Speed Review - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

In a Nutshell:

Harry Potter and his friends unite again in the second year of school to fight against an unseen monster who is Petrifying students at Hogwarts. With a magical soul-possessed diary as their initial guide, they do their best to uncover the what the Chamber of Secrets is, and how to prevent students coming to harm. 

The Audiobook:

Jim Dale is narrating the whole of my Harry Potter audiobook set. He's awesome as I've said in  previous reviews. He reads at a pretty reasonable pace and so if you're wanting a quick read I recommend actually reading the books. I'm sure that I will end up rereading these novels in paperback, just to get a feel of them without (the pretty epic) Dale's voice.

The Story:

Funnily enough, The Chamber of Secrets and The Goblet of Fire were my least favourite Harry Potter movies. I just found the stories a little half-baked and rushed, but, in all honesty the books were great, and totally redeemed the novels. 

I loved the pace of Rowling's narrative of The Chamber of Secrets, and the suspense and mystery she unfolds was not unlike reading a crime novel. Unlike in later books it was very nice to see her writing at her best in this book... she wrote like she knew all the details, rather than creating details as she goes along. I've noticed that there are many people who did not enjoy this book because of the plot, but I enjoyed the plot too, not just her writing.

Hermione is a lot less annoying in this novel... so, ten points for Rowling.