HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE: BOOK REVIEW
The review of the fourth book of Harry Potter is divided in to several parts as below:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire : Book Review
The book is thrilling and amazingly mind catching. J.K. Rowling has made the introduction so frightening that you cannot wait to see how it turns out in the end. I read this book rather gradually because it had a lot of details in it. The Tri-wizard tournament added in a lot interest and different characters too. I liked the fact that a lot of new characters were seen in the book and the major attention was diverted from only the three best friends (Harry, Hermione and Ron).
The plot has been spun around wonderfully. It is like you don’t know how to stop once you have gone through the first page. Moreover, the major happenings or incidents in Hogwarts, made the book even more exciting. Harry and Ron dispute over Harry’s name being selected for the tournament, even when he was under age. He blames Harry that he is looking for attention and the both get into a fight. You get really frustrated when they fight though because you just want them to be together. Even though the fight gets resolved, the way the plot has been set, leaves you in love with it.
Hermione is always helping others and how she decides to dig into Rita as she is managing to get all the private information about people’s lives. Furthermore, Hermione is such an admiration or more of an inspiration as her enthusiasm for helping others is growing through every installment of the book. And while I go through it, I look up to her and wonder how someone can be that helpful and amazing as she is. This might sound weird but it is true.
The entire book is weaving around the tournament and just think if it wasn’t a part of the book, what would have been in this series? Well, nothing! The book has been written incredibly well and you love every moment through it.
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire : Summary
This installment opens up with an immense thrill as the book starts with a series of murders. Fifty years back, the town of Hangleton was badly shaken with the murder of the Riddle family; a man, a woman and a son. No one is able to find the person or reason behind the murder, but the village is sure that the Riddle’s gardener, Frank Bryce is behind it. Frank Bryce has stayed as a caretaker for a former house of the Riddle’s family, he sneaks into the riddle house one night to investigate. As he enters the house, he sees a wizard and a thing. The wizard is a worm tail. The “thing” orders the wizard (worm tail) to murder Frank Bryce.
200 miles away, Harry wakes up from the nightmare. He has seen the entire scene in his dream and that thing, sitting in the chair, ordering to murder Frank, must have been his enemy, Lord Voldemort. Harry shakes away the idea as the Dark Lord is referred to as a spirit, who has no body. This marks for the darkest and most interesting opening for the book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. And yes, you definitely rush through the pages after this to see what happens next. J.K. Rowling has woven the beginning in a thrilling manner.
The dream and the pain that Harry feels in his scar, is a great identification that Lord Voldemort is coming back to power. He is unable to decide what to do about all of this, so he decided to write to Sirius Black (his godfather). Harry Potter stays with the Muggle relatives over his summer vacations but Ron Weasley rescues him and takes him away to the Quidditch World Cup. At the world cup, Harry, Ron and Hermione enjoy themselves to the fullest, but as they are having the time of their life, something awful happens. The supporters of Voldemort, do a public prank at the night of the game.
The real mayhem breaks down when a Dark Mark is seen being weaved into the sky which is a famous symbol of Voldemort. The Ministry of Magic is able to catch the elf, Winky, who casts the Dark Mark with his wand in the sky. The matters get worse when the ministry of magic see that the wand belongs to Harry. Harry dropped his wand in the mayhem when the death eaters arrived at the game. The elf belongs to one of the most strict and upright member of the ministry of magic, Mr. Crouch. Even when it is quite visible that Winky could not cast the dark mark in the sky on his own, Mr. Crouch, still dismisses the house-elf from the household.
Harry, Ron and Hermione then meet up at Hogwarts, all ready for another year of witchcraft and wizardry. This is when they find out that Winky is living in the castle kitchens of the school. Hermione feels that the house elves are slaves of the wizarding families that they serve. This is when Hermione decides to become active in rescuing the house elves. For this purpose, Hermione makes a Society for the Protection of Elvish Welfare and makes Ron and Harry join her. Everyone tells Hermione that the elves are happy to serve them and are glad to be acting servants for the wizards of Hogwarts. They further tell her to not force her help on people who are not in search of it.
Beside Hermione eagerly participating in the campaign she created and being all-enthusiastic, three very major things also happen at Hogwarts through the school year. The first happening is that the Defense against the Dark Art teacher is appointed again. This time, the teacher is one Alastor, Mad Eye Moody. He is a committed Dark wizard fighter and was extremely indulged in teaching Harry the most of what he could. He taught him with extreme enthusiasm. Harry eventually starts liking the professor and trusts him too.
