Book #4: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Yaaay, more Harry Potter!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, begins with an elf paying an unexpected visit to Harry's home during Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's summer break. He warns Harry that he should not return to Hogwarts, because his life in in danger. Of course, our brave hero returns anyway to begin his second year of wizardry. Soon enough, there are a series of attacks on the students, staff, and even pets of Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn that the danger might originate from the mysterious Chamber of Secrets, which many claim is only a Hogwarts myth. So, off they go into harm's way to figure out what's going on.

I have to admit, when I read the first book, I pretty much devoured the first 3/4ths of it in one night. This one didn't quite start off as captivating, but the last few chapters made it all worth it. The way the story of the Chamber of Secrets unravels at the end is brilliant. I have to give J.K. Rowling credit for keeping me guessing up to the end... Not an easy thing to do for me, especially when you're writing a book for children. Even though the plot in this book took a while to get going, it definitely opened the doors for so much more of the series. I'm looking forward to seeing where it's heading.

The new characters introduced in this book are some of the best parts -- Ron's clever little sister, Ginny; the handsome, self-absorbed Gilderoy Lockhart who is hired as Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts; the nervous and loving elf, Dobby... They all made the story so much more enjoyable. And of course, my old favorites are back and much more developed. I was glad to see a little more background on Draco Malfoy and his family. And that Severus Snape... I can't wait to find out what his deal is.

As will probably be the case with all of the rest of the books in this series, I'm not going into much detail because I don't want to spoil anything in the earlier books for those of you who have yet to read them. (Which, please, just do it. Now.) I have to say, though -- So far, I am seriously impressed with how well these books have lived up to all their gigantic amounts of hype.

Read from February 12 , 2011 to February 16, 2011

5/5 Stars

--C

P.S. -- Technically, this was Book #5, and Book #4 was The Hangman's Daughter. I'm not going to post a full review of the latter until the end of the month when our book club is done discussing it.