Excelencia pura. Me encantó. Creo que este es mi favorito de la saga por ahora. En Harry Potter y el Cáliz de Fuego se desarrolla una prosa más madura y oscura. No puedo decir nada más; mi amor por este libro es indescriptible.

—Saludémonos con una inclinación, Harry —dijo Voldemort, agachándose un poco, pero sin dejar de presentar a Harry su cara de serpiente—. Vamos, hay que comportarse como caballeros... A Dumbledore le gustaría que hicieras gala de tus buenos modales. Inclínate ante la muerte, Harry.

My long time favourite.





And the long mistreatment of Fleur in this series just begun.

The Potter adventures continue in a series that keeps outdoing itself with each novel I read. What began as an interesting story about a boy wizard has me completely hooked and demanding more as I delve deeper into the darker side of magic. J. K. Rowling does a masterful job at penning a story that has something for everyone, in her first story that really expands on the foundation she has laid and develops things into a much more thorough storytelling adventure that will test the determination of any reader, young or old. Some have said it is the best of the series. Based on the novels I have read to date, I must concur. Newer fans of the Harry Potter series, I can only hope you are ready for an adventure of a lifetime, as Rowling pushes you headlong into an abyss you will enjoy exploring.

It’s the summer before Fourth Year and Harry has been counting down the days until he can leaver the Dursley house and return to Hogwarts. However, his friends, the Weasleys, have a surprise for him before he hits the books. Mr. Weasley has secured a handful of tickets to the finals of the Quidditch World Cup. This means an early departure from his family who hate him and the chance to see the best athletes in the Quidditch world.

While the game is all that Harry and the many other fans could have hoped it would be, Voldemort and his Death Eaters make an appearance, causing havoc to everyone in attendance. Harry grows quite concerned and his ever-present scar aches, perhaps a sign that evil is on its way.

The return to school provides Harry, Ron, and Hermione with a new surprise when they learn that Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament; a competition between the three top wizarding schools across Europe: Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons. Difficult challenges that promise to test the skill and daring of a ‘school champion’ from each scholastic establishment will provide some camaraderie, but also could prove deadly, if past tournaments are any indication.

Students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons arrive at the end of October, at which time eligible competitors place their name in the Goblet of Fire, hoping to be selected their school's champion in a magical ceremony. While the three names chosen are strong students, the Goblet offers some suspense when Harry’s name is chosen as a fourth competitor, even though he is not of age. However, one cannot defy the Goblet of Fire and so he is permitted to compete. Who could have done this, and for what reason?

Ron is convinced Harry seeks praise and glory, sure that he’s tossed his name into the mix. This leads the best friends to stop speaking, putting Hermione in an awkward position as she tries to focus her attention on her school work and a new social movement involving House Trolls. Never one to shy away from controversy, Hermione pushes for their betterment, going against the grain of what much of wizardry has long accepted.

The Triwizard tournament’s first task requires champions to fight dragons, something that Harry discovers he can do with some ease. It would seem his Quidditch skills prove helpful in his success. The danger factor seems high enough that Ron realises that Harry would not have put himself in harm’s way voluntarily. The boys are now convinced someone added the name to the Goblet to harm Harry.

Between competitions, the school year progresses and Harry finds himself in the middle of numerous headaches. A silver tongued (and quilled) journalist, Rita Skeeter, publishes gossipy articles about Harry and others that have many ramifications and cause a great deal of emotional pain to those who are outed. Harry can only hope that things will settle, though it would seem no one is off limits when it comes to smearing them and being fodder for whispered conversations.

The second task of the tournament is more daunting than the first. It involves collecting something from a lake filled with mer-people. Harry’s choice to be helpful almost costs him everything, though the judges see through his tardiness and award him high marks for his bravery. It would seem that Harry is well suited for the Triwizard Tournament, though there are still grumbles from other schools about his being an illegal competitor.

