Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire

Hello everyone! It's Shani here today, finally back after the nightmare known as A Level exams. The last few months it's been difficult for my colleagues and I to read because our time was mostly taken up by revision and preparing for our final exams, but it's officially summer now and that means plenty of time for reading!

I decided that before I go to University (if I'm lucky enough to get in) that I wanted to reread the last few Harry Potter books. I've been listening to the first three (Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, and Prisoner of Azkaban) whilst I was revising - audio books were the only thing keeping me going during exam season - so I decided to read the last four books over the next week. I finished the Goblet of Fire yesterday and I knew that I wanted to review it immediately.

Author: J.K. Rowling
Published: 8th July 2000
Publisher: Children's Bloomsbury
Length: 636 pages
My Rating: 5/5

It's been about four years since I properly sat down and read The Goblet of Fire, and I must say it resonated with me just as much as the last time I read the novel. Harry Potter, a fourteen year old wizard who attends the magical school of Hogwarts for Witchcraft and Wizardry, is about to face his biggest challenge yet when he is chosen to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. What strikes me most about this book is Rowling's ability to introduce more adult themes in the novel, and how her writing seems to evolve as Harry grows up. The Goblet of Fire has a more serious tone and themes such as death, torture, and manipulation are discussed in great detail. That's one of the main things I've always adored about the series. The reading age seems to change as Harry ages making the last few books more complex and adult.

Rowling's characters of Harry, Ron, and Hermione also shift in this novel. The reader is shown a more vulnerable side to Harry, and the relationship between the three friends is tested multiple times during the narrative. Rowling portrays a realistic friendship between the trio, they bicker a good deal of the time, but they always manage to sort out their differences and rally together when they need to. I liked this aspect of the novel because I felt that the reader could connect to the characters more as Rowling explored their flaws in more depth then she has previously done, thus strengthening the trio's friendship even more as they come to accept each other's quirks and flaws.
The writing, as usual, was exquisite and captivating. Rowling has a certain flow in her writing, her language is never too complex but it isn't simplistic either, and her vast vocabulary of magical spells and enchantments always leaves the reader intrigued and excited.

As a reader, I've always been enticed by the 'tragic hero' such as Hamlet and Macbeth, and Rowling seems to mold Harry into this category in this particular part of the series, though he isn't entirely a tragic hero for he doesn't have a 'fatal flaw' he seems to suffer like one. Throughout the entire book the reader feels a sense of catharsis for Harry, we are aware that Lord Voldemort (spoiler if you haven't read the book) is coming after Harry and the reader cannot help but fear the inevitable moment when Harry is forced to face the Dark Lord. This sense of pathos which the reader cannot help but feel throughout the novel, as Rowling increases the tension through Harry's various tasks in the Triwizard Tournament and the fact that his scar burns on multiple occasions, comes to a breaking point in Chapter Thirty-Two Flesh, Blood and Bone where Harry and Cedric Diggory come face to face with the Dark Lord, and Cedric (once again a spoiler if you haven't read the novel) is murdered. I felt that whilst Rowling had dark themes in the previous novels and throughout The Goblet of Fire, this particular chapter shifts the entirety of the series. Not only is Harry, a fourteen year old boy, forced to witness the death of a friend but young readers are forced to read the death of a beloved character. Cedric Diggory was an innocent student and he was senselessly murdered for no reason at all. This sudden shift in the novel not only has a detrimental effect on the readers but on Harry as well, who is traumatised and exhausted by the end of the novel.

The Goblet of Fire has always been one of my favourite books in the Harry Potter series not only because it paves the way for darker themes and more round characters, but Rowling's dialogue is more humorous and witty in this novel, especially from Harry who's sarcasm seems to know no bounds. This new, refreshing dialogue reflects once again how Harry is growing up and therefore his language is changing. I also loved the characters of George and Fred Weaseley who never fail to make me laugh. The only issue I had with the novel was the irritating character of Rita Skeeter, and that's simply because she is meant to be a frustrating character for the reader anyway. Other than that, the pacing, the narrative, and the characters were all spot on and I know that I will be reading Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire again and again in the coming years.