The second thing is the Tri-wizard Tournament. It is a major competition, which is held amongst three, European wizarding schools of Hogwarts. Each of these schools is allowed to send in one champion from their side to enter the competition. The names of these champions will be selected automatically by the Goblet of Fire. The rules say that anyone under seventeen is not allowed to be a part of the competition. This turns the tables for Harry, Ron and Hermione as they are under 17. But are they the rules followers?
The three champions are announced on the Halloween eve. Victor Krum is selected from Durmstrang, who is an amazing Quidditch player and played for the World Cup final too. Secondly, Fleur Delacour is selected from Beauxbatons who is a stunning girl but an incredible player as well. For Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory is selected as the representative who is an extremely loyal and remarkable player. Then out of nowhere, Harry Potter is selected as the fourth champion. Everybody is shocked as Harry is too young and the question of who put his name in the Goblet of Fire becomes a huge mystery, but following the rules, Harry has to play for the tournament. This incident creates a weird environment around Harry as everyone (including Ron) thinks that he put his name in the Goblet of Fire because he is looking for more fame and attention. This stresses Harry a lot.
Harry is already quite stressed up but then the third major thing happens which stresses him up even more. The reporter of Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter, publishes a manipulative article about Harry in regard of the Tri-wizard Tournament. In the article, she claims that Harry still cries when he remembers the death of his parents. Harry is not only furious and frustrated but gets embarrassed by his feeling being published out in an article. However, not even this article is able to turn Harry down from the Tri-wizard Tournament. The game begins and Harry successfully gets done with the first circle of task. He also makes up with Ron, which relaxes Harry a lot.
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Even when Harry is back with Ron, the stress level does not decrease by a lot. The Tri-wizard tournament has a tradition and that is the Yule Ball during the winter holidays. For this ball, Harry has to ask a girl to go out with her. So he asks Cho Chang, whom he has a huge crush on. Unfortunately, she is already going to the ball with Cedric Diggory. He asks Fleur then but she is not interested and Hermione is all taken for the ball by Victor Krum. The couple of Hermione and Victor frustrate Ron a lot but he shakes it off and is least bothered to wonder why he is feeling that way. With almost everyone being taken, Ron and Harry get the twins as their ball date, Padma and Parvati Patil. Harry and Ron aren’t really happy about their dates but they go for them anyway. The ball night ends with a furious fight between Hermione and Ron regarding Victor Krum. Even though the two settle down the issue and make up, the tension amongst them remains.
Rita Skeeter continues the stressing articles as she posts another, which exploits Hagrid by saying that he is a half-giant. This becomes a huge great deal in Hogwarts and Hagrid almost quits his job due to this article. However, the trio of the best friends convinces him to not leave his job. But Hermione decides to find out what Rita Skeeter is up to and how she is finding all the private information about everyone.
Meanwhile, Harry is going on with the Tri-wizard Tournament too. He and Cedric get close and share tips for the tasks. With Dobby and Mad Eye Moody, Harry is tied in the first place with Cedric after the second task. The third task is said to take place on the 24th June. The task is this; Cedric and Harry will have to go through a giant maze and in the center of the maze, the cup lies. Whoever reaches the cup first, will eventually win. 24th June arrives and Cedric, Harry, Fleur and Victor start moving through the maze. Harry hears Fleur screaming but he assumes that she has lost and is out of the tournament. However, Harry hears Victor, casting a spell on Cedric Diggory, which is illegal and causes immense pain to the person who is on the other end of it. Harry helps Cedric by stunning Victor and he and Cedric continue their way to the maze. Harry is about to reach the cup when a giant spider bites him and he falls. Cedric offers help to Harry and says that he can have the cup as he had helped him earlier too. However, Harry wants to have the cup for himself and Cedric both. Thus the two decide that they will reach the cup together and hold it at one time.
The next thing that happens is quite shocking as the Tri-wizard cup magically transports both Cedric and Harry into a graveyard. Out of the bolt, Cedric is killed in front of Harry with the killing curse, Avada Kedavra. Worm tail and Voldemort (the thing) are present in the graveyard. This entire tournament was set up to bring Harry to the graveyard where Voldemort’s father Tom Riddle had been buried too. Worm tail puts together a potion with the help of Harry’s blood; Tom Riddle’s bone and his own hand to bring Voldemort back to his body. With the rise of Voldemort, his death eater arrives and a duel is set up between Harry and Voldemort, but something unexpected happens when Voldemort and Harry’s wands face each other. The spell casted by Voldemort is reversed and the ghosts of people that Voldemort had murdered start appearing; Cedric Diggory, Frank Bryce, Harry’s mother and father. Within the time that this shock could resolve, Harry runs off to Cedric where he is standing with the tournament cup and manages to jump back into the maze.
