This is the second book in the original Harry Potter series. It is set in the kids' second year at Hogwarts. This novel introduces a couple of new characters including the fan-favorite Dobby the house-elf, and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Guildory Lockhart. It also expands Ginny Weasley's role as she is now a first-year at Hogwarts. And, of course, the novel moves the Harry vs. Voldemort storyline along, giving more of Voldemort's back story, including some of his early life. The crux of the story is that there is something connected to a Chamber of Secrets, which has been opened after 50 years, attacking students at Hogwarts. The attacks threaten to close down the school, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione try to solve the mystery.
The book is a bit darker than the first novel, but given that it is only the second book in a series that was intended to mature as the children who would read it aged, it is definitely not as dark as the later books would become. Basically, Rowling intended that kids who read the book would be about the same age as the characters as the series went along, so about 11 when reading the first novel and 17-18 by the time they read the final book. So, while kids definitely have to be old enough to handle the characters being hurt and understand the concept of death, the subject matter is not too dark for most kids who are around 10-13 years old. And, of course, the book series is written well enough that an adult can easily enjoy it.
The book is slightly longer than the first novel, but not much. It is a fairly quick read for anyone who reads a lot and has good reading comprehension skills. For those who have only seen the movies, this, along with The Sorcerer's Stone, also happens to be the book that had the least amount of material cut out in the movie adaptations. As the subsequent books got longer, entire plotlines had to be removed. In this novel, while some things were pared down a bit in the movies, the vast majority of the story made it in.
Overall, the book is very good, and is definitely not "just a kid's book". Like many good coming-of-age stories from the fantasy genre, it uses fantasy elements as metaphors for the experience of growing up and ties the difficulties of growing up into a world of magic. And, it is a story that holds up well even twenty-some years after it was written, and will probably continue to do so years from now.
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