Harry Potter is back on his second year at Hogwarts! This time, with even more adventures and lessons along the way! This year, strange happenings have been going on at Hogwarts, which all points strangely to the legend of the Chamber of Secrets! Will Harry ever survive the monster hidden within the depths of the chamber?

Thoughts:
My first book for 2010!! What a good read it has been! I didn't imagine I'd finish it this quickly. Anyway, I initially re-read this book as part of the Harry Potter book challenge on at GalleySmith, which I'm doing badly on as I need to finish all 7 books by July 2010. Here's hoping that I get to finish this!

Anyway, back to the review of the second book. It's faster-paced compared to the first book, and this time, the characters are more defined and I get to learn more spells and "wizard terms" so to speak. I got to know some new characters as well, including the mandatory new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm learning all about magical enchantments and othe rmagical creatures!

This book definitely did not lack in trying to explain what had happened to Ginny and Tom Riddle. Although the book did not necessarily build Ginny's character at all, it helped build more stronger relationships and character backgrounds for Ron, Harry and Hermione. This book also provides a stepping stone to the other Harry Potter books, which I spent time trying to figure out and remembering who played a part in what on the latter parts of the books.

Quite a quick read, so definitely good to start my new year, it's definitely a boost to the stats! It's also written in such a way that anyone could understand it: young adults, and adults alike! I like!

Overall, I'll give it a 4/5 rating! I know most of you guys have either already read the books or seen the movie so go watch or read them again :) Harry definitely is part of our pop culture now and is here to stay!

This third book has been my favourite in all the Harry Potter books so far! Although the movie version of this was the least of my favourites in the franchise!

Anyway, in this book, a dangerous murderer has escaped from the prison of Azkaban, Sirius Black. It was known amongst the wizards that he might be after Harry, and was a servant of Lord Voldemort. Harry, Ron and Hermione are then thrust in a new adventure where they'll be faced with time turners, new magical creatures, dementors, harder magical spells, all in their third year of Hogwarts!

I love that in this book, there is no appearance whatsoever of Voldemort! That means no intense fight scenes or whatnot between Harry and Voldemort but then again, I loooove the new characters and the depth they bring to Harry's past. I also love how everything intertwines and interconnects with each other. It's hard to post my exact thoughts/feelings without spoilers but one of them would be how to use a time turner -- excellent, excellent stuff!

My favourite character in this is Beaky, the Hippogriff! He's like a little dog of Hagrid [and we all know that Hagrid loves them weird and magical creatures] Fine. I think you're saying that Beaky is not that much of a character but my second favourite would be Sirius Black! Imagine all that we went through just to see Harry again. Awwww..... and it's amazing how he...... [SPOILER] could turn into a huge dog [END spoiler]

Looooove the part of the Patronus Spell as well to ward off the dementors!

And Malfoy was being a pest as per usual to Harry.

This is a very entertaining read, so I must wrap up this post before I give out any more spoilers.

5/5 rating for me!

Copy: Trade Paperback, bought by me from National Bookstore.
Date Published: 2001
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks

Book One of Seven in the Harry Potter Series.

Harry Potter was an orphan, living in a cupboard under the stairs with his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and cousin Dudley. His life is pretty much boring, with not much privileges. Until one day, on his 11th birthday, a letter arrived at #4 Privet Drive, an invitation to attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Then harry realizes he is not an ordinary boy. He is quite known in the wizarding world as the boy who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named [Voldemort], and also became the youngest seeker for Griffindor in a century.

On his first year at Hogwarts, Harry is exposed to the Sorcerer's Stone - a stone that produces an elixr that can bring eternal life, and also has the capability to create gold. With new friends Ron and Hermione, Harry is thrust in a new adventure on their quest to find out who wanted to steal and usethe Sorcerer's Stone.

I have to stop my makeshift summary there as I don't really want to give away any spoilers.

I first read this book way back in 1999, when I was still a sophomore in high school. When I tweeted that I was reading this book, many of my friends asked why I was reading this book again when this is the third [or fourth? I've lost count]. Well, I wanted to read it as part of the Harry Potter Reading Challenge as hosted by GalleySmith. In the challenge, we're asked to read all 7 Harry Potter books and this is the first step!

Anyway, my review of the book.

