The second installment of this series is just as fun and magical as the first! I have the feeling that it will only get better as I continue on. I love how Rowling weaves the story together; little bits and pieces of things are always strewn through the whole book until everything comes together in the end flawlessly. I loved the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets, and I'm now very curious about the Prisoner of Azkaban, which I will be starting immediately. I'm so happy I got the box set of these - waiting for library copies surely would have driven me mad. 
 I feel confident enough to say that Harry Potter could definitely become one of my favorite stories ever, joining the 99% of people in this world who already adore them. Just the little things make it better. The drawings in the beginnings of the chapters are always interesting and the plot keeps me guessing. There's bits of humor sprinkled into the story as well - it's as if Rowling stumbled upon a recipe for a good book (humor, mystery, lovely characters, magical setting, evil villain and so on) and wrote it out perfectly. 
 It's always hard to me to remember that Harry and his friends are only about twelve years old here, because they seem much older than they are. Hermione especially seems that way (though she can be a bit of a snob about it sometimes). I loved meeting the whole Weasly family and finding out more about the world of Hogwarts. It's actually really hard to write proper reviews for these books so far, and I have the bad feeling it will continue to be that way. But I have to say, I am in love with this series, and am very eager to find out what happens next. 
 (view spoiler)[And from now on, whenever anything bad happens, I'm just always going to assume that Voldemort is ultimately behind it. That guy gets around. (hide spoiler)] 
 4.5 stars