I must say...I really enjoyed book two. It was a fun ride and had some nice twists in it. I still can't quite shake the Tolkien feel to it....the giant spiders, in particular. Even the fight scene with the snake felt like a combination of Eowyn's battle with the fell beast, as well as the first age worms. The encounter between Harry and Tom Riddle, though, was awesome. That was a great ending.
I quite liked the Moaning Myrtle scenes. Out of all of the ghosts in these books, she was the first that really felt like a ghost. I get why she's haunting Hogwarts...I don't really get that from the others, except perhaps for the Professor.
The only thing that really got under my skin was Dobby...he annoyed me to no end. And when Harry figured out that Lucius Malfoy put the diary in Ginny's transfiguration book? Yeah, I'm calling that bull. A kid (or anyone, really) who just went through everything he went through remembering such an inconsequential moment from ten months prior? Get real. I get that it makes a neat and tidy ending, but that's one of the moments that I took out my imaginary red editor's pen and slashed right through those lines.
I don't really have much more to say about the plot, other than it's quite strong. I absolutely adored all of the scenes with Ron's elderly owl. What an adorable little creature. And Professor Gilderoy was a whoot, and I loved that Hermione loved him. She's such a smart and savvy little girl, but not even she can resist a pair of baby blues.
The whole feud between Draco and Harry is laid on thicker than snow in Alaska, and I don't really understand why Snape would seem to encourage it. I still find Snape interesting, but I think Rowling rather dropped the ball a bit in terms of character development. Plot was obviously her primary focus...and it certainly benefitted from her efforts.
As for the 'What HP Girl Are You?' quiz, I got Luna Lovegood. I haven't seen her mentioned in the books yet so I really can't say if I feel there's anything to it, but I am a bit surprised by the three of you thinking that I'm like Hermione. She is much too enterprising, too studious, too prompt to be me.Now, off to book three!
