Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets (spoilers)

[kate_nepveu]

Proposition: the reason that Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is less interesting than the first book is that the story is mostly about someone other than Harry.

Discuss.

(Alternatively, what the heck was Bloomsbury UK thinking with the kids-version cover art for the seventh book? (See also: US version.))

ETA: I've booklogged this book & its predecessor.

Comments

[oyceter]

Huh! CoS is definitely my least favorite of the series so far, but I never thought about why. I was going to say that I didn't think it was the focus on a non-Harry character, just because my favorite parts of the series have been the revelation of backstory, be it Sirius' or Voldemort's or Snape's. But then I read the comments and agree about the focus on Ginny.

It's also been a while since I've reread it, so my memory's a bit fuzzy. I do also remember being annoyed at the "poor wrongly accused Harry" plot. Harry being conflicted and at odds with his friends or with other people tends to bore me throughout the series, so that may be a part of my own personal reaction to CoS.

[kate_nepveu]

I don't enjoy the "poor Harry" parts either; they tend to make me feel claustrophobic and seem to take up much more space than they actually do.