Sherri B. (sharalsbooks) reviewed on 8/21/2011 + 259 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

The second book in the Harry Potter saga starts out with Harry back at the Dursleys for summer vacation with a few changes. He has his own bedroom now instead of being relegated to the cupboard under the stairs. Its actually Dudleys second bedroom (dont get me started on the degenerate waste of space this kid is) and out of the grace and goodness of their hearts, Harry is now using it. This entire attitude demonstrated by the Dursleys resulted in major eye-rollage on my part and activated my gag reflex. These people are truly despicable. Not sure which is the lesser of the two evils for Harryliving with the Dursleys or being attacked by Voldemort.

After a very interesting and exciting first year at Hogwarts, we now find Harry very melancholy as he hasnt heard from his friends all summer and is feeling very lonely. Harry meets Dobby, a mysterious house elf who comes to Privet Drive to warn Harry not to return to Hogwarts, which is not an option for Harry as he considers Hogwarts his true home. Dobby demonstrates very strange and self-loathing behavior by frequently assaulting himself with inanimate objects to punish himself for saying anything, which is a little bizarre because he doesnt really tell Harry much of anything, other than to not return to Hogwarts.

Fortunately for the fans of this series, Harry does not listen to Dobby and through a series of misfortunate events manages to return to Hogwarts to discover an evil creature attacking students. Sadly, Harry is thought to be the one behind the attacks so he has to find out who is behind it before the next attack results in another death, like the one that occurred fifty years prior.

In this book, we get to meet a lot of interesting new characters in addition to Dobby. The new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher is best-selling author Gilderoy Lockhart who gives arrogance a whole new meaning. He was quite entertaining but very annoying, except the female students think hes wonderful. Harry meets Draco Malfoys father, Lucius Malfoy who we quickly learn is quite evil and now see where Draco gets it from. Rons sister, Ginny is now a first year at Hogwarts and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her and the rest of the Weasley family better. Many new magical creatures are introduced in this book such as Fawkes and Aragog, to name a few. A new ghost is introduced to Harry and his friends. Moaning Myrtle haunts one of the girls bathrooms and though she can be quite annoying proves to be a very interesting character.

I enjoyed learning more about Hagrid and Voldemorts past in this story and getting a birds eye view, if you will, of major events at Hogwarts fifty years prior with the help of an enchanted diary. I loved the scenes with Harry and Ron in the enchanted car; theres more than one and one of them is quite intense so be prepared.

Overall, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets proves to be entertaining on every level. There are a few intense scenes that may be too graphic for young readers and may cause nightmares but older age groups will be thoroughly pulled into this story as Harry navigates the perilous hallways and dark corridors of Hogwarts to stop the evil creature lurking within.

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