(Re)Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

It’s no secret that I love Harry Potter; I’ve written at length of my love of the series here on Medium several times, and if you were to enter my house or visit my desk at work, it should be the very first thing you notice (I’ve got a lot of Harry Potter stuff).

I stay up late some nights discussing the two-decade-old franchise with friends, revisiting and rediscovering the stories, and analyzing them. It never gets old, and neither does the story.

I revisit the story quite a lot; primarily through the movies, as they are so readily available, and the quickest way to digest the story. But the movies aren’t perfect, and they leave things out. And so I often wish to reread the series as well. Of course, rereading takes time, and I have a whole list of other books that I’d like to read, books that I don’t already thoroughly know the stories of. So while I’ve always wanted to reread the Potter books, I haven’t touched them in a long time.

In fact, I haven’t read the books multiple times like others have; I know I’ve reread them before (I reread Sorcerer’s Stone right after I read it the first time, before I realized there were sequels), but some of the books I’m sure I’ve only read once or twice, and certainly I haven’t read them in years.

I did begin to reread them a couple years back. I sat myself down and decided that it was time, that there were too many things from the books that the movies had washed out of my head, and that I wanted to go back and rediscover them. I reread books 1–3 (a.k.a. the short ones), but when I got to Goblet of Fire, I stopped. I’m sure the length of it was what stopped me then; not that a 700+ page book was daunting to me- the longer the better- but the fact that there were other things I wanted to read, and I knew it would take me quite a while to get through Goblet and it’s successors. So my rereading frenzy stopped with Azkaban, with the intent, one day, to continue.

It’s hard for me to get into Goblet of Fire, too; I distinctly remember this being a contributing factor to my halt in progress. It is, probably, my least favorite of the books in some ways; compared to Harry’s other adventures, the Triwizard tournament was never my favorite story line, and neither was S.P.E.W. On top of that, the movie is by and large my least favorite of the flicks, and the worst adaptation of the source material (I seriously don’t mind Dumbledore not asking Harry calmly if he put his name in the titular Goblet, but the sheer amount of detail they had to cut to make it fit into 157 minutes is frustrating at times, particularly the lack of Sirius in the story, or the depth lost in the stories of Barty Crouch Jr. and Sr.).

But it is also arguably one of the most important books in the series, too. It marks the return of Voldemort, the transition from innocence to war, and the expansion of the greater Wizarding World. It’s the turning point in the franchise, not only introducing books greater than 500 pages, but introducing a more adult look at the Wizarding World, through Harry’s eyes, as he has to begin dealing with politics and murderers. And of course, both the book and movie have one of my favorite scenes in the franchise: the return of Voldemort and his duel with Harry. This is the book that begins major character development for many of the players, and the book where we start to piece things together.

What I’m saying is, even though it isn’t my favorite part of the franchise either on page or screen, it is an important part, and one I knew I needed to reread. After all, the movies, as I said, had washed away bits and pieces of the books, moments that I had forgotten existed, and I knew Goblet was no exception; in fact, it was probably the one I remembered the least (even when I read it initially; I remember when Order of the Phoenix came out, I didn’t even remember the Pensieve scene at all, and had to go back and reread that chapter).

So, rereading it was inevitable. I needed to get through it, if I wanted to reread the final books.

I thought, maybe, I’d continue with the beautifully illustrated editions. However it will be another year and a half before Goblet of Fire gets it’s own illustrated adventure (and I can’t freaking wait to see that massive tome). I thought, maybe I’d begin building my eBook collection, and start reading them there. But that didn’t happen either, partly because I prefer a real book to an eBook, even if they make them “enhanced.” And I certainly didn’t feel like lugging around the hardback copies I have. I knew, when it finally came time to read it, I’d have to get a paperback.

What really prompted me to get back into it, now, finally, despite my growing stack of unread adventures waiting for me, was the new covers by Brian Selznick. I’ve written on Medium about them before (and my bizarre desire to color them in…), and they are truly beautiful covers. The insides of the books are the same as they always have been, right down to Mary Grandpre’s chapter illustrations (they did, however, include a handy map of the Hogwarts grounds), but the art that faces you while the book is closed is, frankly, mesmerizing. When they first released, my girlfriend and I bought books three and five; our personal favorites (mine was three). But that didn’t help me begin rereading; I’d already reread three, and I wasn’t on to five yet. About two months later, however, I found myself looking at the books- now on a sale at Barnes and Noble- and decided that, eventually, I would pick them back up, starting with Goblet, and so Goblet was the one I bought.

