Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets

Just finished reading the second installment of the Harry Potter ouvre (hee!). It's not really my favorite, but I love how in rereading I can see the seeds of later plots making an appearance. If its true that in Sorcerer's Stone, Rowling wrote some things that were later negated in the series, in Chamber of Secrets she took pains to right that and apparently to begin to think things through. I think people like that the most about the series, the idea that it was "all there" and that she was just reorganizing it all and what not.

In Chamber of Secrets, Harry finds himself in problems even before leaving Privet Drive thanks to the appearance of the house elf Dobby, who loves Harry Potter and what he stands for so much that he intervenes with his life trying to "save him" from the horrible things that will happen if he goes to the Hogwarts School of Wizardry for his second year of study. In the process of this book Harry turns 12, learns about house elves, spends about half of his summer vacation at the Weasley's place, and learns about the stigma that being Muggle-born can carry in some circles of the Wizarding world.

I know that the plot is common knowledge, but this is supposed to be a review rather than a summary so I won't go into many details. What I liked about the book: Ron is an individual, smart kid. Hermione of course, figures out the mystery ages before Harry and Ron do, but the two of them slowly get the  same knowledge. It made sense that after the first book, Harry and Ron would be the one's to go on - after all, they're still 12. However, Rowling still manipulates it all so that Harry is alone at the end in order to fight Voldermort. Well... not Voldermort, but Tom M. Riddle. The things that I liked that Rowling introduced from this novel: the similarities between Harry and Voldermort. That Dumbledore makes it clear that it's all about choices people make and not the circumstances of their birth. That's also something I like... although the novels are very moral, they never hit you over the head with the message, and Chamber of Secrets is no different.