Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
No. 4 in the Harry Potter series
by J. K. Rowling
illustrated by Mary GrandPré
|
Arthur A. Levine Books, Scholastic: July 2000. Hardcover: 734 pages. ISBN-10: 0-439-13959-7 Suggested retail price: $25.95 (US) Award: 2001 Hugo Award Tags: boarding schools; Fantasy; made into movie; magic; wands; wizards; Young Adult; Youth Tactical strength: [7/10] |
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling provides an engaging continuation of her Harry Potter series. In this volume, the Ministry of Magic revives the Triwizard Tournament where one student from Hogwarts competes from students from Bulgaria and France. Somehow the Goblet of Fire, which chooses the school champions from the names submitted, chooses four students, two from Hogwarts, including Harry. Harry must prepare for the tournament's three life-threatening tasks while keeping up with his schoolwork, dealing with budding boy-girl relationships, and thwarting the forces of evil.
Rowling does many things well. She portrays Harry and his friends in a believable way. Harry acts like a fourteen-year-old boy: he has learned to ignore most of the taunts from his detractors but occasionally lets his emotions overtake his judgment. Rowling also masterfully strings your interest along. If she resolves a plot issue, she carefully weaves in new questions to keep you wondering what will happen next. In most cases, you cannot predict the outcome of any given event.
Rowling still falls back on some of her primary exposition tools from the first few books, but has managed to limit them. For example, she restricted herself to only two overheard conversations. In the first volume, it seemed that the kids couldn't ever deduce anything on their own and had to discover plot elements by overhearing someone in every chapter. She still has several expository lumps where a character tells a long narration in a single block. She also has some clunky dialogue with characters discussing issues that they would go unspoken, but the conversation takes place merely for the exposition. Her narrative bogged down around page 500. In fact, I think some judicious editing could have removed about 100 pages from the current version. (But perhaps all that superfluous material will come to play in later volumes.)
Scholastic has found another gravy train with Rowling, but Goblet of Fire has a much more mature story, including direct confrontation of evil, on-stage death of students, and numerous injuries, that I wonder how Scholastic can continue to market these books to the 9-12 year old market. The tone at the end of Goblet of Fire can only lead to several more dark novels. As I finished, Goblet of Fire I got the same feeling as I did from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. In both cases, the main characters have just had a major triumph, but overall foreshadows an even greater, and more threatening encounter in the near future.
I recommend the entire Harry Potter series to date, but also recommend that you start with volume one, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
