The Chamber of Secrets is a cracking mystery – The main villain turns out to be someone… er… something most unexpected. A part of Lord Voldemort’s soul encased in his diary – Later revealed to be a Horcrux. And the Sword of Gryffindor was given Horcrux destroying abilities in this book too. Again, how much of the future did J.K. know when she first wrote it? Such neat dovetailing.
Gilderoy Lockhart was a highlight – I just knew he was a sham as soon as he appeared in Flourish & Blotts. Nice dig at celebrity culture there. It was also great to see that his memory charms were about the only thing he was good at – The lasting damage the backfired charm did to him was still evident years later. I also enjoyed Moaning Myrtle, but never imagined she was so central to the plot (upon reading the rest of the books the first time around I took note of everyone and everything – the author is so good at hiding answers in plain sight). Throughout the series I lost count of how many times Hermione pulled an answer from Hogwarts: A History. She must’ve had the entire book memorised and I loved how she patronised the boys for not reading it.
