Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2)

Customer reviews:

The series is getting good!, 2008-09-25
This, the second book in the Harry Potter series, is better than the first, but not as good as the others. But that is just my opinion. In this book, Harry is beginning to wonder if he belongs at Hogwarts after a series of unfortunate events. I won't say anything else, exept that the series is a must read.

The weakest of the series., 2008-08-21
While I will not deny that this book is as fun of a read as any of the Potter's series, its weaknesses are hard to not recognize next to the other six novels. The novel sticks pretty closely to the formula of the Sorcerer's Stone. While it has all of the workings of a Rowling novel it does have a tendency to fall a little flat. The character of Professor Lockhart, while cute, pales in comparison to the other Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers (I'm excluding Quirrel from the Sorcerer's Stone because he is by far my least favorite). Also, this book seems less interested in furthering the story of Harry Potter unlike the remainder of the series. It is virtually a story within itself and could probably be skipped and the series would still be fully comprehensible. While I still give it four stars because it is an entertaining read, it does feel mainly to be a filler. It almost feels like Rowling was not quite sure where the series was going to go with this novel. The epic-ness of the story really begins with Prisoner of Azkaban and capitalizes in Goblet of Fire. Still worth reading but not nearly an signifcant as the remainder of the series.