Sirius Black returns in secret to help protect his godson. This elates Harry, but only adds more pressure and concern, as Hogwarts could soon be the location of a deadly strike. It completely clear now that there is someone who wants Harry dead, but no one can yet identify the culprit.

It’s all down to the final task of the tournament, the most difficult of all the challenges. Harry is ready, but cannot have guessed who or what awaits him. A death shocks everyone who watches the tournament and Voldemort makes an appearance, hoping to regain much of the power he lost those years ago. Harry is vulnerable and this could mean the end to his time at Hogwarts, or worse... Mobilisation to combat the evil wizardry may be the only solution!

J.K. Rowling has done it again, offering her readers a highly entertaining story that is sure to keep readers of all ages talking long after they finish the book. The story is full of nuances that will appeal to different reading levels, making the story ‘pop’ no matter how much the reader understands of her hidden meanings.

Harry Potter reclaims the undisputed protagonist role in this story, maturing alongside his friends and fellow wizards as he tries to succeed during his fourth year of studies. While there is little backstory to offer, Harry’s past does become a part of his present and future, as Rowling addresses the scar and its symbolism a little more. The reader also gets to see a personal side of Harry, as romantic interests begin to play into his daily thoughts, while school is sometimes secondary or tertiary in importance. Perhaps teenage Harry will begin to emerge and offer a new flavouring for the upcoming novels, depending on how he is able to handle the struggles that Voldemort brings to the table.

Rowling continues to offer strong supporting characters for readers, from the key individuals who have been present throughout the series, to new or minor characters claiming some of the spotlight. The constant evolution of the story permits Rowling to expand the wizard world and keep her readers from getting bored. As someone told me when they heard I was beginning this book, “you’ll soon see that Hogwarts is only the tip of the wizarding iceberg”. How true that has come to be.

This was the first of the ‘truly complex novels’ in the series, books that exceed what I would expect Neo might want to handle. However, he devoured them with relative ease (thank goodness for audiobooks) and I can see Rowling needed every page to hash out some of the complex stories that bind this piece together. I am eager to see how things will keep progressing, as things are definitely getting more intricate and darker, which is sure to make for exciting reading.

The book relies on a strong narrative to push it along and peppers curiously interesting characters to leave the reader wanting to know more. Much is revealed in things as simple as dialogue exchanges, but it requires attention and dedication. I can only surmise that some of the breadcrumbs will be important as the series progresses, so I am trying to stay on top of all aspects of the piece, even if they seem trivial. Longer chapters prove necessary to jam-pack all the story without losing the theme that each presents to the eager reader. There are only a few moments when I was left scratching my head, minute details that readers who binge-read the series will likely notice over those who space out the book experience. I’ll see if it continues.

Kudos, Madam Rowling, another winner. I cannot wait to see what you have planned next and I want to get to it ASAP.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

English (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) / Italiano

«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»

Maybe this time I was out of line with the bedtime reading to my daughter, not so much for the size of the book, but for its darker content compared to the previous ones. Towards the end of this fourth book in the Harry Potter series, my little girl had difficulty falling asleep. I had to defuse the situation.

The Quidditch World Cup is coming, and Harry, Ron and Hermione have the chance to watch the final round, before the start of the new school year. This time problems start even earlier than the end of the summer vacation, far from the walls of Hogwarts... Many pages, many events, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, the Triwizard Tournament, the tasks to face. There is always something to understand, some mystery to unveil. Great food for our "potterian" curiosity. But be warned, Dumbledore warns us:

«Curiosity is not a sin. But we should exercise caution with our curiosity...»

Caution... easy to say!

Vote: 9

«Gli abitanti di Little Hangleton la chiamavano ancora Casa Riddle, anche se erano passati tanti anni da quando i Riddle ci abitavano»

Forse stavolta ho esagerato con la lettura serale per mia figlia. Non tanto per la mole, quanto per il contenuto, più cupo dei precedenti. Verso la fine di questo quarto libro della serie, la mia bambina aveva difficoltà ad addormentarsi. Ho dovuto sdrammatizzare non poco.

