I'm a first time reader of this, but am very familiar with the film adaptation. Similarly to the first book, there were quite a few plot holes and points where characters were not acting like themselves for the sake of plot development.
I do hope and believe these books will improve and develop as the series continues but this book was definitely not as good as the first, mainly because at times it seemed a bit without direction in terms of plot to me. Most of the characters still do not feel fully rounded to me yet, and I really feel under attached to them; Ginny especially who I was really hoping to get more from in the books has so far had a very minor undeveloped role, the only true emotional part about her feelings was spoken by someone else!

As a side note, I have been very underwhelmed by the female characters in general; the few that have appeared so far have very nearly always come across as annoying and whiny (except mcgonagal who comes across probably the best). It just seems to me all the powerful and brave characters seem to be male, and its wearing a bit thin on me. We have a Bad Guy, Headmaster, and even Mr Weasley who works a top job in ministry of magic while his wife stays at home! (not shaming stay at home mothers AT ALL, but have yet to see a single woman in a position of power yet.)

I'm very excited about where this series will go, but I am getting more and more reluctant to read them. We shall see.

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Question of the book: if the second year griffindor boys dorm has 6 people in it, how many students actually attend this giant school? my tiny-in-comparison highschool had about 1200 people and probably more students...