Even with a new cover, Goblet of Fire is a daunting book; in paperback or hardback, its 734 pages are nothing to shake a stick at (if you are so inclined to shake sticks at things). But while Brian Selznick was busy drawing these beautiful covers, I myself was discovering a new way to enjoy books, and one that, frankly, made my rereading experience with Goblet of Fire something fresh and original, like discovering the story again, for the first time.

You see, I’ve had an on-again, off-again subscription with Audible. Audiobooks were never my favorite medium; often times I don’t like the voice of the person reading the story to me, or I don’t like when the narrator changes between book one and book two. I prefer to have a physical book in my hand, and read the words, and let my imagination soar.

I have a friend, however, who listens to the audiobooks on repeat; he has them all queued up on an old iPod, and whenever he is driving somewhere, he’s got them playing. He just lets it go from book one to book seven, and then when book seven ends, book one begins again. Of course, he listens to other things- music, or other books he’s reading (including one I’m supposed to be finishing while I’m instead rereading Potter)- but when there isn’t anything else to listen to, the books play on repeat.

I have never listened to the Harry Potter audiobooks. That was the one avenue I’d not yet discovered the books through, but I’d heard snippets here and there of Jim Dale’s performance. And while I slowly began to adopt audibooks in the car as well- it’s a great way to get far into a book, especially if you’ve got a long drive ahead of you- I hadn’t gotten onto the Harry Potter audiobooks yet.

But recently, I’ve taken a liking to them; I’ve been listening to them on the way to and from work. I’ve been listening to them when I can’t sit down and read a book in the normal fashion. This week, I finally reread Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, thanks in part to the audiobooks, and I’d like to do a review, of sorts.

Now, this isn’t going to be a traditional review; honestly, we all know this story backwards and forwards, and I’ve already discussed some of my views on this particular chapter of Harry’s journey in my long-winded opening statements above. Instead, I’d like to discuss a few things that I was reminded of while reading this book again, some new inspirations, a few new criticisms, and some comparisons to the film adaptation.

Harry Potter and the Forgotten Format:

First and foremost, the format. While I’ve long praised Rowling’s writing, and I’ve spoken of my love for both Brian Selznick’s new cover art and for Jim Kay’s illustrated editions (again, at the time of this writing, Kay’s Goblet of Fire is still in production, but if the last three books are any indication, the fourth illustrated book will be something to behold). But as I said, before now, I’ve never experienced the audiobooks. And Jim Dale’s rendition of Harry Potter is worth some extreme praise.

I tried to listen to Stephen Fry’s version- he’s a favorite actor of mine- but it is nothing compared to Dale’s reading of the books. Dale provides each character with a distinct voice, an impressive feat, and even more impressive that he carries these different voices through all seven books (or, at least, so far has done throughout Goblet of Fire and the chapters I’ve listened to from Order of the Phoenix). He does an excellent job of bringing Rowling’s work to life, and listening to it goes a long way to keeping the movies out of your head (often when I’m rereading the books I’m trying not to picture the movies, as much as I love them, because I want Rowling’s world to dictate my imagination as opposed to what I’ve seen on the screen).

Frankly, for how much I love to revisit this series in every way possible, I’m surprised I was never inclined to listen to the audiobooks before now. Perhaps it was the cost; I had already shelled out $20-$30 for each book, and at that time of their release, the physical audiobooks were pricey as well. Audible, however, makes them much more accessible; $14.95 a month subscription gets you one audiobook a month to keep; seven months gets you all seven books, for a fraction of the price of buying them outright (Pottermore.com sells the digital audiobooks individually for $30-$45 each).

But I’m actually glad that I never listened to them before now; it allowed for my revisiting of the series to be more of a new discovery, finding the familiar story again in a way that I’d never, personally, experienced.

Harry Potter and the Loose Adaptations:

Of course, one can’t thoroughly discuss a Harry Potter book without comparison to the film. As I’ve stated, Goblet of Fire has always been my least favorite, both on page and on screen, but finally revisiting the book showed me just how different the movie was from the book.

