Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the long-awaited, heavily hyped fourth instalment of a phenomenally successful series that has captured the imagination of millions of readers, young and old, across the globe. For J K Rowling the pressure is certainly on to continue to come up with thrilling, pacey storylines that allow her hero to mature into a young man without detracting from the magical secret that has made Harry into a superstar. In this book, the teenage Harry has a certain gawky charm that fits well with his advancing adolescence. As the story moves on, Harry too moves on to a new level of maturity that leaves the reader wondering how he will learn from his experiences, and liking him all the more as a character.
Once returned to Hogwarts after his summer holiday with the dreadful Dursleys and an extraordinary outing to the Quidditch World Cup, the 14-year-old Harry and his fellow pupils are enraptured by the promise of the Triwizard Tournament: an ancient, ritualistic tournament that brings Hogwarts together with two other schools of wizardry--Durmstrang and Beauxbatons--in heated competition. But when Harry's name is pulled from the Goblet of Fire, and he is chosen to champion Hogwarts in the tournament, the trouble really begins. Still reeling from the effects of a terrifying nightmare that has left him shaken, and with the lightning-shaped scar on his head throbbing with pain (a sure sign that the evil Voldemort, Harry's sworn enemy, is close), Harry becomes at once the most popular boy in school. Yet, despite his fame, he is totally unprepared for the furore that follows.
This is a hefty volume: 636 pages, of which probably at least 200 could have been cut without detracting from the story. The weight and complexity of the book is perhaps a hint that Rowling now has her eye sharply focused on her adult audience, and the average child-reader (particularly one who is coming to Harry Potter for the first time) may well find its girth daunting. Rowling's ironic and pointed observations on tabloid journalism and the nature of media hype is just one of the references littered through the book that will tickle the grown-ups but may well fly over the heads of her young fans.
However, after a slow start, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire really starts to sparkle halfway through with Rowling's familiar magic (and yes, there is a death--sudden and tragic--and yes, Harry does start to notice girls). The crux of this story, however, is Harry's gradual coming-of-age and his handling of the increasingly determined threats to his own life.
This book is pivotal, not just for the author for whom the heat is well and truly on, but for Harry and his readers who, by the last chapter, are left in little doubt that there is much more to come. (Ages 10 to adult) --Susan Harrison
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
nice and long 636 is a long book, but considering that the previous books where so good many fans where delighted at the length. Overall, this is great because it gives J.K a chance to really broaden some characters and she gets to deal with the world cup and triwizard tournment.
But, about 100 pages of this book could have been cut and not detracted from the story, also making the book this long makes it a little thin at times.
This is my only minor critisim of the novel as this book produces some of the best... more info
A bit indulgent. The first three were huge fun in their own way, delivered at a fair pace, but this one struck me as being more of an indulgence. It could easily have been 200 pages shorter. The Quidditch world cup just drags on and on... scenes and characters lead nowhere, and of course, the last fifth of the book has to explain much of what's gone before. I detect a pattern...
The plot is precisely what you would expect, in so far as everything is sorted by the summer hols (hoorah!), Voldermort is thwarted but due back... more info
Better and better A rattling good read whatever your age. Rowling's carefully constructed and never-flagging story keep you hooked all the way through; I felt like a 12-year-old again reading this and the preceding books. Though each one is a self-contained adventure, the series builds up an ongoing story that leaves you wondering where it will go from here, and how it will ultimately end, and this one, more than its predecessors, leaves the reader in serious doubt that it will all end happily - Rowling is not afraid to pull... more info
A change from the previous three When I saw how long this book was compared to the previous three I was a bit doubtful. How could JK Rowling possibly fill all those pages with one school year at Hogwarts? But she did. We're thrown into Harry's life in the middle of the summer holidays when he goes to stay with the Weasleys to go to the Quidditch World Cup and then we're in for an extremely eventful year at Hogwarts.
It seemed to me (before reading the book) that this fourth one in the series is more "adult" than the previous ones. I... more info
