May 03, 2005 01:25 PM
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(Updated May 03, 2005 01:25 PM)
Introduction
The biggest, the heaviest, the largest Harry Potter book is here. (In fact, Order of Pheonix has been long out, but I am pretending that it is still to be released to keep up the fun part.) The Goblet of fire is the fourth book in the series of Harry Potter, the whiz-wizardkid. For those of you who have not read a single book in the series, you can go to the the review of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone before this review.
Goblet Of Fire
Harry Potter is heading for his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. So whatz in store? The story takes a deviation from the routine and starts off in a rather spooky little Riddle House rather than the Dursley household as in the other three books of the series. And to boot, there is murder and future murder plot in the very first chapter. Who said this is kid stuff? The story then moves on to the usual Dursley's bashing and Harry scar(y) story.
Then Harry accepts a Weasley invitation which accelerates the story. Harry is in for a surprise, A Quidditch World Cup!! For all newbies Quidditch is a wizard game that resembles Rugby on brooms. Of course, JK Rowling would lead us to believe Quidditch is different. Anyhow so the World Cup looms large and so does Viktor Krumm - the bulgarian seeker, a superstar at a young age. If there is a World Cup, there are bound to be crowds from all countries, and thus for the first time we see witches and wizards from outside England swarming down for the World Cup. The description of the final between Ireland and Bulgaria is breath taking and would have done any sports journalist proud.
Then!! Where there are crowd, trouble is never far off. Especially, these days when the Dark Lord (Psst! read this in a whisper VOLDEMORT) is beginning to grow in power. A Dark Sign emerges at the closure of the World Cup leaving everyone in panic. Has the Dark Lord returned? Is he going to return? The wizarding world goes into the world of rumours. But Life must go on...
So Dumbledore tries to conduct state of affairs at Hogwarts with some precaution, but trying to avoid any mass changes so as to not create further panic. So the traditional Tri-Wizard Tournament is announced. Students from three Wizarding Schools participate in a set of breathtaking, hard, troublesome and sometimes fatal competitions. Each competition has a pointing system. The School whose Student scores the maximum point wins the tournament. Harry wants to win this tournament especially now that he has started having a crush on Cho!! But Mr. Harry has a problem, only students in the final year can participate and Harry is still another 3 years younger. What to do, what to do?
So the final day of selecting one candidate from each school comes. Thes selection process is very unique with a Goblet of Fire containing the names of prospective students and the Goblet selects a student from each school... So the candidates are Viktor Krum for Drumstrang School (Hermione is specifically happy on this one to raise a few eye brows), Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons School and Cedric Diggory of the Hogwarts.... and Harry Potter!! Did I tell that only last years can participate??
So let the competitions begin... soon the competition ends we have two losers, two winners and a dead competitor... Who all won? Who died? You would kill me if I let you on this one though I would give you a hint... Hint: There are at least three more Harry Potter books on the way.
Anyhow the book does not end there, we have some further evidence on Dark Lords return and an factionalism is beginning to set in amongst the witches... It is no longer the good side vs. the bad side.. There is more than that at stake now... Check out this fantastic book for all the answers.
Analysis of the book
With the prisoner of Azkaban itself the Harry Potter series starts to shed its tag of a Children's book and tries to grow into a series meant for all age groups. The Goblet of Fire finally takes out the tag totally. A very few children might be able to phantom the nuances of this book. So I consider it more of an adult novel or maybe mature novel whatever be the correct terminology to be used.
In this novel we see certain emotions coming over the characters for the first time. Harry and Hermione are showing more attraction to the opposite sex and of course it is not towards each other as many of us had thought after the first three books. Ron's character is for the first time showing shades of jealousy and staying in the shadows of Harry for close to 4 years now. I am typically intrigued by Ron's character and would following closely how it shapes - a laid back boy always compared with brothers' glory. To add to that now constantly in the center of all action, but only in the shadow of Harry.
Similarly, Hermione's character seems to be growing stronger day by day, though it was nice to see some romance enter the realms of study at long last. The other characters are also evolving with each page throughout this book. JK Rowling has done one heck of job with her characterizations.
Another interesting thing about the book is that now the plot is getting darker and murkier. There is more blood around and people are beginning to get killed. The dark lord is more involved in the plots now and the results are visible.
Also for the first time in the series, we see a Wizard World beyond the Wizard World of England. Also, I think Quidditch coverage has reached its peak with the World Cup and expect it to be absent from the future novels.
So if you look at the from a critics perspective, it is a very neatly written book, that is simple at times and complex at times, starts to evolve some emotions amongst the characters, is fast paced and has lots of actions, drama and magic around it.
About the author
JK Rowling was a relatively unknown name in the world of popular fiction till the advent of ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone''. Since then she has not taken a step back. With back to back releases and successes of ''Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets'' and ''Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban'', she scaled newer hieghts of successes. To add to the success of the book, the success of ''Harry Potter'' - The Business Commodity... with all the mechandize and stuff, catapulted her to super stardom.
Around this time, I was slightly perturbed as to how so much success would go down, but after reading ''Goblet of Fire'' and the ''Order of Pheonix'' I am relieved that it has actually matured her into a great writer.
After initial successes, usually writers loose their way for some time and then make a comeback. JK Rowling on the other hand seems to be relishing all the success and has moved on from a Children's writer to the next level of popular fiction. Her writings now increasingly involve complex relationship and an interplay of emotions which was missing from the intial couple of Harry Potter series.
As long as she keeps improving, I am not complaining... Kudos to JK Rowling.
The Verdict
After reading the review, the verdict might not be much of suspense. A high five for the great effort by JK Rowling.
Moral of the Story
Just because kids are the central characters of a novel, does not mean that the novel is a kids book.
PS: Taken from my review published at https://epinions.com/content_133016227460
