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A review by dylanhenning
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Public statement: J.K. Rowling is a mean spirited person using her fame and influence to dehumanize and dismantle the rights of Transgender people throughout the world. Her actions and words are not only incorrect but harmful and buying new copies of her books puts more money in her pockets to give her more freedom and resources to continue her hateful and misguided crusade. The copies of the Harry Potter books I own were purchased well before her anti-trans tirade began and I encourage all of you that if you are going to read her books to do it as ethically as possible by either buying her books secondhand or borrowing them from your local library so no additional money goes into her pockets.
This is part of a re-read project of the Harry Potter series I’m doing now as an adult. I’m reading these books for the first time in well over a decade and trying to think of them critically and judge each book on its own merits. So far Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has aged the worst on re-read.
I never loved GOF as much as I have some of the other books but I always appreciated it for having far less Quidditch, a decent amount of Sirius, and the Tri-Wizard Tournament. As an adult these aspects of the book absolutely still hold up and I did find other elements to appreciate as well like Dumbledore’s speech at the end about Cedric and how he died. I am glad Dumbledore didn’t try to soften the details of what happened or pretend it didn’t happen. It would’ve been disrespectful to Cedric and also to the students.. they deserve to know what’s happening and what is likely about to happen within the Wizarding world.
To that point this book does a lot of foreshadowing and set up for things that will be paid off in the final three books. You don’t really think much of it as a kid (or at least I didn’t), but it’s really fascinating to see Rowling acknowledge that this is the midpoint of her series. A lot of questions are answered and the groundwork is laid for the final few chapters of the Harry Potter saga.
Unfortunately that’s where my praise of this book ends. I did find it to be overly long. Don’t get me wrong I love a big thick book but there were large sections of this book that felt like they didn’t really matter and we’re just there to pad out the book and kill time until the next major development. Like did we really need so many moments with Rita Skeeter and her articles? After the first couple we could kind of understand what was going on with her.
Also Ron being annoyed with Harry after he became a champion didn’t really make sense to me. He should know his best friend wouldn’t try to enter into an extremely dangerous competition and especially wouldn’t keep his efforts secret from his friends. Then the resolution of the feud was lackluster as well. What was all that for other than needing some sort of tension for Harry?
But none of that compares to how poorly the storyline with Hermione and the House Elves has aged. All Hermione wanted to do was help them get rights and freedoms and every single character (with the exception of Harry) made her out to be insane for this and trying to gaslight her into thinking the House Elves loved being enslaved. (The elves did later balk at the idea of rights and freedoms and this was presented as justification for why Hermione was wrong, but if all the house elves had known was that way of life then of course they’re not all going to jump at the chance to make things better. They don’t know that things could be better. That’s all they’ve ever known).
In the end this is still a good book but some of the issues with the plots and the pacing keep it from being a fantastic book.
This is part of a re-read project of the Harry Potter series I’m doing now as an adult. I’m reading these books for the first time in well over a decade and trying to think of them critically and judge each book on its own merits. So far Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has aged the worst on re-read.
I never loved GOF as much as I have some of the other books but I always appreciated it for having far less Quidditch, a decent amount of Sirius, and the Tri-Wizard Tournament. As an adult these aspects of the book absolutely still hold up and I did find other elements to appreciate as well like Dumbledore’s speech at the end about Cedric and how he died. I am glad Dumbledore didn’t try to soften the details of what happened or pretend it didn’t happen. It would’ve been disrespectful to Cedric and also to the students.. they deserve to know what’s happening and what is likely about to happen within the Wizarding world.
To that point this book does a lot of foreshadowing and set up for things that will be paid off in the final three books. You don’t really think much of it as a kid (or at least I didn’t), but it’s really fascinating to see Rowling acknowledge that this is the midpoint of her series. A lot of questions are answered and the groundwork is laid for the final few chapters of the Harry Potter saga.
Unfortunately that’s where my praise of this book ends. I did find it to be overly long. Don’t get me wrong I love a big thick book but there were large sections of this book that felt like they didn’t really matter and we’re just there to pad out the book and kill time until the next major development. Like did we really need so many moments with Rita Skeeter and her articles? After the first couple we could kind of understand what was going on with her.
Also Ron being annoyed with Harry after he became a champion didn’t really make sense to me. He should know his best friend wouldn’t try to enter into an extremely dangerous competition and especially wouldn’t keep his efforts secret from his friends. Then the resolution of the feud was lackluster as well. What was all that for other than needing some sort of tension for Harry?
But none of that compares to how poorly the storyline with Hermione and the House Elves has aged. All Hermione wanted to do was help them get rights and freedoms and every single character (with the exception of Harry) made her out to be insane for this and trying to gaslight her into thinking the House Elves loved being enslaved. (The elves did later balk at the idea of rights and freedoms and this was presented as justification for why Hermione was wrong, but if all the house elves had known was that way of life then of course they’re not all going to jump at the chance to make things better. They don’t know that things could be better. That’s all they’ve ever known).
In the end this is still a good book but some of the issues with the plots and the pacing keep it from being a fantastic book.