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Feb 05, 2018mitchelclay rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5 Stars (a "Decent" on my personal grading scale) Note - I am reading the Harry Potter books for the first time. Any expressions or opinions are brought to the table as someone who has little prior knowledge... "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" is the fourth book in J. K. Rowling's prolific Harry Potter series. Although this book has some decent adventure, and a good twist at the end, I can't help but feel put off by this novel. Firstly, I think it is at least 100 pages too long. I feel like the storytelling here is more drawn out than necessary. Several of the story beats took much longer to come to completion than her previous entries. There is also an emphasis on side characters that don't hold much weight i.e. Rita Skeeter and Viktor Krum. The overall presentation is a well constructed story, but I think Rowling gets in her own way here. It could have been tighter. With all of this said, there is a lot to be celebrated in this book. The writing of Ron and Hermoine have never been stronger. The twist at the end is well sat up, and genuinely surprised me. The wizarding world is starting to feel more tangible, with more weight and consequences. In this novel, we are introduced to the dark arts in a much more fundamental way than in the previous books, and it's well done. Our villains feel powerful and unique, and You-Know-Who is legitimately scary. All together, I really wanted to love this book as much as the others, but I just didn't grab me the way previous entries in the Harry Potter universe have. In every series, there has to be a transition point, and I believe that Goblet of Fire probably is that for the HP franchise.