwarts with Harry ignoring the warnings of Dobby.

Hogwarts has a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and this time, it is a egotistical man by the name of Gilderoy Lockhart. During their second year at Hogwarts, things will go terribly wrong as Dobby warned. Half-blood and mudblood (a foul term for students with both parents being muggles) students are becoming petrified after the elusive Chamber of Secrets has been opened. It's up to Harry and his gang to find out who opened it up and stop them before death strikes first.

"I must ask you, Harry, whether there is anything you'd like to tell me," he said gently. "Anything at all."

Harry didn't know what to say. He thought of Malfoy shouting, "You'll be next, Mudbloods!" and of the Polyjuice Potion simmering away in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Then he thought of the disembodied voice he heard twice and remembered what Ron had said: "Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the Wizarding world." He thought, too, about what everyone was saying about him, and his growing dread that he was somehow connected with Salazar Slytherin...

"No," said Harry. "There isn't anything, Professor..."
~pg. 36-38

First of all, if you have not read my review of the first book in which I explain why I find Harry Potter to not be harmful,, I would suggest you do that first. This review will be strictly positive, as again, I did not find anything wrong in this book.

I'll begin with the writing style, first of all. The writing in Chamber of Secrets was more descriptive than the first book. While the style kept to its original self, thankfully, I think we got a better glimpse into our characters, events, and feelings in whole. While the writing is not your typical flowery, descriptive type, I really think it fits well with the story, as I explained in my review of the first book. I simply could not see Harry Potter being written any other way. To me, it wouldn't be the same.

"Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.

"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley...and I thought your family could sink no lower —"
~pg. 176-179

Moving on to characters. I think we definitely got a better look into the feelings and motivations of our heroes and heroine. We can definitely feel the enduring struggle Harry faces every day with who he truly is and how he fits into the world. Hermione is now more open to helping Ron and Harry in their schemes or investigating things on their own, but she still has her feisty snare and love of studying. We learn one of Ron's biggest fear in this book and how he faces his fear, and not only that, but how he stands out as a person.

Plotline and story-wise, I feel this was very solid. The adventure and costs are definitely amped up from the previous book. Defeating a troll seemed like a big feat for the three characters in The Sorcerer's Stone, but now they must find out what is petrifying students and who is the Heir of Slytherin before it is too late. When Hagrid and Dumbledore are forced to leave the castle, the danger only arises and the clock beings ticking. The suspense was well handled, I think.

For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy.
~pg. 100

All in all, I don't think there was any 'magic' in this book that I found a bit bad. We're given a clear line between good magic and the Dark Arts. Hermione does brew a very complicated potion called Polyjuice potion, which allows the children to transform into someone of their choosing for a little while, wizard/spell dueling begins, and mystery abounds. All in all, I think the encompassing feature of this book is the loyalty and values of the strong friendship Harry, Ron and Hermione hold strong to.

"Professor," [Harry] started again after a moment. "The Sorting Hat told me I'd – I'd have done well in Slytherin. Everyone thought I was Slytherin's heir for a while…because I can speak Parseltongue…"

"You can speak Parseltongue, Harry," said Dumbledore calmly, "because Lord Voldemort – who is the last remaining descendant of Salazar Slytherin – can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. Not something he intended to do, I'm sure…"

"Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?" Harry said, thunderstruck. […] "It only put me in Gryffindor," said Harry in a defeated voice, "because I asked not to go in Slytherin…"

"Exactly," said Dumbledore, beaming once more. "Which makes you very different from [edited for spoilers]. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." ~pg. 54-61

What's Coming Up Next?

The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis
Raising Dragons, by Bryan Davis
Skeleton Key, by Anthony Horotwitz
The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck, by Kathleen Y'Barro
Torrent, by Lisa T. Bergren
Life Support, by Robert Whitlow
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling

Love on the Line, by Deeanne Gist