Harry Potter Book Review: Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secret BY J. K. Rowlings

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‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ is the second book in J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series. It follows Harry Potter and his friends Ron and Hermione and their adventures during their second year at Hogwarts.

“Beds empty! No note! Car gone-could have crashed-out of my mind with worry-did you care?”

Book Summary

After a summer spent with the Dursleys, Harry is excited to return to Hogwarts. An unexpected visitor, the house elf Dobby, tries in vain to prevent Harry from returning to Hogwarts by getting him to illegally perform magic outside of the school.

While enjoyable to read, we lose a bit of the amazement from the first book here, so this is not a series standout for me. Still, there are a number of fantastic passages I'd forgotten about, like Hermione's parents! Nick's deathday party is nearly headless! Valentine's Day dwarves!—and Gilderoy Lockhart still reigns supreme. However, it feels a bit like light filler before the series really starts to pick up steam, and much of my affection for the first two books now is rooted on nostalgia.When Harry returns to Hogwarts, he realizes he has developed a cult following. Fellow student Colin Creevy constantly takes pictures of him; Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister, seems to have developed a crush on Harry; and professor Gilderoy Lockhart, a pompous wizard, boasts about Harry's accomplishments and their nonexistent rapport.

The trouble begins when someone opens the Chamber of Secrets, hidden under the dungeons of Hogwarts. The Chamber is home to a Basilisk, a snake-like monster that attacks Muggle-born students, turning them into stone. Browsing through the restricted section in the library archives, Ron, Hermione and Harry learn that the Chamber was built by Salazar Slytherin and can be opened only by his pure-blood heir. Harry fears that he himself may be Slytherin's heir since he can speak the snake language, Parseltongue.

Ginny disappears and Ron, Hermione and Harry try to find her. Soon Harry and Ginny are trapped in the Chamber of Secrets with the Basilisk. Fawkes, Dumbledore's faithful phoenix, delivers the Sorting Hat to Harry, who draws the sword of Gryffindor from it. With the sword, Harry blinds and maims the Basilisk, which manages to bite Harry at the last minute. Dying from the Basilisk's poison, Harry is revived by Fawkes' rejuvenating tears.

It turns out that Ginny had opened the Chamber of Secrets under the guidance of Voldemort, who controlled her through his enchanted diary. Gilderoy Lockhart is revealed as a fraud. Dobby is Lucius Malfoy's elf and was trying his best to protect Harry from harm. Dumbledore puts to rest any suspicion that Harry is Slytherin's heir and makes his famous comment: "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." Harry could not have wielded the sword of Gryffindor if he did not truly belong to that house.

Review

Shreya from India I enjoyed this book. It was packed with action, fantasy, adventure. My favourite part was Harry going into Riddle's diary... this book made me go into Harry Potter's world. It helped me in my book review. 10/10 (2021-10-28)

Someone from Somewhere Interesting, great twist, great mystery, a few awkward and questionable scenes, but all in all good, but not as good as the others, yet still better than Philosopher’s Stone. 7/10 (2020-12-28)

Dick Smith from Ameria Itthink this is a great book. 9/10 (2020-08-20)

AC from USA it was good 9/10 (2020-04-22)

Anjitha from India I really loved Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The snake language, Parseltoungue fascinated me a lot. The Polyjuice potion was just amazing. I enjoyed the part when Harry communicated with Tom Riddle and went 50 years back in time through riddle's diary. I recommend this book to all. 10/10 (2020-03-23)

Katie from Chippemham I love it. 10/10 (2017-10-17)

Dhanin from India This deserves more than 100 star rating. 10/10 (2017-01-18)

Thasindu from Australia One word: Amazing. 8/10 (2016-10-13)

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Praise for Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone

It’s probably been about 15 years since I was holed up in my old house, reading Chamber of Secrets — the first book to really make me fall in love with reading. It was easier to get hooked than with the first book because we already knew and fantasized about Hogwarts. (Yes, this was before I turned 11 and my letter got lost in the mail.) Returning to that school of witchcraft and wizardry meant its halls and houses were already familiar to us, and, most importantly, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were well on their way to becoming family to anyone looking for a bit of magic.