I've always liked Harry Potter. The way JK Rowling wrote the story was so believable, you'd want to be transported to Hogwarts! The plotline was so cleverly constructed, and as I was first reading Sorcerer's Stone, I totally believed that Snape was the one after the Stone [although he was the Red Herring.... I was ignorant back then :P]

Do read the series if you haven't -- the movie is loyal to the book, although the book has far more details, which could explain some underlying questions that you might encounter in the movie.

Back when I was in London, I did a really quick Harry Potter tour by going to "Diagon Alley" [Leadenhall Market] and Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross. I will probably post that adventure up in one of my travel-related blogs. Haha. The experience of pretending to "push" the cart through the wall in Platform 9 3/4: Priceless.

Also got to Oxford where the Great Hall scenes were shot. I could just imagine being part of Slytherin or Ravenclaw or Griffindor or Hufflepuff and being excited of waving my wand and learning new tricks!

Overall, I'd give this book 4.5/5! :) It sure was a good fantasy book, and I can't wait to re-read the rest of the series.

My copy: A paperback, bought at National Bookstore way back in 1999 for P189.50 [around $4.50 in the current conversion]. The spines are creased, the pages are brown, but still something to keep in the personal library.

Honestly, this will be the first official time that I'll be joining some reading challenges. I normally challenge myself to read so-and-so number of books per year but since I've taken the hobby of reading more seriously, I think it's time to join the challenges being hosted online [and yes, the prizes are 90% of the reason also of why I joined :P ]

First off, I've joined the Sookie Stackhouse reading challenge -- this runs from July 1, 2009-June 30, 2010.
Goal is to read the Sookie Stackhouse books. Easy enough? Not for me! I'm an ultra slow reader, in case you guys haven't noticed yet. :P I've just asked my good friend Yam to help me get some audio books to get me started. Yaay!
Here's the link:

http://bfishreads.blogspot.com/2009/06/sookie-stackhouse-reading-challenge.html

Progress:
Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
From Dead to Worse
Dead and Gone

Discussion:
http://bfishreads.blogspot.com/2009/07/sookie-stackhouse-reading-challenge_05.html

Second, I've joined the Harry Potter reading challenge -- this runs from August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2010. It's a good time for me to catch up on all 7 books of Harry Potter, since my friends knew that I stopped reading the series at book 3. I don't understand why I stopped in the first place as well, but hey, now's the time to re-read the series & finish off what I've started.

http://www.galleysmith.com/2009/07/22/harry-potter-reading-challenge/

I've finished downloading an audiobook of the Prisoner of Azkaban so I'll probably kick off this challenge there.

Progress:

• Sorcerer’s Stone [Finished November 4th, 2009]
• Chamber of Secrets
• Prisoner of Azkaban [Finished December 15th 2009]
• Goblet of Fire
• Order of the Pheonix
• Half-Blood Prince
• Deathly Hallows

Discussion Page:
http://www.galleysmith.com/2009/07/22/hprc-august-09/

Third challenge: the Reliquaiae Challenge
Goal is to read at least 3-6 books that revolve around the paranormal: vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches and all sorts of fantastical beings.
Challenge runs from July 15th 2009 to January 15th 2010.

Levels:

• Bite on the Neck: 3 books.
• Flying Cauldron: 4 books.
• Deadly Red Moon: 5 books.
• Haunted Nights: 6 books.

I'm planning on trying one level at a time. For this challenge [Bite on the Neck], my list is as follows:
1. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer [Finished August 22, 2009]
2. Eclipse- Stephenie Meyer [Finished October 28, 2009]
3. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer.
**Looks like I'll fail this. I haven't finished the Twilight Saga series! :\ ** However, if it involves Harry Potter as a magical being [ie a wizard] then I've passed the first goal with flying colours with 4 books read!

Once I've finished the three above, I'll probably do a cross-challenge with the two other challenges I've posted above.

Discussion page here:
http://bookchallenges.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/reliquiae-challenge-reviews/


And another one! The Vampire Diaries reading challenge!
The Awakening
The Struggle
The Fury
Dark Reunion
And the ongoing story in
The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall

Hosted by: My Friend Amy

This will run from Sept 1, 2009 till August 31st, 2010.
I've started watching the telly series. Does that count? :D