Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Review

Intro

After many months of having Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets sitting on the little cabinet in front of my upstairs toilet, I finally finished my reread. It's also somewhat fitting that I'm currently wearing my "Harry Otter" t-shirt and used my Harry Potter beach towel to dry it off after my mother squirted me with a unicorn.

Yes, that actually happened.

The unicorn is small and white with a little pink saddle and mane and a purple bridle. I collect unicorns so my mom got it for me and proceeded to assault me with it before hand.

But anyway... on to the spoiler warning.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not read or watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, please leave the blog and return later. Actually, considering I'm rereading the books for the umpteenth time, if you haven't read the entire Harry Potter series or watched the entire Harry Potter series, please leave the blog and return after you have done so. There will be spoilers.

Also, this isn't a spoiler, but I abbreviate Chamber of Secrets into CoS.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has never been my favorite of the Harry Potter series. It has also never made it beyond the bottom rankings, were I to rank my favorites of the series. However, this does not mean that CoS is not an incredibly important book in the grand scheme of things. CoS sees the introduction of House Elves, Dobby, Gilderoy Lockhart, and the first actual interaction with a Horcrux.

House Elves, as a concept, are quite interesting. I'm not particularly fond of how they end up being portrayed throughout the series, but their modus operandi is intriguing. They remind me a lot of Brownies, a sort of lower fairy that will clean your house for you so long as you leave out some milk and bread for it and don't acknowledge it otherwise. However, our first peek into the "world" of House Elves is actually really disturbing. We have the Malfoy family essentially severely mistreating their servant just because they can. True, there's not really much Dobby can do about this, but it's disturbing nonetheless. House Elves are sentient creatures, after all. They can carry on conversations coherently, they have feelings, and they are quite happy to cook and clean for you, assuming you're lucky enough to have one. The mistreatment of Dobby cements in our minds just how horrible the Malfoys actually are.

Speaking of Dobby, his introduction in CoS begins the long love affair most fans of the Harry Potter books have with the little elf. Personally, I found him rather annoying for a good chunk of the series, especially in CoS. Dobby attempts to help Harry the best he can, but the ways in which he goes about the helping are ludicrous and down right dangerous. First, the interception of Harry's letters. Secondly the thing with the pudding. Thirdly, the barrier at Platform nine and three-quarters. Forth, the Bludger. None of which end up actually stopping Harry. One of which almost kills him. And the entire time Dobby is being ridiculously cryptic, as evidenced by his explanation to Harry what he meant about Tom Riddle instead of Voldemort. That made me want to hit him 'round the head with something!

I also very much wanted to smack Gilderoy Lockhart. He is the most famous of Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers for being totally lame. I'm pretty sure no one learned anything that year and so it was a good thing exams ended up cancelled. Lockhart is gigantically annoying, self-absorbed, and really kind of scary. He wrote all of his books based on things other witches and wizards had done and took their memories of having done them. In addition, he just up and decides to strike Harry and Ron insane (which he says himself). The boys are 12. Seriously, Lockhart? It's a good thing Ron's wand backfired on you.

And finally, the Horcrux. At this point in the series, we have no idea what Riddle's diary actually is. All we know is that it's a magical object enchanted by Voldemort when he was 16. It's really rather disturbing what Riddle does throughout the book to get to his corporeal form there at the end. Poor Ginny gets essentially mind-raped by the Horcrux and almost dies. It's no wonder some people decided to stop reading the series at this point.

Overall, I thought CoS was a perfectly serviceable second book to the series. It sets the tone for how dark the series can get without completely going off the deep end.

Housekeeping

I do believe I lost my train of thought there about the Horcrux. I remember having something semi-intelligent to say, but then it just kind of died... meh.

As of right now, I'm starting my reread of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which is my favorite Harry Potter book. Not sure when I'll end up finishing it, but I will, of course, review it when I get there.

Love ya, Jessie.