My favourite out of the seven. I think it's got something to do with Cedric being there. =D ( )

The Harry Potter series is definitely growing on me (and no, that's not a pun regarding the increasing page count). ( )

 Estes, Sally. August 2000. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Review. Booklist online: http://www.booklistonline.com.proxy.g...

A friend told me this was her favorite of the Harry Potter Series, I have to agree so far! I loved the way the questions from previous books were answered, loved the background - loved it! I have seen the movies but the books, as the cliche goes are so much better! I'm starting the next one today! ( )

This is the four book in the series. This book is about Harry and the competition that he competes in this school year at Hogsworth. He has many advetnures and thrills throughout the school year.

This is my personal favorite in the series. It may not answer our questions, but it sets the stage for the last three novels.

This story moves from previous novels that were no more than a few hundred pages to a much longer novel. J.K. Rowling begins to take away the layers covering Harry, Ron, and Hermione and opens them to the true wizard world. The trio's problems begin early in the story at the Qudditch World Cup, and never end. They have to deal with a pesky reporter, Rita Skeeter, Hagrid's blast ended skrewts, and most importantly, Voldemort. Harry's troubles only get worse and worse. He is chosen for the Tri-wizard Tournament, without even entering. His best friend, Ron, doesn't believe him, and this makes Harry's life worse. Harry is completely blindsided going into the final days before the first competition, but Hagrid warns him of the coming event. Without this help, Harry could have died. Harry's interactions with the students from other schools that take part in the tournament are not as civil as they could be. This is a problem that will be addressed throughout this book, and the ones that follow. The story continues with two more challenges that end in a death. Harry's life is changed after seeing this death. Voldemort returns and Harry's story takes a turn. Instead of trying to stop Voldemort from returning, he needs to figure-out how to stop his return to power.

This is a great book and the series as a whole is even better. ( )

Joe A-This is a really good and long book. This book is filled with action and advnture. It takes awhile to read but is worth it. ( )

GOF is definitely one of the best all-around Potter books. Loved it. ( )

Reviewed by Nell (Class of 2010) ( )

Again, the problem of rating a single entry into a larger story arch. It was good, and great to see the wizarding world outside of Hogwarts. Also the beginning of the shift from children to adults for the trio. ( )

The one where Harry takes part in the Tri-wizard Tournament. The one where hormones start flying. The one where Voldemort grows ever stronger. The one where J K Rowling decided everyone needed more door-stops...

I want it said right from the beginning of this review that I adore the Harry Potter series in its entirety, but I do feel that some books are stronger than others. And this is one of the weakest in the series in my opinion.

For some reason, Rowling decided that she could no longer write her story in a few hundred pages - instead, we're presented with a positive brick of a book that stretches on for many hundreds more than I felt it should be. If all of the book had been written with the tight plotting and efficient writing of the Prisoner of Azkaban, I would have been immensely happy. However, there are long periods of "filler" and subplots that seem to go nowhere.

I couldn't believe that the whole section concerning the Quidditch World cup took a couple of hundred pages to go through. There were a lot of "and then...." teenage-diary moments. "And then Harry and Ron went upstairs. And then they went to sleep. And then they were woken up. And then they walked up the hill to the Portkey. And then they found their place in the campsite". A lot of this details could have been glossed over and shown to us through better writing.

It took another hundred or so before the Tri-wizard Tournament was introduced! I know that Rowling was building in certain events that were only revealed in their importance later on, but none of it was done in the same accomplished manner she achieved in the previous novel.

We were also subjected to two of her most common flaws. The first of these is introducing new items into the wizarding world to suit where the plot is going - here we had two new wizarding schools in the form of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, Portkeys and Veritaserum. I just felt that, if I had been in Harry's position, either I would have asked whether Hogwarts was the only wizarding school or Hermione would have volunteered the information at an earlier stage. But Rowling needed to have other competitors for the Tournament, and so into the book they came. Portkeys were introduced at the beginning of the book so that Harry could be whisked away using one of them at the end. It is disappointing to see an author with such a high profile use such a lazy method.

Her second massive flaw is giant dialogue-heavy sections where she, again, tells rather than shows. Here we have three! Firstly, Rowling uses Sirius to info-dump heavily about Voldemort and his Death Eaters (another phrase that we have never heard before this book). Then she "introduces" the Pensieve (although I am more forgiving of this since they do not seem very common in the world of wizards) to info-dump about the trials of the Death Eaters and shows the fate of Barty Crouch's son. And finally we have a long dialogue section with Barty Crouch Jr where he is under the influence of Veritaserum (mentioned as a throwaway line by Snape so that it can be used later in the book!) and explains his actions over the course of the novel. This, again, is incredibly lazy and leads to sections of information overload.

As I have said, I feel that the novel could have been shorter and snappier. We could easily have lost the whole Liberation of the House Elfs subplot involving Hermione - it didn't really progress at all. The lessons describing the Blast-Ended Skrewts were tiresome and boring - something I never expected from sequences with Hagrid. Although I could see the use of Rita Skeeter and the newspapers imparting stories, I felt too much page space was given to her.

This review is starting to sound rather scathing, but I genuinely liked the book other than those issues I have raised above. There is the usual charm and warmth you gain from reading a Harry Potter book. Seeing the pupils from the different schools and the wizards at the Quidditch World Cup added a new depth to the world.

The end play with Voldemort was thrilling and extremely dark. I loved the tasks in the Tri-Wizard tournament.

I felt that Dumbledore really grew as a character in this book - I especially appreciated the lines where Dumbledore explodes into Moody's office and Harry can finally see why he is the only wizard that Voldemort fears. He is stern and immensely powerful - this is very strong writing. I felt that Snape also gained valuable "screentime" and the start of his ambiguous relationship with both sides of the wizarding battle is explored.

