Customer Reviews

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

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Harry gets himself into yet more trouble as his name is drawn to compete against other schools of witchcraft and wizardry as a Hogwarts school Champion. He wishes he were just spectating the tournament, but someone put his name in the Goblet of Fire to get him in trouble! Strange things start happening, but Harry gets help from the new Defense Against the Arts Teacher Mad Eye Moody. Harry has taken a liking to Moody until he realizes the awful truth. In the fourth and final task of the tournament, Harry finds himself tied with Cedric Diggory, the only Seeker ever to beat Harry. He encounters Voldemort where Diggory is killed by the UNFORGIVABLE CURSE Avada Kedavra. Harry meets his parents and Voldemort takes away his only protection given to him by his mother that lead to the temporary downfall of the Dark Lord!

I loved the Potter series. It is worth reading even if you have seen the movies. It gives you more insight into the charaters and also includes thoughts, ideas and extras that were not in the movies.

This is to replace a copy that I had given away. I was more than pleased with the condition and the promptness of it's arrival. The book was in better condition than the one I had previously owned. The story itself is, without saying, wonderful as are all of the Potter series.

J.K. follows up her first mature story with a bit of a departure to the past. One last shout-out to a young child's story, but at over 700 pages, she stretches this jaunt to previous elements somewhat too long. Thankfully the beginning and ending harkens us back to the edgier Potter we get for the rest of the series. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling is another transition book.

To start with, what did not thrill me. The games of the Triwizard tournament really do not hold my interest that much, or at all. While she does an admirable job of expanding the wizarding universe and make the magic more sensible and workable, the actual tournament just strikes me as another plot device to facilitate her "Year In The Life" structure. So often a new challenge would pop up, and my interests would wane and wait for the real story to kick into high gear. Another idea started, and thankfully ending here, is Ron being a compete dolt. For those Potterheads about to argue here, Hallows was a different reason because Ron was noticeably under the influence. His character turn to jerk comes out of nowhere and is only resolved when he realizes Harry is yet again in mortal danger. Yes, I know Ron has an inferiority complex, but hating your best friend simply because you believe life sucks is not how the Weasleys raised him.

As for what worked in Goblet? The very beginning, with the horrors of the history of the Riddle house, has all the hallmarks of J.K. hitting her stride. The absolute gothic despair mixed with urban legends and topped by exotic folklore all fill the pages with dread. It just feels like a stew of evil was always boiling in Tom Riddle's life, and we see further along in this series, the roots of this goes even further. We move from this onto our characters merrily journeying to the Quidditch World Cup and having an absolute blast. Seeing the sights, enjoying the tastes of the world they are being exposed to, and experiencing Quidditch played on a massive scale, are all wondrous times to remember forever. And then J.K. does the unthinkable and daring. She plunges us headfirst into a full fledged terrorist attack. For no rhyme or reason, Death Eaters disrupt the festivities, and cause immense emotional and physical damage. Just because. Any illusions that a war is in the offing are shattered by these opening salvos. And this utter destruction is just the beginning. By the end of Goblet we face the inevitable.

For Voldemort is back. In the grand theatrical style that this fake Lord often employs, the entire rigging of every aspect of the Triwizard tournament was all to bring himself back to form. The sheer terror of this resurrection, followed by Voldemort's bullying of Harry, speaks volumes of the villainy represented. He wants to humiliate and demoralize Harry before he destroys him. This extremely powerful wizard still feels the need to tarnish a young boy in order to bolster a damaged ego. Anyone who hates bullies cringes at this part. This was harsh to read.

With Voldemort now back and Harry preparing for war, the next leg of this journey is about to commence. Winning the hearts and minds of his allies. We embark on the dark path again. Time for some Order.

Scoopriches

A wonderful book, continues the story of Harry Potter as he attends Hogwarts. J. K. Rowling steps up the realism in this fantasy book as she tackles competition, friendship and Harry's continuing struggle to meet the expectations of those around him as he tries to set his own views of who he is.

Without a doubt my least favorite of the series. I got into Potter back when only the first three books were out, and quite some time before this book came out, and I was all psyched for it. Then I read it, all 700+ pages of it. While I found it engrossing, it certainly wasn't as good as AZKABAN.

Actually, Amazon ruined the book for me. I was online reading reviews here after I finished the book (this was back in 2000), and one of the reviews pointed out the plothole that why didn't Mad Eye Moody just make a portkey out of anything, rather than make Harry go through all the trouble with the Triwizard Tournament, and I really didn't have any answer to that. So after I finished the book, I didn't read it again for seven years, because this plothole took out the whole point of the book.

When I reread all six books in preparation for DEATHLY HALLOWS this summer (which I finished them all with a week to spare before Hallow's release date), I picked this up again. It had been a long time since I read it, and the plothole always turned me off so much whenever I did reread the Potter books I never could bring myself to read this one.

Going through it a second time, in context with the rest of the series, this is definitely when Potter got into darker territory. But Potter was always dark anyway, and while this is always thought of as the turning point in the series as far as darkness goes, AZKABAN is pretty dark too.

