This book follows Harry’s second year at Hogwarts.

The Chamber of Secrets has been opened by someone styling themselves The Heir of Slytherin. Something evil from within the Chamber has been unleashed and it is attacking students. Harry, Ron and Hermione take it upon themselves to investigate this latest threat.

They break school rules, they brew an illegal potion, and they even dare to steal from Professor Snape. Harry has to contend with a house elf who tries to keep him away from Hogwarts by doing everything from ruining a dinner party to bewitching a Bludger to attack him during a game of Quidditch.

A surprise discovery about Harry during a newly established Duelling Club, leads many of the students to believe that he is responsible for the attacks. We also find out the reasons behind Hagrid’s expulsion from Hogwarts, and we are introduced the origins of Voldemort.

During all of this excitement, terror and rule breaking, Harry still somehow manages to find the time to keep a promise to Nearly-Headless Nick and attend his Deathday party.

The book still retains its CTYA roots and would capture the imagination of any child, but the darker atmosphere provides a much greater appeal to older teens and adults than the first book did.

The fact that this book is much darker than the first. Harry and his friends are now a year older, and it seems that JK Rowling is no longer afraid to play up the darker aspects of the magical world they live in.

Although the first book contained some mild horror, this second book goes much further. Students are attacked, we are introduced to one of the more terrifying creatures that inhabits the Forbidden Forest, and the climax in The Chamber would not be out of place in a novel by Stephen King or Clive Barker.

I also loved Professor Lockhart. He provided some much needed comic relief throughout the book, and enabled it to retain its CTYA feel in spite of the darker current flowing through it.

The amount of “reminding” that occurs in the early stages of the book. I know it’s a CTYA book, and when it was initially published it had probably been a year or so since the first book had been published.

Did the book really need the scene where Harry gives a detailed explanation of all of the balls and players in a game of Quidditch? Did we really need to be reminded which subjects each of the teachers taught? I didn’t particularly think so.

The characters are strong enough to stand out and be remembered, as are the events in the Harry Potter world.

I would have liked to see the book be a little bit longer. We still really only get see snippets of "normal school life". I know that's not what the book is about, but I would have liked to see some more normality in the book. It always seems as though someone is in mortal danger, or at risk of being expelled. I'd like to see a bit more exploration of the relationships in the other Houses and amongst the teachers outside of the classroom settings.

Jump straight in to the third book.

I enjoyed this book more than the first as I felt I had read a book for an older audience.

J K Rowling OBE. She was born in Yate, Gloucestershire, England in 1965. She graduated from University of Exeter in 1986 with a BA in French and Classics.

Harry Potter has become the best-selling book series in history, and the films have become the highest-grossing film series ever.

From her initial concept of Harry Potter in 1990, until the publication of Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone in 1997, JK had survived on state benefits. She is now the UK’s best-selling living author with sales in excess of £238 million. In 2008, she was the twelfth richest woman in the UK

There is the magic and mystery that will appeal to children, but there is also the darker aspect that will appeal to adults.

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Created Jan 10, 2015 at 5:49am • Submit your own review...