A Review of 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' by J.K. Rowling (Audio Book)

Please note: this is a book I read in 2017.  Due to starting a new job, I kept up in reading but fell behind in blogging.  Reviews for 2018 reads will begin after the remaining 2017 reviews are posted.  Thank you for your patience!

"The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.  But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike it does.  For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's youngster sister, Ginny.  But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone, or something, starts turning Hogwarts students to stone.  Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever?  Could it possibly be Hagrid, who mysterious past is finally told?  Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects: Harry Potter himself?"

It took a while to start up the series again after I finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone because school keeps me busy during the day and even in the evenings.  But I found a free online version of the audiobooks-- every book from Sorcerer's Stone to Cursed Child which I can't even consider to be part of this series.  This made it much easier to make progress towards my goal.

I love this book even more than I love Sorcerer's Stone because now we don't need the full story of how Harry became a wizard.  We can dive into the Wizarding World almost as soon as we crack open the book (or in my case, press play on my audiobook).  You feel like you're part of something (because you are).

One of my favorite things is that we're getting more of Hogwarts secrets even this early in the series.   The history of the Chamber of Secrets is fascinating as we get to know more about the founders of Hogwarts.  In a world like this, it's nice to get more information like this in small doses (even when I'd like nothing better than to know anything and everything about this magical place).

I also think it's exciting (and scary) that Harry faces Voldemort all on his own.  Not that he didn't face him in his first year, but this is the first time when Voldemort has a form of his own, albeit not a physical presence, just memory.  But he wasn't sharing a body with anyone.  It was just him and Harry since Ginny is unconscious in the Chamber of Secrets.  And even more exciting, to practically witness a basilisk attack and then see the powers of a phoenix at work.

There are a number of things that I find so great about this book.  It's got that same charm that Hogwarts has in Harry's first year, even when the school threatens to close its doors.  It's fun to see how Harry grows from his first to his second year and see how he's capable of handling any challenge that is thrown his way.

I give 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude