"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" by J.K. Rowling

            The following is a review of the novel “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling.  It is NOT a review of the film adaptation.

            Hey guys, this is From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! I’m Tim Cubbin, and I’ll be writing a review about “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling, which I already said I’d be doing, but still, had to put it in context!

            Honestly, I’ve been overworked today, what with spending five hours in and out of the office writing a review of “Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters” that I just don’t feel up to my usual snarkiness, so I’m doing the review with only a little of my personality, plus, you don’t want to read about me, you want to read about Harry Potter, so I’ll skip ahead to the task at hand, and if you want to read me at my best, totally read my review of “Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters,” but for now, Harry.

            I’ve written dozens of reviews, including the first three Harry Potter books (“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”), so please feel free to read those as well, and you can also expect to see reviews of the other Harry Potter books as well in the near future. I often try to keep a similar template to my reviews so everything gels together, so here’s what we’re going to do: I’m going to finish my introduction monologue (which I actually hate writing, believe it or not, even though every one of my reviews has one), then I’m going to talk about the major characters, giving a little description of each of them. Following that, I’m going to give you the synopsis of the book, the story, with as few spoilers a possible (if any). Then I’ll give a critique of the book, my thoughts and opinions, what I liked, what I disliked, things like that. Then I’ll give the book a numeric score (more on that when we get there). Following that, I’ll tell you if I recommend the book and to whom in particular. Then I’ll give a closing monologue (hate those too), telling you what else is on this blog, then you’re free to go… that is if you haven’t bailed out on me by then (and I will say to you those of you who read all of my post, you are THE BEST!).

            Right, then, let’s hop to it! Our major characters:

            Harry Potter: He was orphaned as a baby, surviving an attack from the most powerful dark wizard of the time. He lived with his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley Dursley until he turned eleven and learned he was a wizard and went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to study magic and find his place in the magic community. He is now in his fourth year at Hogwarts. He has been sorted into Gryffindor House.

            Ronald Weasley: Harry’s best friend, also a Gryffindor. He comes from a family of wizards, with five older brothers and a younger sister, all of whom have attended Hogwarts. His family is extremely poor and Ron gets most of his belongings secondhanded. He is also in his fourth year at Hogwarts.

            Hermione Granger: Harry’s and Ron’s friend. Also a Gryffindor. She comes from a family of no magical background, but is the smartest witch in their fourth year.

            Draco Malfoy: Harry’s worst enemy at school, does everything he can to be mean to Harry, Ron and Hermione. Fourth year Slytherin.

            Arthur and Molly Weasley: Ron’s parents, very fond of Harry.

            Cedric Diggory: Seventh year Hufflepuff, smart, popular, and good looking, the whole package.

            Cho Chang: Fifth year Ravenclaw, Harry’s crush.

            Fred and George Weasley: Ron’s troublemaking twin older brothers, both sixth year Gryffindors, trying to set up joke products.

            Neville Longbottom: Also a fourth year Gryffindor, very forgetful and not very good at Potion-making but excels in Herbology.

            Parvati Patil and Padma Patil: Fourth year twins, Gryffindor and Ravenclaws respectively.

            Albus Dumbledore: Hogwarts headmaster.

            Severus Snape: Hogwarts Potions professor, hates Harry.

            Minerva McGonagall: Hogwarts Transfiguration professor.

            Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody: Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, former Auror and paranoid.

            Sybil Trelawney: Hogwarts Divinations professor.

            Rubeus Hagrid: Hogwarts Care of Magical Creatures professor, friend of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

            Poppy Pomfrey: Hogwarts nurse.

            Fleur Delacour: Beauxbatons student, Ron’s crush.

            Olympe Maxime: Beauxbatons headmistress.

            Viktor Krum: Durmstrang student and Quidditch star.

            Igor Karkaroff: Durmstrang headmaster.

            Ludo Bagman: Head of Magical Games and Sports at the Ministry of Magic.

            Bartemius “Barty” Crouch: Head of International Magical Cooperation at the Ministry of Magic, boss of Ron’s older brother Percy, stickler to the rules.

            Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the wizard newspaper The Daily Prophet, Hermione’s nemesis.

            Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort: The most powerful Dark Wizard of all time, lost his powers and body after failing to kill Harry as a baby.

            Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail: Voldemort’s servant.

            Dobby: House elf at Hogwarts, disliked by other Hogwarts house elves for being paid.

