|
Fourth and last book of the Harry Potter series
published so far, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is
quite sizeable, a proof that J. K. Rowling is a powerful asset when
it comes to enticing children to read. I remember when the book was
first published (I hadn't read any of them then)
and they announced it on the News; they showed
hundreds of children gathered in bookstores waiting to go
home with
their own copy of the book: one of them seemed so young and so tiny
he was almost dwarfed by the book. O.K. I exaggerate a bit,
but if children this young (he couldn't have been more than 6 or 7)
are not put off by a book this big and
obviously they are not, it means that Rowling has really succeeded
in giving them a taste for stories where many others
failed before her... I've always liked to read, but
I don't remember reading a book this size
before 11 or 12 (but of course Harry Potter hadn't been invented yet!). Following a slightly different
pattern than previous Harry Potter stories, this one begins with an
incident occurring in the Riddle House, apparently unrelated to the
rest of the story. At the same moment, at the Dursleys's, Harry is
awoken by a strange dream and a throbbing pain in the scar inflicted
years ago by the terrifying Voldemort. Knowing such a pain is always
a bad omen, Harry starts worrying. However, in the excitement of the
Quidditch World Cup, where he has been invited by the Weasleys, he
puts his fears aside. But the awaited event itself ends on a
disquieting note: a party of masked wizards attack muggles and
parade, using them as air balloons and as
Harry, Hermione and Ron flee into the
woods to escape the panicking crowd, someone conjures the Dark Mark
(Voldemort's followers' gathering sign) with Harry's wand...
Not only does everything begin in chaos, but
at Hogwarts, a huge event disrupts the
usual routine of the school year: the Triwizard tournament,
occurring every five years, will take place on the grounds of Hogwarts. Three
champions chosen by the Goblet of Fire, one from each of 3 schools of
wizardry (Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang) will compete against
each other, performing three magical tasks...
Who will be the champion representing Hogwarts
(knowing that Harry does not qualify, since only sixth and seventh
years do)? Who will win the Triwizard tournament? And most of all,
will fatal incidents be avoided this time (the past tournaments have
known many casualties....)? These are some of the questions
that will be answered in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...
As always, more new magical items and
extraordinary characters are introduced to
us: Mad-eye Moody, the new Defense Against the
Dark Arts teacher and his unorthodox teachings (the position is
said to be jinxed; no one has ever lasted more than one year: will
Mad-eye Moody?), Krum, the Quidditch idol who seems to have
something to hide, and French blonde Fleur Delacour, who
makes Ron blush... As new truths emerge concerning old characters,
we also see some of them, like Percy Weasley, grow into adulthood.
He now works in the Department of International Magical Cooperation.
Zealous head boy at Hogwarts, he indeed takes his new job very
seriously, a tad too seriously maybe? (Percy is the second-funniest
character after Gilderoy Lockhart from book II, I think...). As Harry and his friends enter well into their
teenage years, romance begins to arise in the background of their
preoccupations with its corollary of jealousy and rivalry: the
embarrassment of having to choose a date for the Yule Ball is a source of hilarious situations...
I won't praise again Harry Potter books,
for fear of repeating myself, since
I've already done it in the 3 other reviews, I will only say that
this one is my second favorite so far, after
Harry Potter and the
Prisoner of Azkaban. Its main originality is perhaps the
introduction of more dramatic events...
The only thing I have to add to this review
is this: Come on, J. K., hurry-up! I
(and a few other people) want to know what's happening next!...
The fifth HP book was scheduled to be released earlier this year but
its publishing date has been postponed. Hopefully J. K. isn't
suffering from a loss of inspiration, otherwise she can contact me,
I've got terrific ideas for her ;).
I don't know if it's in her
plans at all (I haven't been looking for spoilers on the net), but I
personally would like to see Harry attracted, to a certain extent,
to the "dark side of the Force" (after all the Sorting Hat told him
he would have done great things, had he been a Slytherin...), an
alternate reality maybe, where he would be a Slytherin (let's put a little
ambiguity in the boy!)... What? It wouldn't be suitable for children
to have their favorite hero flirting with the dark side... OK, OK...
Let J. K. do her job, she does it
perfectly! And on a more serious note, I think she must be under an
awful lot of pressure and I wouldn't like to be in her shoes just
now...
Rating:
© Discussing Books, 08/06/2002 |
Critiques