Harry is taken away from the maze by Moody, which makes him suspicious. He starts to realize that something is wrong with Moody. Furthermore, Moody tells him that he was the one who put Harry’s name in the Goblet of Fire and he helped him clear the three tasks so that Harry could reach the graveyard and his blood could transform Voldemort back to his body. Moody then raises his wand to kill Harry but Snape, Dumbledore and McGonagall arrive before he could do anything. As three of the professors watch Moody, he slowly transforms to his real form. He is Bartemius Crouch who was convicted thirteen years ago. He was bought out of his prison with the help of his father as his dying mother wanted to meet him. He was under house arrest and Winky was taking care of him. It was then clarified that how Winky managed to cast the Dark Mark at the Quidditch World Cup.
Harry gives his evidence telling Dumbledore that Voldemort has risen back to life. He also informs the Ministry of Magic who refuses to accept it and tells everyone to not publish it in the Daily Prophet too. There is no evidence to what Harry tells them therefore everyone decides to close the topic. Furthermore, Barty Crouch Jr is killed under the custody of Ministry. At the end of the school year, Dumbledore decides to open the case of Lord Voldemort to the students. A lot of students deny the story and don’t acknowledge the comeback of Voldemort at all.
As the three best friends are on their way to their homes, Hermione tells that she has found out how Rita got all the private information from. She is an Animagus, who can change into an animal. She has not registered herself to the ministry thus she is unlicensed. She turns into a beetle, which makes it as easy as a piece of cake for her to overhear conversations. Ron tells Harry that he can visit him whenever he wants to during the summer vacations and that ends the school year and the wonderful book too!
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: BOOK VS. MOVIE
Harry Potter Series is a remarkably written magical story, which is simply impossible to fit in to a 2.5 hour movie. The magic, the thrill and the excitement and each tiny detail cannot be included in it. The Goblet of Fire was a huge book so eventually the movie had a lot that was cut down in it. The funny parts and anything that was not necessary was simply not put into the movie plot. This means that a lot of fun was lost right away.
I found it really weird when in the movie the opening dream that Harry has about Voldemort and Worm Tail includes Barty Crouch JR as well. Barty was nowhere in the book. He had not escaped from the prison till then (when Harry had the dream in the book). Another frustration was that Pigwidgeon was omitted in the movie by all means. Any scenes related to him were eventually cut off. Percy Weasley is also omitted from the film completely.
Winky and Dobby are also omitted from the movie which cause on further cut downs from the movie. Even though I felt that Winky should have been mentioned in the movie. The SPEW campaign that Hermione starts for the elves were also omitted as Winky was not mentioned over all. The part in which Harry misplaces his wand due to the arrival of Death Eaters has also been omitted. (URGH)
I personally adored the new song that the Sorting Hat sings about the History of Hogwarts in the book but it was not in the movie. It was okay not having the song in the movie as so many characters were easily omitted from it. However, I think it would have added a fun element to the film.
The differences can definitely continue but I personally think that reading through the book is much better. All the characters that are gone missing in the movie, played a role in the entire plot somehow and that made the book a great journey.
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What Harry Potter Books are available to buy?
There are several ways you can have Harry Potter books in your collection. If you are a hardcore fan of Harry Potter like myself, then trust me, no matter how many versions you already have, they just aren’t enough.
One of the best ways is to have the Box Set Versions. There are some really good box sets out there, and we have made a complete list of all the Harry Potter Box Sets available along with links to buy on Amazon.
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Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw … Twenty years ago these magical words and many more flowed from a young writer’s pen, an orphan called Harry Potter was freed from the cupboard under the stairs – and a global phenomenon started.
Harry Potter has been read and loved by every new generation since. To mark the 20th anniversary of first publication, Bloomsbury has published four House Editions of J.K. Rowling’s modern classic. These stunning editions each feature the individual house crest on the jacket and line illustrations exclusive to that house, by Kate Greenaway Medal winner Levi Pinfold.
Exciting new extra content includes fact files and profiles of favourite characters, and each book has sprayed edges in the house colours. Available for a limited period only, these highly collectable editions are a must-have for all Harry Potter fans.
We have compiled a complete list of all the House Editions along with links to buy on amazon, you can check it out below:
Closing Remarks / Verdict
By far the most thrilling, adventurous & our all time favorites. Deserves nothing less than a 5 STAR rating. MUST READ! The Tri-Wizard Tournament takes Quidditch as well as the entire series to another level. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and can’t recommend enough.
PRODUCT DETAILS
Age Range: 9 – 12 years
Grade Level: 4 – 7
Lexile Measure: 880L (What’s this?)
Series: Harry Potter (Book 4)
Paperback: 752 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks (September 1, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0439139600
ISBN-13: 978-0439139601
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