Reviews with content warning for Slavery - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

This book attempts to be a mostly lighthearted fantasy story for children, like its predecessor. The tone is only mildly darker than the previous book, but deals with some significantly darker plot elements. The book explores a fantasy allegory for racism that, at best, is handled indelicately. It also has an unrelated portrayal of magical slavery which is portrayed as a simple evil. Unfortunately, later entries in the series do this story's handling of the matter a disservice by attempting to justify that slavery.

I would not recommend this book, or this series in general. The fact that the author has since become a well-known supporter of hate groups only serves to strengthen that disrecommendation.

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divine529's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This is a book and series I'll always love. This reread was no different, but this time I read the illustrated edition.

I won't deny that I've been hesitant to read the illustrated edition of this because growing up with this, I have certain ideas of what characters look like and ways I imagine the world, but let me just say that this enhanced that love. Every version I've experienced of this just adds to my vision and understanding of it all.

Since this is the illustrated edition, I'm primarily going to focus on talking about the artwork this reread. Jim Kay did an absolutely phenomenal job illustrating everything. I adored his work, even if it didn't always match my own version in my head or what we've all seen in the movies. I saw a documentary and I've read several articles about the work he did and pressure he felt with this project and it's astounding. He made sure to get all the details right and you can see the research on the page. I know he was concerned about ruining the series with his illustrations, but really, as I've already mentioned, it enhanced it and gave me a different experience.

Compared with TSS, the illustrations in this book were even better. I seriously loved them so much.

I definitely enjoyed this and I'll be curious to check out the other books in the future.

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sparksofkell's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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melissalemos's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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darthflauschi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Still a great mystery and a hood read. Dobby will always be a favorite.
The Author introduces some interesting concepts. Some will haunt her later.....

Still it's tedious that the bad guys are "fat and ugly", which is a tiresome stereotype.....
And the question remains: if the sorting hat, sorts you for who you are - which is then fixes forever (slytherin bad, gryffindor good etc) how can Dumbledore say its our actions that shape us? Is ot predetermined (houses) which would render his remark meaningless or is it our free will (actions) which would make the sorting a joke.

Also the ending feels a bit rushed when you compare it to the movie Version (Dumbledores Office)

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