Between the flying car and the basilisk wreaking mayhem upon Hogwarts, Chamber of Secrets lays some essential groundwork for the series’ future — we didn’t know it at the time, but Tom Riddle’s diary was our first glimpse at a horcrux (and the coolest, by far, aside from Harry himself). It also introduces us to Harry’s beloved home away from Hogwarts, the Burrow, and marks our first encounters with Dobby (and his self-degrading neuroses), the insufferable Gilderoy Lockhart, and, of course, Moaning Myrtle. Of course, we had no idea then just how many memorable adventures Harry & co. would have by the end of the series, but Chamber of Secrets raised the stakes. —JAMI GANZ

About the Author

Photography Debra Hurford Brown © J.K. Rowling

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Joanne Rowling was born on 31st July 1965 at Yate General Hospital near Bristol, and grew up in Gloucestershire in England and in Chepstow, Gwent, in south-east Wales.

Her father, Peter, was an aircraft engineer at the Rolls Royce factory in Bristol and her mother, Anne, was a science technician in the Chemistry department at Wyedean Comprehensive, where Jo herself went to school. Anne was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when Jo was a teenager and died in 1990, before the Harry Potter books were published. Jo also has a younger sister, Di.

The young Jo grew up surrounded by books. “I lived for books,’’ she has said. “I was your basic common-or-garden bookworm, complete with freckles and National Health spectacles.”

Jo wanted to be a writer from an early age. She wrote her first book at the age of six – a story about a rabbit, called ‘Rabbit’. At just eleven, she wrote her first novel – about seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them.

Jo studied at Exeter University, where she read so widely outside her French and Classics syllabus that she clocked up a fine of £50 for overdue books at the University library. Her knowledge of Classics would one day come in handy for creating the spells in the Harry Potter series, some of which are based on Latin.

Her course included a year in Paris. “I lived in Paris for a year as a student,” Jo tweeted after the 2015 terrorist attacks there. “It’s one of my favourite places on earth.”

After her degree, she moved to London and worked in a series of jobs, including one as a researcher at Amnesty International. “There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them.” She said later. “My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.”

Jo conceived the idea of Harry Potter in 1990 while sitting on a delayed train from Manchester to London King’s Cross. Over the next five years, she began to map out all seven books of the series. She wrote mostly in longhand and gradually built up a mass of notes, many of which were scribbled on odd scraps of paper.

Taking her notes with her, she moved to northern Portugal to teach English as a foreign language, married Jorge Arantes in 1992 and had a daughter, Jessica, in 1993. When the marriage ended later that year, she returned to the UK to live in Edinburgh, with Jessica and a suitcase containing the first three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

In Edinburgh, Jo trained as a teacher and began teaching in the city’s schools, but she continued to write in every spare moment.

Having completed the full manuscript, she sent

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the first three chapters to a number of literary agents, one of whom wrote back asking to see the rest of it. She says it was “the best letter I had ever received in my life.”

The book was first published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in June 1997, under the name J.K. Rowling.

The “K” stands for Kathleen, her paternal grandmother’s name. It was added at her publisher’s request, who thought a book by an obviously female author might not appeal to the target audience of young boys.

The book was published in the US by Scholastic under a different title (again at the publisher’s request), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, in 1998. Six further titles followed in the Harry Potter series, each achieving record-breaking success.

In 2001, the film adaptation of the first book was released by Warner Bros., and was followed by six more book adaptations, concluding with the release of the eighth film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, in 2011.

J.K. Rowling has also written two small companion volumes, which appear as the titles of Harry’s school books within the novels. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages were published in March 2001 in aid of Comic Relief. In December 2008, a third companion volume, The Tales of Beedle the Bard was published in aid of her international children’s charity, Lumos.

In 2012, J.K. Rowling’s digital company Pottermore was launched, which became Wizarding World Digital in 2019. Pottermore Publishing continues to be the global digital publisher of Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and the Wizarding World.

Also in 2012, J.K. Rowling published her first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy (Little, Brown), which has now been translated into 44 languages and was adapted for TV by the BBC in 2015.

Under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, J.K. Rowling also writes crime novels, featuring private detective Cormoran Strike. The first five novels: The Cuckoo’s Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014), Career of Evil (2015), Lethal White (2018) and Troubled Blood (2020) all topped the national and international bestseller lists and have been adapted for television by the BBC and HBO. The sixth book in the series, Ink Black Heart is to be published later this year.

