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Sequel to the excellent
Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
did not disappoint the public, who, enchanted by the first novel,
had high expectations. We meet Harry
again where and when we had left him in the previous book: at home
with the Dursleys, during the summer break. Harry longs to go back to
Hogwarts: once again, his uncle and aunt have forgotten his
birthday, Dudley is nastier than ever and Harry is not even allowed
to study his books or use his broom to practice quidditch.
One evening, as Harry has been sent to his
bedroom, he finds himself face-to-face with a "house-elf", Dobby,
who begs him not to go back to Hogwarts, or else he will find
himself in mortal danger. Not able to convince Harry, Dobby
contrives to make the Dursleys forbid Harry
to go back to school. But Harry feels he belongs to Hogwarts and has
no intention to stay with the Dursleys more than necessary...
Harry finally manages to make it to school
(not on the Hogwarts express though!) where a new professor has been
appointed to replace Professor Quirrell as a Defense Against the
Dark Arts teacher. Gilderoy Lockhart, vain and self-centered
(maybe the more hilarious of all characters
invented by Rowling so far), is a pain in
Harry's neck. But this is unfortunately the least of his problems:
soon, students are turned to stone, and even
worse, Harry himself becomes
a suspect...
Excellent as usual, maybe very slightly
inferior in my opinion to the three other Harry Potter
books published so far, Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets has it all: adventure, magic, struggle of good
vs. evil, etc. We meet again with great pleasure all the characters
from the previous book, plus new ones. The intrigue becomes more
complex with each book (and each book is bigger than the
previous!)...
The neatest thing about the Harry Potter
series is probably this: though its primary target public is
children, I, adult and keen when it comes to guessing the solution
of a mystery novel (even when reviews proclaim proudly: "you will
never guess...") am taken by surprise by Harry Potter's endings!
Rating:
© Discussing Books, 07/23/2002 |
Critiques
