Book Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

 Hi everyone and today I shall be reviewing the second in the esteemed book series of Harry Potter: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. 

As you already know from both my School for Good and Evil reviews and my recent Harry Potter book review, the Categories assessed shall be Pacing, Language, Characters and Plot. Each category will have 10 points and I will be ranking the book over 40 points. I will be giving my own opinion on each of the categories. 

DISCLAIMER: SPOILERS ALERT IN THE REVIEW! DON'T READ UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THE BOOK

A little info on the book before proceeding. It was first published in 1998, and I currently own the second edition of the book in question. Not much else can be said about it. 

So without further ado, let's get started!

PLOT: 

Seems like a normal year at Hogwarts that year. Until a mysterious house elf named Dobby comes to Harry warning him not to come to Hogwarts, for there is grave danger ahead. And seems like he was right, because the next thing you know, the infamous Chamber of Secrets is opened, an unknown monster is unleashed and people are becoming petrified (in this case it means frozen to stone, not terrified). 

There are also other pivotal moments in the book including the famous flying Ford Anglia scene (which occurs after someone...*cough* Dobby *cough*...closes the entrance to Platform 9 and 3/4!), Ron's wand breaking with the force of the Whomping Willow (and antics ensuing because of it), Lockhart's obnoxiousness and what happens after he is revealed to be a fake (more on that later) and of course, the opening of the Chamber of Secrets itself, leading to a second confrontation between Voldemort and Harry.

This plot is fairly engaging. I wouldn't put it up with the best of the series, but not with the worst either. I'd place it somewhere in the middle. Probably the actual middle, as there are seven books in total. It is elevated from the Philosopher's Stone's plot, which is understandable since now that we have gotten to know the characters, the author could play around with them and explore their dynamics together more. She has got a lot of time, especially since there are five more books in the series.

Overall I would rate the plot 8/10.

CHARACTERS: 

There is a wide cast of characters in the Harry Potter universe, but for this review, these are the ones that are the most important. 

HARRY:

We cannot start without an analysis of the main character himself: Harry Potter. He is still that wide-eyed, innocent little boy that we know and love, with a little touch of shock after what happened last year. He yearns for more of the magical world, and he gets it. But not without its risks. I mean, because of one little house elf, he gets in trouble with the flying Ford Anglia, gets hit by a rogue Bludger of his and because of that action, gets his bones re grown as Lockhart magicked them away, thinking he knew what he was doing. More on Dobby later though. What I love about Harry is that he acknowledges that it is not just his abilities which help him through his adventures, making him quite modest in actuality. Everyone paints him to be some sort of blown up hero, when he isn't: he's a normal boy who just so happens to be a wizard. 

RON:

You know what? Everyone thinks that Ron from the movies, is Ron from the books and therefore diminish him as a character thinking that he's stupid and all he's there for is comic relief. And I hate it. Book Ron is so much better and more nuanced as a character, and for all those saying that he's an asshole the way he treated Harry and Hermione, he's 12 in this book and he's 17 in the last one! Of course he's going to make bad choices and be immature, but the most important thing is that he learns from them. And he does (unlike Snape, but that will be left until the review of the last book). I believe in Book Ron Supremacy (he's not my favourite character, my favourite character is Lupin, who hasn't been introduced yet). As for what he actually does in this book? He is a supportive friend, that's what. He stands up for Harry several times (such as when Draco bullied him), stuck by him when the Platform was closed, and risked his life to come along on the adventure to the Chamber of Secrets! How can you not like Ron based on this book alone, let alone what he's done in the rest of the series??

HERMIONE:

Hermione, despite being her usual, intelligent self, actually does not stick around much in this book, because for the first part, she's answering questions in class, then she runs off to the library to check if her suspicions of what the monster truly is are correct, and then she's petrified. So unlike in the first book, she does not tag along with the boys on the climactic adventure. There really is not much to say about her in this book...oh yeah...she had a brief thing for Lockhart in this book (and Ron gets jealous...my ship has sailed), but otherwise, there really isn't much to say.