La Coppa del Mondo di Quidditch è alle porte, ed Harry, Ron ed Hermione hanno la possibilità di vedere dal vivo la finale, prima dell'inizio del nuovo anno scolastico. Questa volta i problemi si presentano ancor prima della fine delle vacanze estive, lontano dalle mura di Hogwarts... Pagine dense di eventi e di nuove conoscenze, tra cui il nuovo insegnante di Difesa dalle Arti Oscure. E poi il Torneo Tremaghi, e le prove da affrontare. C'è sempre qualcosa da capire, qualche mistero da svelare. Ottimo cibo per la nostra "potteriana" curiosità. Attenzione però, Silente ci avverte:

«La curiosità non è un peccato. Ma dovremmo andarci cauti, con la curiosità...»

Cauti... è una parola!

Voto: 9

My second favorite in the series!! This was my 13th re-read, y’all. I will never get enough ❤️❤️

Act 4 of 7, gents! And I’m stuck somewhere betwixt 4 and 5 stars for this one, so I’ll just write this review, pop on back to the beginning and smack a rating on this bad boy. (Disclaimer: I am on Hour 26 post-wisdom teeth surgery, on some painkillers no one should turn their nose up at, and desperate for solid food and human interaction. So in other words, bear with me, because this may be...somethin’.)



https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...

Okay, let’s start with our characters. I always gotta discuss the same collection of several. Both Harry and Ron are pretty consistently eh characters for me (except in the first book, in which I really enjoyed Harry). Here, instead of being eh, I found them...annoying? It drove me absolutely insane that Harry kept procrastinating his clues - like no yeah, do your Divination homework the night it’s assigned, but please put the life-or-death clue off to the side for now. And don’t even get me started on their constant, needless bickering. Ugh. HOW ARE YOU BOTH SOMEHOW EQUALLY ANNOYING HERE?



Neville, on the other hand? Cemented his status as a fave o’ mine. His backstory is great. He really deserves to be in Gryffindor, the brave li’l guy, and I just want to give him a big hug. Snape, meanwhile....Well, somehow he outdoes himself here. I just don’t know how I’m going to hold onto this rant until book 7. God, you guys, get ready for a tsunami of anger, I guess.



And let’s discuss that feminist message, shall we? I, first off, love that my perhaps-all-time-favorite character Hermione gets political as hell in this one. Mad respect, girl. And for a cause that she’s laughed at for, even one that would make her life far, far easier in every means if she just backed off it! (I’m seeing some parallels to feminism here….) Plus, her defeat of Rita Skeeter, who taunted her for her appearance and reduced her meaning as a person to the boys she spent time with, is just amazing.



And don’t even get me started on the representation of women in professional sports in this book! Fabulous enough that almost half of the Gryffindor quidditch team is female, but the fact that there are women competitors in the Quidditch World Cup? Amazing! There’s no underestimating the empowerment that representation lent to young, female readers who dreamed of being athletes.



If only this wonderful treatment of women - and we know that Rowling is a tried-and-true feminist - extended to the Triwizard Tournament. But alas, all we get is...Fleur. Fleur’s only trait is her beauty (cough cough, reminds me of someone we know, cough cough, CHO F*CKING CHANG), she (like Rita Skeeter to Hermione) is reduced to the boys she spends time with/thereby must be flirting with (Cedric, the Ravenclaw quidditch captain), and, worst of all, she’s not a good competitor. She gives an eh performance in the first task, receives pity-points in the second, and is ignored and eliminated in the third. Ms. Rowling, my love, couldn’t she at least use her looks cunningly to distract her opponent? If you were only going to give us one girl competitor out of four, couldn’t she at least be, well, good?



