Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling (Read by Jim Dale)

December 19, 2014     erinbook     Book review

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling, Read by Jim Dale


Release Date: July 8, 2000
Publisher: Listening Library
20 Hours and 52 Minutes
Received: Bought Used
Format: Audiobook


Rating: 

4.5 Nuts
 
 
 
 
 
 
I’m going to talk spoilers, if you haven’t read Harry Potter (where have you been?) don’t read on.
 
Description: In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling offers up equal parts danger and delight–and any number of dragons, house-elves, and death-defying challenges. Now 14, her orphan hero has only two more weeks with his Muggle relatives before returning to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Yet one night a vision harrowing enough to make his lightning-bolt-shaped scar burn has Harry on edge and contacting his godfather-in-hiding, Sirius Black. Happily, the prospect of attending the season’s premier sporting event, the Quidditch World Cup, is enough to make Harry momentarily forget that Lord Voldemort and his sinister familiars–the Death Eaters–are out for murder.
Readers, we will cast a giant invisibility cloak over any more plot and reveal only that You-Know-Who is very much after Harry and that this year there will be no Quidditch matches between Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Instead, Hogwarts will vie with two other magicians’ schools, the stylish Beauxbatons and the icy Durmstrang, in a Triwizard Tournament. Those chosen to compete will undergo three supreme tests. Could Harry be one of the lucky contenders?
 
Review: The Book: Bring on the darkness! The books started getting really dark with the end of Goblet of Fire, and that scene in the graveyard is one of my absolute favorite pieces that Rowling has written. I feel like I could have a great time turning Voldemort’s monologue into an audition piece. He is so dramatic, his words are so engaging, and it’s funny going back how much he doesn’t let slip about his immortality. Trust Rowling to keep that close for the later books.
This is the snarkiest Harry becaomes before the introduction of what many people called the “Capslock!Harry” of book 5. Snarkiness without shouting. One of my favorite Harry lines is in this book, and it goes something like this: “You’d think I’d walk around with my eyes closed, banging off the walls.” Harry, you’re much more blind than you think.  This is also the last book for which I didn’t go for a release party. From here on, I was a superfan!
These are large books, especially for their originally intended age group. Still, there aren’t a whole lot of boring gaps or things that I felt like skipping. With Rowling, everything is important. I appreciate much more the letters from Sirius and the little time Harry gets to spend with him. As I get older I start paying more attention to the importance of the adult characters: McGonagall, Snape, etc… I don’t know about you but I would love a book or two about Snape or McGonagall, two of the most interesting adult characters at Hogwarts (sorry guys, not so much a Dumbledore fan).
Everything is amped up and read to go from here on out. Here, there be monsters.
The Narration: Once again Jim Dale has a whole lot to do, but this time the book is nearly a third longer. I don’t know how he keeps so many characters’ voices straight in his head, but his consistency is fantastic. At this point I’d still say his McGonagall is my favorite, but his Dumbledore, Sirius, and Snape are also really close to how I pictured them in my head.
Onward to book 5!
Have a very Harry Christmas!
Keep Reading!

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