Rereading the story, I realized that I’d forgotten the rich and depressing backstory of Crouch and his family, how he’d broken his son out of Azkaban (by leaving his wife there in their son’s place) or how he’d been using the Imperious Curse on him for years to keep him subdued. I’d forgotten that Jr. was at the Quidditch World Cup not with the other Death Eaters, but with his father and Winky the house elf, hidden under an invisibility cloak, sitting just behind Harry during the game (and stealing his wand from him). I’d forgotten completely the events of Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Madness of Barty Crouch; that Crouch had not been found dead in the Forbidden Forest, but instead had been found alive, delirious, having broken free from his son’s own Imperious Curse and come to tell Dumbledore what had happened. That Crouch had been attacked by Lord Voldemort himself, and that his son-disguised as Mad-Eye Moody- had killed him in the forest while Harry was rushing to find Dumbledore, and has Transfigured his father’s corpse into a bone and buried it. I’d forgotten, too, that Rita Skeeter was an unregistered Animagus, that she turned into a beetle to sneak into Hogwarts after Dumbledore banished her, spying on Harry and his friends to get the scoop, and that Sirius Black’s presence was not limited to Owl-Post or a Floo-Powder-powered fireplace chat, but that Sirius was in Dumbledore’s office with Harry when he and Dumbledore discussed what had happened in the graveyard where Voldemort returned.

There were plenty of little things, too, that the movie left out or simply redid. Of course, condensing what had, at that time, been the longest book into a movie just over two hours meant things would be cut. S.P.E.W., for instance, was never necessary to the plot of the book, and while Dobby had a role in the book, he was easily replaced by Neville and a Herbology book given to him by Mad-Eye Moody/Barty Crouch Jr. (a book that he was given in the book, too, in the hopes Harry would ask him for help). And that makes the most sense; having Dobby would have added to the cost in an already heavy special effects movie- though it would have been nice for Dobby to reappear in the films before Deathly Hallows Part 1.

But other omissions baffle me more; why Percy Weasley wasn’t present, even in the background like he was in the next film, is surprising. Even with the alterations to Barty Crouch Sr.’s story (remember, in the book, he wasn’t present for most of the Triwizard Tournament, having been captured by Voldemort and Barty Jr.; Percy filled in for him at most of the events), Percy could have been present, just so we saw him. And the lack of Ludo Bagman, too, though not entirely important to the story, I think he would have enriched it a little. Cast someone like the late Rik Mayall (who was originally set to play Peeves before Peeves was cut from the films) to bring the flamboyant Bagman to life. I think he would have gone a long way to separating Dumbledore from running the Triwizard Tournament, which always made it feel like Dumbledore was favoring Harry with decisions to reward him for outstanding moral fiber in the second task.

The biggest omission, however, and the worst for me, was the ending. So much after the graveyard I had forgotten, but it was extremely important to the coming stories. Granted, they did an excellent job of summing up Rowling’s 38 pages of exposition- between Barty Crouch Jr. interrogating Harry, Dumbledore interrogating Barty, and then Dumbledore interrogating Harry- into a five minute scene, very well acted by Brendan Gleeson and the rest of the cast. But afterwards, they omitted the latter half of Chapter Thirty-Six: The Parting of the Ways, which showcased the origins of the rift between Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge- where Fudge refused to believe Voldemort was back- which went lengths to explain Fudge’s attempt to expel Harry at the beginning of the next movie (and that Fudge had a dementor administer the Dementor’s Kiss on Crouch, to prevent him from being interrogated). Couple that with the origins of the Order of the Phoenix- a nice scene where Sirius and Snape must agree to work together, where we see Molly Weasley setting her family off to help Dumbledore recruit some of the old crowd, and we first see a glimpse of what Dumbledore must ask Snape to do next, and I feel that this was ten minutes from the book that they were sorely mistaken for leaving on the cutting room floor.

Of course, all the movies left something out from the books; but having reread Goblet of Fire, I see now that its celluloid counterpart was probably the worst at adapting the material on page. I remember, when I started rereading, I texted my friend- the one who listens to the audiobooks on repeat- and told him that I was about 250 pages into the book, which translated to fifteen minutes into the film. It was astonishing just how much of the story was left out- and how much I’d forgotten. If anyone ever asks, this is the reason I’d welcome a reboot, preferably in the form of a long-running television series, like Game of Thrones. Something that can really flesh out the sheer amount of detail that 2.5 hour movies would never have been able to capture. The movies, of course, were brilliant- and I don’t think anyone could accurately portray Severus Snape as well as Alan Rickman did- but I’ll always welcome another attempt at the franchise, now that the story is completed.

Harry Potter and the Lost Memories:

Reading this book again, I found memories flooding back to me. Memories of when I first read this book, so many years ago. Memories of discovering Rowling’s world as it expanded before me.

This was Rowling’s first massive volume. This was the first time the story spanned seven hundred pages, and we got intense detail and depth. At times, I think there was some clunkiness to it- remember I said there were 38 pages of exposition at the ending?- but for the massive, weaving story Rowling told here, all the loose ends needed to be tied up. It is something, I think, that she got better with as the books went on; Order of the Phoenix already feels like a tighter story, despite the book being even longer than Goblet (and, likewise, the movie is a much closer adaptation thus far).

But reliving this book, through Rowling’s words and Jim Dale’s many voices, I rediscovered it. I rediscovered the many missing moments that I’d forgotten. I rediscovered how I felt when I first read the book, when I first saw this movie. And I discovered, perhaps for the first time, that this book has always been, unfairly, my least favorite. For despite it not being my favorite of Harry’s adventures, it certainly is one of my very favorite books in the entire world. And that is in no small part because it just greatly expands on Harry and his friends. And, being as long as it is, it allows for one to spend an awful lot of time at Hogwarts.

And that, frankly, is where we really want to be.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire may still not be my favorite book. But reliving it this past week has been one of my favorite experiences in rereading any Harry Potter book, and it goes to show that even when we know the story, when we know everything we think there is to know about Harry’s wondrous world, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome us back again, and to show us something new, or in a new way, than we’ve seen it before.

Harry Potter and the Final Review:

I said this was a review. I really did. And I meant it to be, rather than the lengthy ramblings you might have sat here and read. Of course, even if I say that this book is my least favorite, that review is only contextual; it remains one of the top seven of the ten best books I’ve ever read, and if it didn’t have three books sitting on either side of it that I enjoyed even more than this one, it would be my favorite book ever. But Rowling didn’t just write Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; no, she gave us seven wonderful volumes, seven stories by which we can visit the Wizarding World again and again.

And while Goblet of Fire may not be my personal favorite, it is, no doubt, a pivotal part of Harry’s journey. In fact, I’d say it is the most important book in the series; the turning point from the lighter books 1–3 and the heavier (both literally and figuratively) books 5–7.

This massive book was the first real look at what was to come, to get the idea that Rowling had a bigger picture in mind; granted, there’s foreshadowing all the way back to Sorcerer’s Stone, but it is here that Rowling really begins building her endgame. It is here that we first get a glimpse of Dumbledore’s plans (“For a fleeting instant, Harry thought he saw a gleam of something like triumph in Dumbledore’s eyes.” Goblet of Fire, page 696), or that Snape has a much bigger role than simply being a nasty, bullying teacher to Harry. “Everything’s going to be different, now,” Hermione said in the movie version. And she was right; after this book, everything was different. After this book, Harry’s story changed forever.

The final review is this: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, while still not my very favorite of the series, is without a doubt, the most important chapter in Harry’s journey.

What’s Next?

For me, I’ve already begun rereading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Or rather, I’ve begun letting Jim Dale read it to me. And, much to the dismay of all the other books I need to read (and the people waiting on me to read them so we can discuss them… sorry, Michael), I plan on finishing the series off before I move on to something else. It is time for me to complete my rereading of the Harry Potter books.

After that, well… I might go back to books 1–3. After all, I never listened to those audiobooks. Maybe I’ll take a page from my friend’s book and let them repeat on my iPhone when I’m in the car. I might, also, reread Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, especially since it connects heavily to Goblet of Fire and when I read it the first time, there were surely things that I missed since I had forgotten so much of this book. I do wish the cast of the play would get together and make an audiobook version of that…

Of course, there are other audiobook adventures to listen to for Harry Potter. Newt Scamander himself- Eddie Redmayne- narrates Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; The Walking Dead’s Andrew Lincoln reads Quidditch Through the Ages; and Natalie Dormer, of Game of Thrones, has recently been announced to read History of Magic. And, of course, Jim Dale didn’t only read the Potter books; he’s narrated a great many books out there, and he brings his charm to all of them (I personally have listened to his rendition of Peter and the Starcatchers).

After my rereading of Potter (and probably a rewatching of the movies thereafter), I’ll set my sights back on some new books; Fate of the Tearling is next on my list, followed by the third in Cornelia Funke’s brilliant Reckless series. By then, hopefully, the 12th Skulduggery Pleasant will have been announced, and maybe Eoin Colfer’s return to the fairy world with The Fowl Twins will be out.

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I do not own any of the images depicted in this article.

Final image was created and illustrated by Brian Selznick, and colored by myself without consent of the creator, solely for the purposes of my own amusement. I do not own this image or claim any creative rights to it.