Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2)

Rating:
Summary: Harry Potter #2 is an awesome book (but not the best of the
Review: Harry is just like he is in the 1st book except older and a little physical/mental changes. Harry's closest relatives (Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and his annoying cousin Dudley) hate him even more than ever and Harry can't stand it. So he leaves in an amazing way (which I can't tell you about) and a strange creature comes to warn Harry about horrible things that are going to happen at Hogwarts if he goes back. When Harry returns to Hogwarts for his second year, Harry finds out that the warning is true. Torments start and horrors come which includes a new stuck-up/dumb/Mr. big shot (not really) professor and a ghost of a girl who haunts a girl's bathroom. Harry finds good info from her in the book about the strange things going on. Then the worst part strikes, someone or something is turning people into stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, the biggest rival to Harry, or could it be who everyone is talking about, Harry himself?! Wait a second, does He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (Lord Voldemort) have something to do with this? Maybe. You'll have to read the book to find out!
There were a lot of fantasy elements that I liked and disliked. I liked the part with the strange creature who warned Harry about the dangers that were going to happen at Hogwarts that year. The story described that magical creature so well. It told every little detail. The part where Harry escaped from the Dursleys was exciting. I wash holding the book so hard. My parents kept telling to put the book down but just I couldn't. Another good part was when Mrs. Weasley got really mad at Fred, George, and Ron. You could practically see the seam rising above her. So was just screaming at them but being so kind to Harry. She said she didn't blame him one bit. I also liked the part when Harry and Ron flew a bewitched car to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry because they didn't catch the Hogwarts Express (which is a train that takes students straight to Hogwarts). It was amazing how they got there. There were some close calls. Especially when they got to the school and met the Womping Willow (a bewitched tree). The part with the new Professor "Gilderoy Lockhart" and Harry was also good. I could tell that Harry hated him. He always tried to stay as far away from him as he could. Then the best parts started to happen. Students started to get turned into stone. But the students who were attacked were all Mudbloods (people born the a magical person and a normal person or muggle). I don't know why Colin Creevey (a weird kid who takes a lot of pictures) should be in this story. He is just annoying. The best part about Colin is when he gets turned to stone. I enjoyed that. I bet that Harry thought it was a lot quieter in the Gryffindor common room. But Harry did feel sorry for him. I kind of did...sort of. There are some parts that I didn't like. Like when Hagrid got sent to Azkaban prison (a place where wizards and witches go if they did something really, really bad like murder). Everyone thought Hagrid was the person who turned people to stone or they thought he sent something loose on the school. Harry finds out it wasn't really Hagrid, It was... um cough. Sorry, can't tell. Top secret. FBI info only. Another part I didn't like was when a Quidditch game got canceled. I loved reading about the Quidditch games. There one of the best parts! Well there weren't many bad parts in this story. I really liked it and if you like to read about adventure, sports, magic, and some scary stuff (etc.), you'll like this book. So go to a local book store and rent it or buy it on one of my favorite web sites: Amazon.com and read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets today!

Rating:
Summary: Fun and entertaining
Review: I'm not ashamed to admit that Harry Potter is beginning to grow on me, nor am I too ashamed to admit that I enjoyed reading this book. It's much like enjoying a nice dessert after a meal. It's a fast read, enjoyable, and certainly suspenseful. It beats some of the more convoluted books out there.

Chamber of Secrets invokes a story that's almost mythical in nature. A secret chamber, a monster within terrorizing the peaceful student community. You can go nuts trying to over-analyze this stuff. You can see it's rich in symbolism and metaphors. Maybe that's giving Rowling and a simple "children's book" too much credit but that is also perhaps why these stories have been so successful. It's not that it's rehashing an old story. After all, there are really very few "new" stories aren't there. It's repackaging an old myth with new characters that makes it successful and enduring for new (and old) generations of readers.

Rowling keeps us interested by crafting a novel that has mystery elements. For a second I recalled when I read "The Three Investigator" mystery books and got so caught up in volumes and volumes of them. (Others might have found it with "The Hardy Boys" or "Nancy Drew"). I feel that guilty pleasure once again.

Oddly enough, it also recalled my days when I was educated in a British school. When we were separated in houses (Muir, Fairfield, Scott, and Fleming) and we were given points for good behavior or grades. (Although no points were ever taken off for bad behavior and teachers themselves didn't belonged to the Houses). I guess it's an educational tradition the British have kept through the years.

Rating:
Summary: The Secret's Out; The Chamber's Bloody Entertaining
Review: J.K. Rowling's second book in the Harry Potter series steps it up a notch. The writing is more engaging for mixed age audiences, meaning it's the perfect book to read aloud together as a family. In addition, the plot has a gripping effect that mere magic alone can't account for. Yes, it's the creative muse that drives this one along, and Rowling has done a smashing job this time.

In "Chamber of Secrets," we are introduced to new and engaging characters. There's Gilderoy Lockhart, the guest wizard of the dark arts that is neither to dark or too wizardly, but boy does this guy love himself. There's Dobby the house elf that despite the comic relief reminds this reader too much of the annoying character in the Star War prequels...you know that tall goofy guy with floppy ears and a Jamaican accent. Well, the colloquial house elf dialouge is only a minor misstep but I'm sure to be riotous fun for the young and younger at heart. There's Moaning Myrtle who inhabits and haunts a defunct toilet. And best of all there's a new villain lurking about whispering dark dark things through the walls of Hogwarts.

Harry Potter is more nuanced between a battle of good and evil. And like all good battles between the polarized moral compass, we see shades of black and white, and marker lines that find you pitched on one side or the other. Harry Potter captures all that is magical, quirky, and wondrous in childhood and Rowling's writing reaches out to all ages to remind them of that time. She does so, in such a way, that the pages keep turning effortlessly and before you know it, you've reached a temporary end; satisfied and entertainingly chilled.

Rating:
Summary: Rowling does it again!
Review: What do you get when you put together a school for witchcraft and wizardry, an impish house elf, and horrific torments abounding? Harry Potter's second year at Hogwarts, of course! Rowling captures the same magic in her second book of the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, as she did with the first in the Harry Potter series. The book opens with Harry nearing the end of the most miserable summer of his life with the Dursleys and is warned by a strange creature not to return to Hogwarts School in the fall. But Harry, unable to stay away from his favorite place in the world, returns to Hogwarts and some very strange occurences that leave everyone at Hogwarts on edge. The incredibly stuck-up new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and the sobbing spirit who haunts the girls' bathroom soon become the least of the students' worries when their own peers are being turned to stone. No one is safe and everyone is a suspect, especially Harry himself! Who will save Hogwarts, that is IF Hogwarts can be saved?! Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is an absolute MUST-read! If you loved Rowling's first book, The Sorcerer's Stone, good luck putting Chamber of Secrets down until you've consumed every word!

Rating:
Summary: Oh how fun! What an adventure!
Review: Year two at Hogwarts has a rough start for Harry, who misses his train and has to make his own way to Hogwarts, breaking every rule in the book along the way. He's in a lot of trouble, yet he still manages to hold his head high and trudge along through school.

Draco doesn't let up as he taunts Harry and tries to cause even more trouble for our hero. We are introduced to new characters that we'll see later in the series. While we don't learn much about Harry's past in this sequel, we learn much more about Hogwarts, the teachers, and the students.

If the HP series were a journey "Chamber of Secrets" would be the bridge from "Sorcerer's Stone" to "Prisoner of Azkaban" where we learn much more about the hows and whys.

It's truly a thrill to read.