This book is a bit darker, and it also goes into a tiny bit more of the back-story of Harry Potter, which was interesting to read. It goes into Harry's second year at the school, and a fascinating encounter with a diary, a house-elf, and of course, the hidden chamber of secrets.

I actually felt, too, that this book relied less on deus ex machina to solve the various problems of the characters, but rather had the characters solve it themselves. It's impressive to see, even with the increased usage of magic in this book took. I felt the ending was very well done, and managed to wrap up most of the plots of the book without feeling too contrived.

I look forward to reading the rest of the series now.