Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

Took awhile, but I had finally finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The second book in the Harry Potter series written by J.K. Rowling, I have to say the book was much better than 'Sorcerer’s Stone'. Also, I have seen the movie before but the movie truly pale in comparison to the book.

The story start again with the Harry Potter at home with the Dursleys for the summer. However, the book quickly get the mundane out of the way as Dobby, a house-elf, arrives and warn Harry not to return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year.

The story in the book is the same as it was in the movie. Events take a turn for the worse when a monster began stalking Hogwarts and several people, and a cat, became petrified (turned into stone). The Chamber of Secrets is believed to have been opened by someone. According to the school legend, the Chamber was built by Salazar Slytherin (one of the founders of the school) and can only be opened by his heir, in order to purge Hogwarts of "all those who were unworthy to study magic". Harry discovered a new power, he can speaks Parseltongue (the language of snakes). Everyone suspect Harry as the culprit who opened the chamber as Parseltongue is a rare ability that Salazar Slytherin had, which mean Harry could be his heir.

Harry, being Harry, decide to investigate the case personally. Things take a turn for the worse when his friend Hermione Granger was also found petrified. Harry finally discover the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets with his best friend Ron Weasley. They force Gilderoy Lockhart, a teacher at Hogwarts who is also a fraud, to go with them. Once they find the entrance to the Chamber, Lockhart attempts to use Ron's broken wand to erase Harry and Ron's memories, but the spell backfires on to himself and brings the ceiling down on them, separating Harry from Ron and Lockhart.

Harry makes it to the Chamber alone where he finds an unconscious Ginny Weasly, Ron's sister. He also meets a young man named Tom Riddle, who claims to be a "memory". Harry learns that Ginny, under the control of Lord Voldemort, opened the Chamber. Voldemort, whose real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, imprinted his memory (when he was 16) in a diary, in order to one day continue the work he began when he was a student in Hogwarts. From there, a fight ensure with Tom Riddle calling out the monster in the Chamber, a basilisk (a monster who can petrify you if you look into it's eyes). But Albus Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, arrives carrying the Sorting Hat, from which Harry draws out a magical sword. Fawkes blinds the basilisk, destroying its fatal gaze, and Harry slays it with the sword. However in the attempt to slay the basilisk, Harry's arm was pierced by the creature's fang, and Riddle tells him that the venom will kill him within a minute. After Fawkes' tears healed Harry (phoenix tears have healing power) , Harry stab the enchanted diary with one of the basilisk's fangs, and the memory of Riddle is destroyed. Ginny then awaken from her near-death state. Hermione recovered fully along with all the other victims of the basilisk.

As I have said earlier, the book is far better than the movie. Characters were fresh out, especially the Weasly family, and the plot was moving along nice and tight throughout the whole book. I finally saw why the series lasted as long as it did. J. K. Rowling expanded on the wizard world and the strange diverse characters in it. A good, solid read; pick this one up.

Tales of Pirates review

Having played months of 9Dragons, I decided that it was time to explore some other online games...which are available for free of course (hey, I'm Singaporean!). I was looking at the free trial of City of Heroes/City of Villians...but the trial was only for North America. Damm!

With that idea gone, I decided to try Tales of Pirates. For people with no idea what it is, Tales of Pirates is a fantasy-realm massively multiplayer game (MMO). You will create a pirate and experience all about the lives of pirates. You can build your own ship, explore huge ocean maps, and team up with the Navy Force to engage in seas battles or take the roles of Traders, Merchants and Fisherman. Of course all these are after a few hours of grinding.

Now the game has been around for awhile and I did tried it before (when it was known as Pirate King). It didn't impress me too much then, but I heard on the web there has been great improvements. So why not? It's free right! Exciting naval wars, intense island-attacking battles, unique ship PK battles, island-fighting, island construction and island protection; what's there not to like about the idea! It's a One Piece online game!

