Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2) in One Book Two Read-Along Group

Jul 20, 2016 Kat Mandu rated it it was amazing

Kat Mandu says...

Our love for this series only grows stronger as Harry has to face down an old enemy with a deadly pet… while still turning his homework in on time.

The second installment in J.K. Rowling’s masterpiece of a series takes it up another notch as Harry enters his second year at Hogwarts. And it’s not particularly Harry’s year… He’s got a house elf trying to sabotage him at random, a new pompous Defense teacher who won’t leave Harry alone, his rivalry with Draco Malfoy only gets worse Kat Mandu says...

Our love for this series only grows stronger as Harry has to face down an old enemy with a deadly pet… while still turning his homework in on time.

The second installment in J.K. Rowling’s masterpiece of a series takes it up another notch as Harry enters his second year at Hogwarts. And it’s not particularly Harry’s year… He’s got a house elf trying to sabotage him at random, a new pompous Defense teacher who won’t leave Harry alone, his rivalry with Draco Malfoy only gets worse, and he’s the prime suspect in a bunch of attacks on the students.

But of course, with the help of his friends and a certain phoenix, Harry emerges victorious once again!

I was really saddened to know that Hermione only gets to be part of this book for about 60% of it, but was glad that Ron and Harry had quite a few adventures along the way. The whole thing with the flying car, being Crabbe and Goyle while Hermione was stuck as a cat, and entering the Chamber of Secrets together to rescue Ginny. However, Hermione gets her chance to shine in the next book, and since I know that from previous reads, I wasn't so unhappy.

I really loved this. J.K. is finally starting to let us in on some more secrets surrounding Voldemort and some of the history in Harry’s world. We get to know about the four founding fathers of Hogwarts – and that Voldemort left a piece of himself within the diary – the first real hint behind the Horcruxes Harry’s got to deal with later. You find out that Harry's a Parseltongue as well, which is another link to him and Voldemort.

Plus you get to meet some interesting creatures. House elves, basilisks, those ugly Mandrake plant things, and dwarves dressed up like cupids. Oh, and spiders - but we don't have to go into too much detail with that. And ghosts! You get to know a lot more about them in this too.

This is such a well-written series and I love it so much. Here are some of my favorites!

Favorite character: Still Hagrid. You discover he’s had a rough time after being wrongfully expelled. With everyone thinking it’s either him or Harry doing the attacking, you know poor Hagrid would rather just figure out how to tame the basilisk. He’s such a big softie.

Favorite scene: I really enjoyed the fight in the Chamber of Secrets. It shows how twelve-year old Harry is very brave and is just really exploding with the cool action. And despite my nature, I actually really loved the scene with Aragog in the movie, mostly due to Ron's reactions.

My thoughts on the movie: There were a lot of weird things in the movie, though it mostly stuck to the book. I really enjoyed the Quidditch scene, of course. And the scene with Aragog and the fight against the basilisk. But there were a few things I didn't like - for one, they were too obvious about what was going to happen - featuring the word "petrified" during the Mandrake/Herbology scene, so that pretty much everyone knew people were going to get cursed. Another part that bothered me was the part where Harry heard the basilisk in the wall for the first time, then turned the corner and found Ron and Hermione, but it was like they already knew something was wrong. Even the way Hermione says, "Harry" is pretty insistent. Like she was waiting for him to arrive and deliver bad news. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. ...more

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Jul 21, 2016 Lacie rated it it was amazing

Even after rereading this several years later I still love it!

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Jul 21, 2016 Luna Lovebooks rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2016

Ah year two at Hogwarts! Once again Rowling wrote a novel that will always be in my heart and bring back memories as I reread them throughout my life. Harry and the gang learn more magic and get into more trouble.

I like the fact that the movie still keeps close to the book. However, I do wish they would have kept some elements like the Valentine’s Day events. Dwarves dressed as cupids would be hilarious!

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