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A review by stilestastic
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
5.0
[5 stars]
“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
This book took me longer to finish than I thought it would, but I blame college for that. It had been such a long time since I had read this book that I had nearly forgotten about all of the tiny details! I've seen the movie dozens of times, but it truly does not do it justice. So much more happens in the book and all of it fleshes out the characters or the worldbuilding more.
Though I'll admit that the beginning is a bit slow (to me, the Quidditch World Cup dragged on forever), the rest of it was extremely exciting. I loved each of the tasks and I related to Harry's habit of procrastination. It's funny to think about how Barty Crouch Jr.'s plans were almost foiled by Harry waiting until the last minute to prepare for the tasks every single time. We love that for him.
I also think the Champions were much more fleshed-out than in the movie. Cedric doesn't even have his first real line until nearly fifty minutes into the movie despite having been in loads of scenes before that, and Fleur's first line is when she thanks Harry for rescuing her sister after the second task. They actually had personalities instead of being silent all the time.
And Cedric. Cedric!!! I'm furious that the movies didn't include the fact that, in PoA, Cedric caught the Snitch but didn't realize Harry had fallen off of his broom, so he wanted a rematch. He was such a kind and pure soul, so I think his death was way more impactful in the book. Especially because he definitely would have made it to the Cup first, but he insisted on grabbing it with Harry because he'd saved him from Krum. (Not the stupid scene in the movie where Cedric was getting attacked by vines and Harry looked between him and the Cup like four times before deciding to save him – that's against Harry's characterization and it should have been an immediate save with no questions asked.)
Another thing that was left out of the movies: Rita Skeeter's secret. The fact that she was using her illegal Animagus status to spy on people was a HUGE part of the book and her character. The films completely glossed over that!!
"Yeah, you can have a word," said Harry savagely. "Goodbye!”
I'm making an ongoing "Snape Sucks" count across all of the books and I finished this one with #30 already. Thirty instances of Snape being a jerk in just four books– though I'm sure there could be more because I may have missed some. Honestly, I think the quote from Sirius at the top says a lot. Snape respected Dumbledore, who was above him, and was relatively civil toward his fellow Hogwarts staff (for the most part). However, when it came to people like Neville, who was younger than him, not in a position of power, and an outcast, he was downright cruel and constantly bullied him. There's the tea.
I'm already a quarter of the way into OOoTP and I'm so excited. From what I remember, Harry's sass was off the CHARTS.
“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
This book took me longer to finish than I thought it would, but I blame college for that. It had been such a long time since I had read this book that I had nearly forgotten about all of the tiny details! I've seen the movie dozens of times, but it truly does not do it justice. So much more happens in the book and all of it fleshes out the characters or the worldbuilding more.
Though I'll admit that the beginning is a bit slow (to me, the Quidditch World Cup dragged on forever), the rest of it was extremely exciting. I loved each of the tasks and I related to Harry's habit of procrastination. It's funny to think about how Barty Crouch Jr.'s plans were almost foiled by Harry waiting until the last minute to prepare for the tasks every single time. We love that for him.
I also think the Champions were much more fleshed-out than in the movie. Cedric doesn't even have his first real line until nearly fifty minutes into the movie despite having been in loads of scenes before that, and Fleur's first line is when she thanks Harry for rescuing her sister after the second task. They actually had personalities instead of being silent all the time.
And Cedric. Cedric!!! I'm furious that the movies didn't include the fact that, in PoA, Cedric caught the Snitch but didn't realize Harry had fallen off of his broom, so he wanted a rematch. He was such a kind and pure soul, so I think his death was way more impactful in the book. Especially because he definitely would have made it to the Cup first, but he insisted on grabbing it with Harry because he'd saved him from Krum. (Not the stupid scene in the movie where Cedric was getting attacked by vines and Harry looked between him and the Cup like four times before deciding to save him – that's against Harry's characterization and it should have been an immediate save with no questions asked.)
Another thing that was left out of the movies: Rita Skeeter's secret. The fact that she was using her illegal Animagus status to spy on people was a HUGE part of the book and her character. The films completely glossed over that!!
"Yeah, you can have a word," said Harry savagely. "Goodbye!”
I'm making an ongoing "Snape Sucks" count across all of the books and I finished this one with #30 already. Thirty instances of Snape being a jerk in just four books– though I'm sure there could be more because I may have missed some. Honestly, I think the quote from Sirius at the top says a lot. Snape respected Dumbledore, who was above him, and was relatively civil toward his fellow Hogwarts staff (for the most part). However, when it came to people like Neville, who was younger than him, not in a position of power, and an outcast, he was downright cruel and constantly bullied him. There's the tea.
I'm already a quarter of the way into OOoTP and I'm so excited. From what I remember, Harry's sass was off the CHARTS.