Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
J. K. Rowling, 1998
★ 4.43 from 4.7m ratings on Goodreads
A second year at Hogwarts turns sinister when a hidden chamber opens, a voice hisses in the walls, and everyone suspects Harry—while a vain new professor steals the credit. A warm, funny return to school magic that slowly turns ghost-story eerie, with a mystery that pulls you through the corridors.
Feels like wonder, curiosity and humor. About adventure, friendship and identity.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy a cozy magical school mystery with humor and familiar friends. Be aware that some readers find Dobby and Lockhart grating and the middle stretch uneven.
Why read it
It offers a return to Hogwarts with a darker mystery, jokes, and the Weasleys, while Harry's doubts about the diary keep the pages turning.
A page from the book
Why a blank diary can feel like a friend you've half-forgotten.
Harry couldn’t explain, even to himself, why he didn’t just throw Riddle’s diary away. The fact was that even though he knew the diary was blank, he kept absent-mindedly picking it up and turning the pages, as though it was a story he wanted to finish. And while Harry was sure he had never heard the name T. M. Riddle before, it still seemed to mean something to him, almost as though Riddle was a friend he’d had when he was very small, and half-forgotten. But this was absurd. He’d never had friends before Hogwarts, Dudley had made sure of that. What readers say
Readers often describe this as a cozy, magical, funny return to Hogwarts, with nostalgia and strong affection for the Weasleys and the world. Many enjoy the mystery and twists, though some find Dobby or Lockhart annoying and the pace uneven.
J. K. Rowling.Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book while living on benefits in Edinburgh; Chamber of Secrets followed in 1998 and was published under her initials at her publisher's suggestion, for boys.
Books that feel like this
More by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
J. K. Rowling, 1997
A boy who has never been loved learns he is a wizard, enters a castle school of moving staircases, and finds the first friends who choose him.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
J. K. Rowling, 1999
A prison break, soul-draining guards, and a map that insults its readers: Harry's third year at Hogwarts.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
J. K. Rowling, 2007
A fugitive year spent hunting the pieces of a divided soul, while the wizarding world chooses sides and every friendship is tested.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy a cozy magical school mystery with humor and familiar friends. Be aware that some readers find Dobby and Lockhart grating and the middle stretch uneven.
- What is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets like?
- A warm, funny return to school magic that slowly turns ghost-story eerie, with a mystery that pulls you through the corridors. Feels like wonder, curiosity and humor. About adventure, friendship and identity.
- What should I read after Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?
- If you liked Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, try Northern Lights (Philip Pullman), Eragon (Christopher Paolini) and The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien).
A taste of the feed
A gift that looks like a compass but measures something else entirely.
It lay heavily in her hands, the crystal face gleaming, the golden body exquisitely machined. It was very like a clock, or a compass, for there were hands pointing to places around the dial, but instead of the hours or the points of the compass there were several little pictures, each of them painted with extraordinary precision, as if on ivory with the finest and slenderest sable brush. She turned the dial around to look at them all. There was an anchor; an hourglass surmounted by a skull; a chameleon, a bull, a beehive... Thirty-six altogether, and she couldn’t even guess what they meant.
Northern Lights · Philip Pullman
Advice that sounds like freedom and costs almost everything to keep.
Let no one rule your mind or body. Take special care that your thoughts remain unfettered, one may be a free man and yet be bound tighter than a slave. Give men your ear, but not your heart. Show respect for those in power, but don’t follow them blindly. Judge with logic and reason, but comment not. Consider none your superior in life. Treat all fairly or they will seek revenge. Be careful with your money. Hold fast to your beliefs and others will listen. Of the affairs of love, my only advice is to be honest. That’s your most powerful tool to unlock a heart or gain forgiveness.
Eragon · Christopher Paolini
A creature speaks in magnificent, terrible grandeur, asserting a dominion that defies all reason.
“The King under the Mountain is dead, and where are his kin that dare seek revenge? Girion Lord of Dale is dead, and I have eaten his people like a wolf among sheep, and where are his sons’ sons that dare approach me? I kill where I wish, and none dare resist. I laid low the warriors of old and their like is not in the world today. Then I was but young and tender. Now I am old and strong, strong, strong, Thief in the Shadows!” he gloated. “My armour is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!”
The Hobbit · J.R.R. Tolkien
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