DOBBY:

Ahh, this house elf. A new creature introduced to the franchise, they are slaves to wizards. And this one in particular has divided fans into two: the Pro-Dobbys and the Anti-Dobbys. As to what side I am on, I proudly claim my position as one of the....Pro-Dobbys. You might be asking why at this particular moment. Yes, he does a lot of problematic actions to prevent Harry from going back to Hogwarts. But here's the thing: he does it for his own good. Yes, he does it stupidly, but he has good intentions. I see him more as a mischievous troublemaker than an evil being that the Dobby haters are making him out to be. 

GINNY:

At first she seems like the generic girl character who has a crush on the main character and is siblings with his best friend. It's how the movies keep portraying her anyway. But in the books, she is also a victim of possession by Lord Voldemort, literally. In reality, you know it was done for shock value, as she seems utterly guilty about it and doesn't have two sides fighting within her, wondering who to listen to. That's how I would have upped the character anyway. That way, she would have been a little more interesting than she actually was. I get what the author was trying to do, but it did not execute that well, at least, in this book.

LOCKHART:

If you had to look up the word phony in the dictionary, this guy's picture would be up instead of words telling you what it means. Seriously, this guy boasts that he has done these incredible things and wrote books about these things, making girls in particular swoon over him. However, the big twist is this: he has done very little of these actions, if any. Yes, he is infamous in the memes that he taught Harry the spell Expelliarmus, which became the latter's signature move, however people forget his arrogance at times. We even get introduced to another new spell because of him: which is Obliviate. If you ask me, it's a pretty cool spell, because it takes people's memory away. I'll give him credit, at least he knows how to cast one of the most awesome spells of all time! His excuse is that the people who had actually done these heroic things were not pretty enough to make the cover. This guy is so full of himself....and I love it. 

TOM RIDDLE/VOLDEMORT:

A figment of a diary in this book, he possesses Ginny into writing all the creepy messages about the Chamber of Secrets, making him the true heir of Slytherin, not Harry. He's interesting because you suspect that something is fishy with the character when he talks with Harry through the diary, however you do not suspect it is Lord Voldemort out of all people. He mostly is a younger version of Voldemort, but blabbers way too much about his plan, making it fail. There are actually a lot of memes about Voldemort not actually being a good villain because of the fact that he gives away his plans to Harry, giving him more ways to use his wit to get out of the situation. I still love the fact that we have a stereotypical villain in a world full of "sympathetic" villains, to the fact has become a cliche in itself and I've started to hate reading those types of villains. So yes, Voldemort is a refresher for me to read. 

Overall I would rate the characters a 7/10.

PACING:

Just like the last book I reviewed in the franchise, the pacing is chunky and all over the place, which is a fault I give to the earlier books because back then, the author was not that sure of what structure to use. Despite the pacing, it makes for an easy read somehow. Because you enjoy the slow pacing giving details about the magic in the school and so on and so forth. However, I will give it credit that at least since it is the second book, more time was given to new and old characters. Which means we saw some more development than just "the smart one" or "the bully". In other words, the slow pacing was worth it, as we got to know some nuanced characters which eventually, we will get to know and love even more than we already do. 

Overall I will rate the pacing 6/10

LANGUAGE: 

Like its predecessor, the language is simple and easy to understand, being a children's book. However, it gets a little bit more (not that it is noticeable on first sight) complex than the first one, in order to ease children into learning new words. Otherwise, not that much to say. 

Overall I would rate the language 7/10

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I find that this book is EXTREMELY underrated to what it has to offer to the franchise. You've got it all; a glance into the magical world, a good climax at the end, a mystery worth solving, the twist at the end of Tom Riddle actually being Voldemort, starting off the creation of the main villain of the franchise. Although I said it is underrated, I do not mean it is the best. Far from it. I just mean that although most people would place this in the bottom half of the franchise or even last (seriously what is so wrong with this book), I would place it in the middle.

Overall I rate the book  28/40

What are your thoughts on the book? Tune in in the comments! Thanks for reading my review on this book, and don't worry, more are to come soon! Happy writing, everyone!