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

Title: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Author: by J.K. Rowling
Series: Harry Potter #2
Genre: Middle Grade/ Fantasy/Magic
Publisher: Scholastic Inc
Publication Date: July 2nd, 1998
Edition: Paperback, 341 pages
Source: Purchased
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Synopsis:

     The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

     And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny. But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone, or something, starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects: Harry Potter himself?

Review:

This book took me months to get through. And I know exactly why; this is my least favorite HP book. I have never liked this book, I don't know if I ever will. 

I don't know what it is about this book that has me not like it that much or at all. But I just don't. Maybe it's from how dumb everybody seems to be, 'cause how can anybody think that Lockhart is actually capable of anything? Sure, he's a charismatic author, but once he actually does any kind of magic in front of people they should catch on that he's useless. It especially bothers me how Hermione doesn't see through the rouse. She believes him because he's attractive, and for me, that goes against her character.

I do like how this book does tie in close with book 6, but we don't know that until book 6. The end when Harry is talking to Tom is really the best part of the book in my opinion. It's when we see Voldemort at his most human, really get to see where his motives come from for the first time. 

But the rest of the book is really just mediocre in my opinion. Especially when compared to the rest of the series. 

I don't "hate" this book as its own book. I just think it's one of the weaker books in the series.