I agree that there's been great improvement since the last time I tried the game. For some reason I can't log on using my old password, even though I'm sure it's correct. Small detail; I use a new one. The game interface was better, and there seen to be some graphics improvement. The gameplay is basically the same but they did not improve the one thing I hated the last time.

The game is very crowded. The starting city of Argent is big, but even then there were times I can't see my character as it was blocked by 6-7 other characters. Once outside the city, it get better. But you have to stay in the city for awhile and that's a huge problem when you CAN'T SEE YOUR GUY! If anything, it's worse now than it was in the past as the game is more popular now.

Sad because the game is pretty good. Especially for those who like cute avatars, this is the game. Just be sure you have eagle eyes at the start.

The Orc King by R.A. Salvatore

The world's most popular drow returns as Drizzt Do'Urden is back in this new Forgotten Realms novel by R.A. Salvatore. The dark elf failed in his attempt to kill Obould Many-Arrows in his last book, The Two Swords, and now have a difficult task as the orc has proclaimed himself king. Drizzt must now convince his friend Breunor Battlehammer, King of Mithral Hall, to make peace with the dwarf's most hated enemies.

Does he succeed or will the Forgotten Realms have another war in the Spine of the World?

Yes, he does. How do I know? Because I read the damm prologue! Salvatore gave away the ending at the very start of the book. The prologue is set 100 years in the future with Drizzt Do'Urden still around. Now that's okay as I never expected them to kill off the drow, but the prologue then began revealing that the orc King Obould succeeds in the creation of The Kingdom of Many-Arrows for the orcs and that Drizzt supports this kingdom. Not only that, he was the one that convinced Breunor of the need for peace. Great! Super! I can stop reading the book right there, can't I?

I have to say this is the only book I have ever read that I hated from the very start! Salvatore did not just gave away the ending at the start; he even tell you how the end came about! By the way, if you are reading The Lady Pentinent series by Lisa Smedman, skip the prologue as it gave that one away as well. What in the world was he thinking!

Regular characters like Drizzt, Cattie-brie, Bruenor, Wulfgar, and Regis all make appearances in this novel but this is not actually a Drizzt novel. He is in the thick of things but this book give more info about Obould than anyone else. Outside the barbarian Wulfgar (who left for Icewind Dale) and Drizzt's wife, Catti-brie (who is on her road to being a wizard), nothing really happen to the mainstays of the series. The plot of this book is about Obould, the creation of his kingdom, and the revolt he faced down from the half-orc/half-ogre chief, Grguch.

Overall, the book was pretty solid. If you like Salvatore's other works, you will like this one. Just remember to skip the stupid prologue.

Review of Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone

With the last book of the Harry Potter series out a few months ago, the whole Harry Potter series is done. So I decided to read the book that started it all.

No. I have never read the book before but I had seen the movie already, so I kind of expected what the book was about. The story of the boy-wizard Harry Potter, and how the world of magic turns his world upside down.

Having read the book, I have to say it was a pretty good read. The pacing was good and tight, especially after Harry was taken to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As expected, the book fresh out certain characters in the Potter world that got short-shafted in the movie. I never knew his classmates had such an effect on him, or how truly famous Harry was till I read the book. I also finally know how the stupid game of Quidditch was played. When I saw the movie, the game made no sense. Yes the rules made no sense in the book also (why not put all the people in the team after the Golden Snitch; it’s that important right?), but at least I know how it’s being played.

However, I was also slightly disappointed with J.K. Rowling. The book did span 6 sequels and made her millions of pounds right? Maybe it’s the level of expectations that has went up due to its’ success, but I was expecting more from the book. It was a good read but there was nothing that suggested it would be the big hit that it was. I wouldn’t put it with ‘The Game of Thrones’; now that’s a great fantasy book!

That is basically it. Read the book with an open mind and it would probably be a good, solid book. Just don’t expect too much; it’s good, not great.