V's Pick #39: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

I found the Chamber to be almost more childish than the first book and it felt at times as if I were watching an episode of Scooby-Doo. Ohhh...what's going to happen... spooky...funny...ha, ha....BOO!...oh no, the hero's in danger...who's going to save his friends?.... he's going to die!!!....oh wait, here comes a hat and a bird! Yeah! Gee, I wonder how this is going to end....oh! Harry saves the day and wins the House Cup again!!

As a result of the predictable nature of this book and two nice weekend days of sunshine, I rushed through it with my goal to reach the (supposedly) better Year Three. With over 900 pages of Potter behind me as I write this, I know the Chamber will probably be my least favorite. It felt sort of like Rowling's writing was lost, trying to figure out where to go,  and like she was still deciding what her strengths were. This book as a result, was a nice continuation of a good tale, but didn't do anything for me emotionally or intellectually. I found the ending haphazard and yawn-ish. Also, I found it incredibly annoying that I was re-introduced to everything from the first book again, some paragraphs in almost identical wording; she probably never expected people like me to wait so long and then read the series back to back, but still, it made me feel disrespected as a reader. Blah, moving on.