System 13

Title: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets [amazon]
Author: J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks (October 22, 2002)
Pages: 433
Book Number: 22

What’s this 52 Books in 52 Weeks thing about?

And then, I had read two of them. With that, my addiction was sealed. Sigh.

I thought book two of the series was better than the first. It seemed to me that with book two, Rowling, while still writing with kids as her target audience, made things a bit darker. From what I’ve heard, this is a continuing trend throughout the series.

I don’t think I need to write much about the plot per se, because I get the impression that everyone who reads my blog has already read it. And, for that matter, I’m not crazy about spoilers, so I try to not spoil things for others (and when I do spoil things, I put a hefty warning at the top of the post). Having said that, here are some random things that I thought about the second Harry Potter book, in bullet point form. Before proceeding, keep in mind that reading the list could be considered spoilerish, so go forth with caution:

• Professor Lockhart – ugh. Rowling did a wonderful job in making this character obnoxious. I shared with my friend Ethereal that I thought Harry and Ron should have gone further with him; they should’ve killed the irritating chap. He was merely annoying when he was always bragging about his books, himself, etc.; my frustration with him, however, shot through the roof when he openly admitted to Harry and Ron that he’d stolen the tales from his books from other people.
• My love for Hermione grows with each book I read. I don’t mean that in a sick way (I’m not lusting after the actress, although that does seem to be a common occurrence with male Potter fans). I just really, really like her character. She reminds me a bit of a younger, female version of… well, me. Always has her nose stuck in a book, and likes it that way. I think we’d get along splendidly.
• I’d like a house-elf for Christmas, please.
• My loathing of the Malfoys grows with each book. I do hope that at some point in the series, Harry has a good old fashioned fist fight with Draco, and wins outstandingly. I think my utter dislike for Draco is amplified by the fact that I’ve seen some of the Potter movies, and the kid who plays him does a great job. Little jerk (Draco, not the actor).
• This brings me to my final bullet point, something which came up when I was talking to Ethereal: now that I’ve read two of the books, I think that Rowling is wonderful at creating real characters, characters you can really like and hope for (or characters you wish would fall off a nasty cliff, or perhaps get eaten by a dragon). I said in my review of the first book that a lot of the characters are stereotypes, and I stand by that judgment, but, that doesn’t change the fact that the characters are well written, with their own flairs, types of dialogue, etc. Even if the main plot of the series didn’t interest me (and it does), at this point, I’d probably read through the whole series just to see what happens to all of the characters.

One last note, which isn’t about the Chamber of Secrets, but is instead about the Prisoner of Azkaban. (Warning – mild spoiler alert if you’ve not read book 3!):

I’m ecstatic for Hagrid, the big oaf. When I learned that he had been made a teacher at Hogwarts, I very nearly jumped off of the couch (my preferred reading habitat) and cheered. Then I read that he was all teary about it, and wanted to give him a hug. Following, I’d probably be sent off to the hospital wing to be treated for a few broken bones, but oh well.

I can’t believe how completely I’ve fallen into these books…