Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by: JK Rowling

Next in the Harry Potter retrospective I am reviewing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the 2nd book of the series.

Chamber of Secrets picks up from the summer after Harry’s first year at Hogwarts, still with the Dursleys, and all of a sudden he gets a warning from a house elf named Dobby to not come to Hogwarts that year because he will be in anger. Of course he ignores the warning and during his 2nd year students start becoming petified and Harry is to blame. In his invesitagtion of the Chamber of Secrets he discovers a secret about the school and also about Voldemort.

I would descibe Chamber of Secrets as a sort of stand alone book of the series, and most of the plots are very self-contained including the new Defense against the Dark Arts proffessor Gilderoy Lockhart. Gilderoy Lockart is a best selling author who is very full of himself, so much so  he assigned his books in his class (as a college student I have seen professors do this).

This book also introduces Ginny Weasley, sister to Ron who had a brief scene in the previous book and she had a much bigger role in this book and also introduces some of her charcater traits, such as being the baby of the family and her crush on Harry.

This book also takes a peak at the lore of Hogwarts. It is the their History of Magic class where the Chamber of Secrets was discussed which tied into the fouding of Hogwarts and Salazar Syltherin, and his views on Muggles and why we created the chamber.

One of my favorite parts of the book was Harry and Ron using pollyjiuce potion to try to get info from Malfoy . It was mostly my favoprtite part about the movie as well.

The main reason why I considered this book a sort of stand alone was mainly that there wasn’t a lot of charcater development with the charcaterts yet, but it did a good job at expanding the Woirld of Harry Potter at that point. It introduced us to other places around Hogwarts such as, the girls bathroom with Moaning Mrytle, and the titular Chamber of Secrets which is another favortire part.

During Harry’s journey in the Chamber to rescue Ginny, he has to fight teh Basilik and going face to face with Tom Riddle, who is a younger version of Voldemort  kept in a Diary. At first I thought nothing of the Riddle Diary, but it will play a part in future books.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was a very good book, and I enjoyed it very much and it kept me reading the series.

Harry Potter Retrospective: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

In the first book of my Harry Potter retrospective I am going to review of course, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone or Philosophers Stone, if you live in the UK. Harry Potter is the first book of the 7 book series by JK Rowling in which Harry Potter goes to school at Hogwarts, makes friends and defeats evil wizards.

My relationship with the Harry Potter series began when I was in sixth grade in which my teacher would read the books to class after recess and because he always left off at the good part it caused me to read the book on my own in order to know what happens next.

In first book we are introduced to Harry Potter and how he is an 11 year old who is forced to live with his unpleasant aunt and uncle along with his spoiled cousin Dudley, after the death of his parents. He is forced to live in the closet under the stairs. As he is forced to attend his cousins birthday at the zoo he not only fins out he can talk to snakes but also makes the glass disappear.

The first few chapters really do a good job at setting up our protagonist who isn’t really living a great life and wants to escape. He gets his escape by receiving his Hogwarts letter, even though Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon was doing their best to keep the letters and even leaving their house. Then he meets Hagrid, who will become a major character in the series.

JK Rowling really does a good introducing us to the Wizarding World through the eyes of Harry Potter. In the next few chapters we are shown Diagon Alley, the famous Platform 9 3/4, and most especially the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. During his time a Hogwarts we are also introduced to his two best friends Hermione and Ron, other Gryffindor friends, Neville, Seamus and Dean, rivals Draco Malfoy and his teachers, Proffesors McGonagall, Snape, Quirrel and Dumbledore. All the characters play a substantial role and Rowling does a great job introducing those characters in the world and their role in that world.

Throughout Harry’s first year he plays Quidditch, takes his classes but also uncovers a mystery about the school and what is hidden in school that Voldemort wants. With the help of his friends he manages the figure out what is hidden and why Voldemort wants it Both Hermione and Ron use their skills to assist Harry to find the sorcerer’s stone.

As a first book of the series this made me interested in reading again, especially anything within the fantasy genre.

Grade: 5/5