Now I’m only 8 years behind on my reading.

I liked the Sorcerer’s Stone better.

My comparison is much akin to that between the “first” (episodes IV-VI) and “third” (episodes I-III) trilogies of Star Wars. In IV-VI, we have simple good-vs.-evil stories. Then in I-III, we have more complicated stories about politics and disputes over trade routes.

The Chamber of Secrets is undoubtedly a darker story, but I can’t help but think it could have done so without introducing the complications of “governors” and the “board” and politics behind appointing the head of Hogwart’s. The Sorcerer’s Stone had child protagonists more in the vein of the Hardy Boys or Scooby-Doo; The Chamber of Secrets felt more desperate in having to resort to a child hero.