Synopsis: "Harry Potter is a wizard. He is in his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Little does he know that this year will be just as eventful as the last, even getting there is an adventure in itself! The three firm friends, Harry, Ron and Hermoine, are soon immersed in the daily round of Potions, Herbology, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Quidditch. But then horrible and mysterious things begin to happen. Harry keeps hearing strange voices, sinister and dark messages appear on the wall, and then Ron's sister Ginny disappears.."
I love The Chamber of Secrets as much as The Philosopher's Stone, if not more. It's common for an author to write an astonishing first book in a series and then start to slip as the series progresses - that however isn't the case with Rowling as her writing and her stories continue to become far more enjoyable and magical.
Regardless of how much you love a story, if there is a massive wait between the book you just put down and it's sequel it is easy to forget parts of the story and therefore the sequel can at times become difficult to understand. Rowling however successfully manages to retell the events of The Philosopher's Stone in a manner that is just as exciting to read as the first time round at key points throughout this novel, in order to refresh your memory and remind you of important occurrences to assist you in understanding the world of Harry Potter on a much larger scale.
Thankfully Rowling continues to tell the story of Harry Potter, his friends and Hogwarts in a manner that continues to be humorous, imaginative and momentous. She carries out great development of the protagonist, Harry, and his friends Ron and Hermoine as well as new characters to the story, such as Gilderoy Lockhart, in a way that makes you either fall irrevocably in love or unctrollably loathsome of a character. What I particularly loved about this was the development of Harry, Ron and Hermoine's friendship. At the conclusion of their first year they had been through so much together that a tightly knit bond was created between the three of them that was so heart warming to read - they would all either stand together or not at all, and that wasn't absent in this novel.
I also found the story in this book far more thought provoking than The Philosopher's Stone. There was so much more happening in The Chamber of Secrets that you were always left on the edge of your seat wondering what on earth could possibly happen next and each time you're taken aback by Rowling's creativity and originality. Yet again the conclusion of this book comes down to Voldemort, but as a 16-year-old memory, and that's quite possibly my favourite part of the book. Rowling could have easily taken a more predictable route, yet she opted for a plot twist that I did not see coming the first time I read it.
The only negatives I have about this story is not the lack of action but the lack of duration. Although the action sequences leave you wanting more and are fast paced, I feel as if they are over and done with far too quickly. Rowling has a wonderful descriptive technique which I feel she could have taken advantage of, which is why I prefer the action sequences in the film far more than the book.
Nevertheless, this novel is just as magical, courageous, mysterious and wonderful as the latter.
I give J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ★★★★★
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