J.K. Rowling’s 2008 Harvard commencement speech was published in 2015 as an illustrated book, Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination (Sphere), and sold in aid of Lumos and university-wide financial aid at Harvard.

In 2016, J.K. Rowling collaborated with playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany on an original new story for the stage. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two opened in London and is now playing in the USA and Australia.. The script book was published (Little, Brown) to mark the play’s opening in July 2016, and instantly topped the bestseller lists.

Also in 2016, J.K. Rowling made her screenwriting debut with the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a further extension of the Wizarding World, which was released to critical acclaim in November 2016. This was the first in a series of new adventures featuring Magizoologist Newt Scamander and set before the time of Harry Potter. The second film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, was released in 2018 and the third, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is to be released in April 2022.

The screenplays were published (Little, Brown) to coincide with each film release: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them The Original Screenplay (2016) and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald The Original Screenplay (2018).

In March 2020, J.K. Rowling and Wizarding World partners launched the Harry Potter At Home initiative to entertain children stuck at home during the Covid-19 pandemic with the first Harry Potter book read aloud by celebrities on video, and made available for free through audiobook and ebook streaming.

In May 2020, J.K. Rowling’s fairy tale for younger children, The Ickabog, was serialised for free online for children during the Covid-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, and is now published as a book illustrated by children, with her royalties going to charities supporting vulnerable groups affected by the pandemic.

Her latest children’s novel The Christmas Pig, a standalone adventure story about a boy’s love for his most treasured thing and how far he will go to find it, is out now.

J.K. Rowling has been married to Dr Neil Murray since 2001. They live in Edinburgh with their son, David (born 2003) and daughter, Mackenzie (born 2005).

Honours & Awards

J.K. Rowling has received many honours and awards, including:

Companion of Honour, for services to literature and philanthropy, 2017 PEN America Literary Service Award, 2016 Freedom of the City of London, 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Award, Denmark, 2010 Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur: France, 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award, British Book Awards, 2008 South Bank Show Award for Outstanding Achievement, 2008 James Joyce Award, University College Dublin, 2008 The Edinburgh Award, 2008 Commencement Day Speaker, Harvard University, USA, 2008 Blue Peter Gold Badge, 2007 WH Smith Fiction Award, 2004 Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, Spain, 2003 Order of the British Empire (OBE), 2001 Children’s Book of the Year, British Book Awards, 1998 and 1999 Booksellers Association Author of the Year, 1998 and 1999

Books Updates Reviews

While enjoyable to read, we lose a bit of the amazement from the first book here, so this is not a series standout for me. Still, there are a number of fantastic passages I'd forgotten about, like Hermione's parents! Nick's deathday party is nearly headless! Valentine's Day dwarves!—and Gilderoy Lockhart still reigns supreme. However, it feels a bit like light filler before the series really starts to pick up steam, and much of my affection for the first two books now is rooted on nostalgia.

In conclusion, this epic and fantastic book HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRET , has a thrilling effect on the reader. Rating 4 out of 5.

FAQs

What is the beast in the Chamber of Secrets?

The beast in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk, an ancient creature feared by spiders and many other creatures. Its bite is fatal as its fangs are highly venomous, and its eyes are deadly, and seeing it instantly kills the victim. However, if its eyes are seen through a reflection, the person is petrified. The Basilisk was used by Tom Riddle, the heir of Slytherin to attack Muggle-born students at Hogwarts.

Is Tom Riddle Lord Voldemort?

Yes, Tom Riddle is, in fact, Lord Voldemort. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, it is also revealed that his full name Tom Marvolo Riddle, is an anagram of the statement “I am Lord Voldemort”. He was named after his father, who was a muggle. When Voldemort realized this, he wanted to distance himself from this name and therefore chose a different name.

Why was Hagrid expelled from Hogwarts?

Hagrid was wrongfully accused of housing the beast in the Chamber of Secrets and letting it loose to kill Myrtle Warren, who later became the ghost, Moaning Myrtle. In actuality, it was Tom Riddle, or Lord Voldemort, who set the Basilisk loose in the castle to kill muggle-born students. The spider that Hagrid kept, Aragog, never hurt anyone in the castle. Although Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore trusted him and he was therefore given a job as a gamekeeper.