There were fewer stupid mistakes in this one, but there were still some. One being that somehow magic-less mermaids painted pictures of themselves on a rock...underwater. Unless they’re sourcing that fancy schmancy under-da-sea paint, they should not be able to do that. Also, the search for Sirius is never mentioned by the many (many, many, many, MANY) members of the Ministry of Magic we are CONSTANTLY seeing in this book. Or by Rita Skeeter. Which doesn’t make sense, because that search was a big f*cking deal. (And don’t you think ol’ Skeeter would want to bring up that failing when she’s writing inflammatory articles about Hogwarts and/or the Ministry?)



But this comes down to the same thing all these reviews come down to: the world. Goblet of Fire gives us the biggest look into the Wizarding World since Sorcerer’s Stone (Quidditch World Cup! Triwizard Tournament! The operations of the Ministry of Magic!), and because I love looking at this world so flippin’ much (plus fewer teeny errors) I have to give this a high rating.



Bottom line: definitely better than the second and third, and maybe (MAYBE!) an almost-tie for favorite-so-far with the first one. The feminism contains some mixed messages, there are a couple things that don’t make sense, and I still haven’t found a way to kill a fictional character (but when I do, watch your back, Severus). But the world, Hermione, Neville’s story, and a couple other great things overcome all that. This book rocks! Hurray!

It might take me 2 more years to finally make it through this series, but whatever...it's called savoring, people lol...

1.) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ★★★★★
2.) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ★★★★★
3.) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ★★★★★
4.) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ★★★★★
5) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ★★★★★
6.) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince ★★★★★
7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ★★★★★
8.) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ★★

--------------------------------------------------

brb crying

Still as good as ever.

"I is a good elf"

It's been proven three times now, that I always get ahead of myself when reviewing Harry Potter, incorrectly concluding the last one (out of the ones I've read so far) to be the best, but it cannot be helped. The standards are moved up - again. It's like Rowling just had a look at the first books, found them to be way too short, and came up with this one, which is much longer than the previous ones - combined! And the writing style keeps on improving, while plot getting more and more thrilling, making it oh so delightful to read.

"Will you please inform zis 'Agrid zat ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?"

It's great to have that feeling of 'how easy it is to read everything is' still being part of the author's narration. Though the events are being described in much more detail, it does not take away anything in terms of interest. On the contrary, the reader is kept well in suspense, with a number of twists, without making anything too unreal (relative to the world of magic that is). I don't recall ever being more immersed in a book than this one (again, I'm probably getting ahead of myself).

"Alf-giant? Moi? I'ave - I'ave big bone!"

As far as the environs go, I think it's safe to say that we've arrived at darker times, toward which the third book made way for. Though I loved the first three 'relatively-trouble-free' years, this one is certainly more interesting with so much happening, while introducing a whole new set of interesting characters. And the occasional humor complements nicely without distracting the reader too much.
I don't think I'll be able to rest well until I'm done with the series. I kind of feel sad about the readers during original release years, who had to wait year after year for the next book. Must've felt being under 'Crucio'.

"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

n

We can look at this one of two ways, either I'm a bit late to do a Christmas Book Haul video or I'm hella early for next year.

(Click the link to see what other books arrived via the polar express).

Written Review to come.

Audiobook Comments
Another fabulous reading a la Jim Dale. Loved it!!

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By the third time of reading I found this book thrilling, each reading I better appreciate the dark turn the series takes with this instalment, with the Quiddich World Cop, the return of the Death Eaters, the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the return of you know who! Great read. Great adventure. Great story.

The whole series that grows up with a generation story is best represented here. The Death Eaters are no cartoon villains, these are the real deal, and for the first time in the series I finally get just how dangerous You Know Who and his disciples are.

Other layers are, as well as the great characterisations of many of the ongoing cast; there's also the presenting of such a world view of the Wizarding universe, using the Quiddich World Cup, to further deepen and expand this wonderfully well thought out constructed reality. 9 out of 12.

2013 read; 2007 read; 2005 read