            Winky: House elf to the Crouch family.

            Okay, I think that’s everyone important, forgive me if I forgot any. Now, time for the synopsis: Harry, Ron and Hermione get ready to return to Hogwarts for their fourth year. Harry, the Weasley family and Hermione attend the Quidditch World Cup. While there, Lord Voldemort’s followers the Death Eaters attack, and Voldemort’s Dark Mark appears in the sky. Winky the house elf is found with Harry’s wand and is disowned. Hogwarts has been selected to host the Triwizard Tournament, a competition between the magical schools Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Each school is to have one champion. Entrants must be seventeen and must put their names into the Goblet of Fire. Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour, and Viktor Krum are selected, but Harry’s name also comes out of the Goblet of Fire. There are mixed reactions among the students and heads of schools, but being selected by the Goblet of Fire is a binding magical contract, and Harry must compete. The Triwizard Tournament consists of Three Tasks that will occur over the course of the school year. The paranoid ex-Auror Mad-Eye Moody is hired as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and his methods are unorthodox to say the least, dangerous to say the most. Journalist Rita Skeeter villainizes Harry in the papers, including Hermione in the smear campaign against Harry. Harry must deal with dragons, merpeople, and a hedge maze, as well as find a date for the Yule Ball. Harry also comes face-to-face with a revitalized Lord Voldemort.

            Okay, now for my own personal thoughts. “Goblet of Fire” is actually my second favorite “Harry Potter” book (we haven’t reached my favorite yet) as so much happens and I felt it was where Rowling really found herself in the series for the first time. The book is over 700 pages (each book had seemed to be longer and longer page wise, and people were almost expecting the last book to be over 1,000 pages, which actually never happened), and yet it didn’t feel long to me. I didn’t feel like it dragged on. However the Blast-Ended Skrewts did detract a little from the story and maybe twenty pages could have been shaved off due to it. I enjoyed Harry and Ron’s fudging Divinations homework of misfortunes and ill fates that pleased Professor Trelawney, and yes, upon gazing upon space there was a Uranus joke (which are pretty much often funny, and in this case I laughed, I know, so immature). The riddle of the Sphynx in the hedge maze was, in my opinion, brilliant. And I felt the frequencies of humor was appreciated, and yet the seriousness took dominance. I’ve always liked fantasy books, and I was ten when “Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone” came out, so I literally grew up with Harry, and in school, if you didn’t read “Harry Potter” you weren’t cool. I’ve read this book at least fifteen times, but find I often return to the series for certain reasons, and I never get bored with it.

            Okay, now we’re up to my numeric score. I score my reviews on a scale of one to ten. One means throw it in the garbage after the first chapter, ten means keep it in a place of honor. You can probably guess I’m giving this book a good score, and yes, I always know where my “Harry Potter” books are at all times (they’re in a nook in my office). So, all said and done, I score it at an eight. I truly loved the book, but the skrewts were a bit much and there were a few other very little points that didn’t gel with me, but these were relatively minor.

            I’m sure right now you’re expecting my recommendation, which I do thoroughly give. As far as fantasy books go, I feel these rank very high up. And for those of you who think Harry Potter is just for kids, I can’t change your mind, and I even didn’t read all of them until I was in college and had friends I talked to about it. My college actually played new movies on Saturday nights that were just out of theaters but not on DVD, and when they aired “Order of the Phoenix” the room was packed tighter than a can of sardines (I know, I’m old, but I had to come up with something appropriate and that’s what instantly sprang to mind, I heard it as a kid). I think Rowling wrote high quality work when she wrote “Harry Potter.” I only hope when my books get published I could find a tenth of her success. Of course, if you’re going to read this book, don’t start here, read the whole series or you will be totally lost as they continue directly into each other (and don’t think you can cheat by watching only the first three films before reading this book because so much was cut from the movies and references were not all parallel to the books).

            So I think I’ve gone on for long enough. I’ll just tell you I have plenty of content on this blog. I live and breathe Marvel, so I review a lot of Marvel books, but I do reviews of other books, as well as writing short nonfiction, poetry, essays, and editorials, so feel free to check out more of my posts. I’m actually posting two posts about Marvel’s “Civil War II” tomorrow and this has been my second post today. I am highly active, so expect plenty more from me. And until next time (I hope you’ll be with me for a next time, and if you do, you are THE BEST!), Tim Cubbin… out!