There were moments of comic delight in the book - principally because of the increasing hormones evident in Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione are the main source of this, and it is a delight to see that their bickering is starting to reveal true feelings.

To sum up - the Harry Potter series is a tour de force and a marvel to read, but sometimes you have to slog a little, and this book is one of the slogs. Moments of brilliance as usual, but some rather laboured writing and wouldn't have suffered from being a couple of hundred pages shorter. ( )

This was my favorite Potter book up to this point. It started off a bit slow but as the story line progresses and gets a bit darker, it's starting to appeal to my tastes a bit more. This was also the first book that I felt deviated enough from the movie that there truly was a good reason to read this book and not just rely on the movie. Great book and really progresses the Harry Potter story line along. Looking forward to book 5. ( )

OT: Harry Potter and the Golbet of Fire ( )

awesome ( )

Hi I’m Harry Potter, and do you go to Hogwarts? Well if you do you do you probably know that I was chosen to be the 4th triwizard (I know it sort of makes no sense but who cares. I have to be at least 17 to be in it.)! Well then I’ll be swimming to the bottom of the lake and eating disgusting gillyweed t(to breath underwater ) in order to save my friends from evil mermaids but if you’re anxious to know who put my name in the goblet of fire (Was it a death eater? Somebody imperiused?) and who dies read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. ( )

This book is about Harry and him finding out who sold his parents to Lord Voldemort.

I liked this piece becuase it has a lot of action, and a really liked how J.K. Rowling discrbed the characters. I could imagine them in my head. ( )

The fourth book in the series, it is twice as many pages as the previous book. Harry's skill as a magician is growing. The illusion of this universe are captivating. It is as compelling a read as her previous books. Like the previous books, it has dark themes that confront power and death and include first bitter sweet ending in the series. It won't be the last. ( )

Just as we thought she was getting it, Rowling goes and blunders in to teenage life with her eyes wide shut. Her pathetic attempts to communicate adolescence are a great deal funnier than her boring and mindless jokes. The story itself fails to impress and Rowling has clearly been stealing from other books... AGAIN. ( )

Pre09:

Where the series takes a turn for the adult.

Characters: Again, unforgettable. Most of all, Voldy becomes a real person and is solidly written.
Plot: Too much fun. Wizardry tournament? Of course!
Style: Even more epic than before. ( )

Enjoyable, though a little too teeny-poppy with all that Cho love. ( )

Probably my favorite of the series. ( )

Harry Potter is no longer a child but rather a raging teenager. He is pushed from child to adult within a simple year. His friendship with Ron goes through its rough times during this book and he also develops a crush on Cho Chang. You learn more about the boy within in this book. ( )

Sublime!: Listening to Jim Dale's narration of the Quidditch World Cup makes it all come to life, better than in the film. He is almost without peer. I can't imagine anyone else doing it. The conclusion of the book is effectively emotional and it all complements reading the book itself. Bravo!

The Harry Potter series is one of my favorite series of books ever!!! The Characters are so amazing and the story lines never get dry. These are the types of books you can read again and again and they never get old. ( )

SPOILER ALERT: This is by far my most favorite Harry Potter book of all. Just another year at Hogwarts, until the announcement that there will be no quidditch. Instead, Two schools will compete with Hogwarts in the Triwizard tournament. Harry is too young to participate, but he doesn't let it get to him too much. Three wizards, one from each school, will be chosen to compete. Lo and behold, the goblet of fire, which chooses the competing wizards, chooses four names, two from Hogwarts school, one of those two being Harry Potter. Furious, the school officials and professors accuse Harry of sneaking his own name into the goblet, but Harry denies it. However, it is clear that he has has to compete, despite being underage, even though others have died in the tournament before. First up, fighting dragons. Hagrid tips off Harry about the dragons beforehand, even though it's supposed to be a surprise on the day of the event. Harry, on bad terms with Cedric Diggory, the second Hogwarts student in the competition, wants to put their problems aside so he warns Diggory about the dragons. Fortunately, fighting dragons is no problem if you're Harry. The goal is to steal the golden egg nestled with real dragon eggs, and Harry makes it look easy and wins the event.

The egg holds a clue to the next event, but when the egg is opened, it emits a high pitched scream, no help. Diggory is the first to crack the code by dropping the egg in water. Because Harry helped out Diggory, Diggory tells Harry water is the key to the egg's secret. Harry puts the egg in water and hears a beautiful song, telling him the next event will concern underwater creatures. That doesn't help Harry much, since he doesn't have scuba gear. However, in comes Dobby, the mischievous house elf, with a solution: Gillyweed, which will help Harry breathe under water. The day of the competition, The competitors are told their closest companions are trapped under water and they have to rescue them. Harry ends up rescuing three of the four trapped persons, and winning the second event.

The third event, not connected as the first two were, is a hedgemaze. Not an ordinary hedgemaze, of course, full of monsters and danger including a sphynx with a riddle that Harry solves. As he and Cedric reach the trophy in the middle of the maze at the same time, they agree to a tie and to share the title of triwizard champion. Unfortunately, Voldemort's followers turned the trophy into a portkey that transports Harry and Cedric to Voldemort's hideout. Voldemort (the dark lord and evil genius) proceeds to taunt Harry because he is growing stronger and more powerful. Voldemort kills Cedric and the wands of Harry and Voldemort react in a rare way. Instead of the spell of one wand overpowering the other, they cancel each other out as equals. They walk away and no one else is hurt. Harry is transported back to Hogwarts with Cedric's corpse, and no one believes Harry's story of what happened. Some even hint that Harry could be to blame for Cedric's death. One thing is certain: the fight between Voldemort and Harry is far from over. That is just the action, I didn't even mention all of the other stuff packed in this novel. A thrilling read for everyone. ( )