Saturday, May 3, 2014

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

First Line: “The villagers of Little Hangleton still called it ‘the Riddle House,’ even though it had been many years since the Riddle family had lived there.”

Romance: 0/5 – There may be instances of “crushes,” but there is very little description involved.

Profanity: 2/5 – There are many uses of “D**n,” and several inappropriate jokes, as well as words like “blimey,” “bloody,” and “h*ll.”

Violence: 2/5 – There is a death scene, and murderous motivations.

Other parental concerns: Use of magic.

Recommended age: 13+

It’ll be the famous Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But this year, the summer seems even more prolonged than usual as he waits . . . and waits . . . and waits for September First. For one thing, he wakes up one morning with the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead burning. For another, Lord Voldemort’s old supporters—the Death Eaters—have been sighted at the Quidditch World Cup. And for yet another, he suddenly finds himself inexplicably chosen by the Goblet of Fire to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, which has not been held in over a century. . . .

What to say, what to say? After the brilliance of The Prisoner of Azkaban, my hopes were high for its sequel, The Goblet of Fire. But, unfortunately, as I had heard from my literature teacher, J.K. Rowling’s writing style falls a bit in this fourth installment of the worldwide phenomenon of Harry Potter. For one thing, the book is more than 190,000 words—and while this certainly isn’t a bad thing in itself, it is her method of employing those words which worsens her writing. She seems to lengthen everything unnecessarily, and “telling-not-showing,” which she tended to do fall into during the most violent scenes of The Prisoner of Azkaban, is far more pronounced in this novel than it has been in any of the last three. But because of her final executions of the plot in the last few chapters, and her ability to arouse the tension Harry feels in her readers, I give it. . . .

Rating:
harry potter 4 rating

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