Potter has been enrolled in the Triwizard Tournament, a dangerous tournament that you must be 17 to enter. Potter is entered without his consent, and much too young. Ultimately the three events they must go thru are dangerous and at the end of the third we see Voldemort's plot unmasked.

As far as the plot hole, I've read several different theories on why Voldemort's agent wouldn't have used the portkey before then. One possible explanation, which I wish Rowling would have used, was you can't use portkey within the grounds of Hogwarts, but under this especial circumstance the use of portkeys was allowed at the end of the tournament. Another issue is Barty Crouch Jr. He must truly want to serve Voldemort to do what he did. Still, it would be a lot of work to drink polyjuice potion every hour for a school year straight.

We get the first real death in the series (at least, a character we have come to know and not offscreen or backstory deaths). Poignant, but the death appears more to be included so she can move the series into darker territory than any natural artistic progression.

There are some great scenes in this one, especially the Quidditch World Cup, and introduction of other international schools (a thing we have not yet seen - so far we only know of magic in Britain). Rowling also clearly lays more foundation to Ron and Hermione as a couple, a plotline that would not find full resolution until Book 7. Still, those who always thought Harry and Hermione should end up together, read this book more closely. It's pretty obvious from Book 4 on Ron and Hermione would end up together. There's a lot of sexual tension in the air between those two. Harry, on the other hand, is quite up in the air at this point, though we know in Book 7 who he ends up with.

While it is my least favorite of the Potter books, it's still an entertaining read. This is clearly the book where Rowling moves beyond children as a primary audience and bringing more complexity and maturity to the series, which is the reason why as the books progress they are more adult oriented than the early volumes.

Still, I find myself in the minority. I know a lot of people who love GOBLET. There are certainly some great scenes and memorable passages throughout the book. I just wish Rowling would have fixed the plothole better (and it wouldn't be that hard to fix).

These are my order of Potter books by preference:
Deathly Hallows
Prisoner of Azkaban
Order of the Phoenix
Philosopher's Stone/Chamber of Secrets (I rank them both the same)
Half-Blood Prince
Goblet of Fire.

If you are a Harry Potter fan and you haven't read the books in their original British-English, you are missing out! The Raincoast editions are great; I'm building up a collection.

I just finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night, and was mesmerized through all 734 pages of it! My niece Gail Dornenburg, who turned me on to the Harry Potter series in August 1999, finished reading the copy of Book 4 I sent her as a gift via Amazon.com the weekend it came out -- but I've enjoyed savoring this very special book these past few weeks. I love everything from the characters to my newly-expanded vocabulary --and believe J.K. Rowling's imagination has got to be the Eighth Wonder of the World! Bravo!

Although usually the word "sequel" prepares you to lower your expectations, this fourth installment in the Harry Potter series packs even more excitement, quirky characters, and tightly plotted events than the previous three books. Much attention has been paid to its length (734 pages and four pounds), but it is a supremely satisfying read. You will want to savor every page. Although most of the major plot elements of this volume are resolved by the end, the author hints at some of the challenges which lie ahead for our hero, paving the way for more excitement in volume five. Film critic Roger Ebert writes that the reason the "Star Wars" series is so successful is that its creator George Lucas pays careful attention to even the minutest detail, populating even the corners of the frame with interesting characters. In much the same way, J. K. Rowling packs the Harry Potter books with so much detail that the world of witches and wizards comes alive. In "Goblet of Fire", this enchanting world is revealed in greater scope, with more of the action taking place in the wider world outside the Hogwarts School. We learn for the first time of the existence of other schools of wizardry, and we meet characters from other cultures. Although so many things about the wizarding world are different, at the same time we can really identify with the thoughts and feelings of these characters: the awkwardness of adolescence, the loneliness of an orphaned boy and the excitement of first love. Rowling has written a book to delight Harry Potter fans everywhere. My question is, how long until she produces volume 5?

I like the Harry Potter series and I have enjoyed reading all of them, and I think "The Goblet of Fire" is an excellent addition to the series. This is not children's literature on the level of "Alice in Wonderland," but then, what modern child could possibly read and understand this now-classic today? The nice thing about Harry Potter books is that they are full of excellent and amusing details: the quirks of the professors at Hogwarts, the array of sweets that explode or surprise, the range of good and evil in the characters...all of whom are better defined than Harry himself. The fight between good and evil (evil may come close, but we are comforted in knowing that good will eventually prevail) is exciting and helps to move the action along in between discursive bits on classwork in Potions or the History of Magic, but the books, this one especially, lack a hero. Harry Potter is more a collection of facts (scar, parents' deaths, awful family, green eyes, etc) than a real person who, put to the test and tried, triumphs for reasons of character. Harry isn't a hero, he isn't even as interesting as most of the other young wizards he knows, and certainly not as interesting as the grown-ups. "The Goblet of Fire" has a REAL hero, however: Cedric Diggory. He seems to embody all the admirable traits that Harry is credited with. I look forward to the next installment of this series, and I also look forward to the characters' growth as they grow older and as the plot thickens (as it certainly has) and they rise to meet the challenges of good and evil, everyday and extra-ordinary.