Join BookBrowse today and get access to free books, our twice monthly digital magazine, and more.

Reviews of Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire by J.K. (Joanne) Rowling

Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire

Book 4

by J.K. (Joanne) Rowling

Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire by J.K. (Joanne) Rowling X
Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire by J.K. (Joanne) Rowling
  • Critics' Opinion:

    Readers' Opinion:

  • First Published:
    Jul 2000, 734 pages

    Paperback:
    Jul 2002, 734 pages

    Genres

  • Rate this book


Buy This Book

About this Book

Book Summary

The pivotal fourth novel in the seven part tale of Harry Potter's training as a wizard and his coming of age.

This is the pivotal fourth novel in the seven part tale of Harry Potter's training as a wizard and his coming of age. Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup with Hermione, Ron, and the Weasleys. He wants to dream about Cho Chang, his crush (and maybe do more than dream). He wants to find out about the mysterious event that's supposed to take place at the Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn't happened in a hundred years. He wants to be a normal, fourteen year old wizard. Unfortunately for Harry Potter, he's not normal - even by wizarding standards.

And in his case, different can be deadly.

Chapter 1
The Riddle House

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. It stood on a hill overlooking the village, some of its windows boarded, tiles missing from its roof, and ivy spreading unchecked over its face. Once a fine-looking manor, and easily the largest and grandest building for miles around, the Riddle House was now damp, derelict, and unoccupied.

The Little Hangletons all agreed that the old house was "creepy." Half a century ago, something strange and horrible had happened there, something that the older inhabitants of the village still liked to discuss when topics for gossip were scarce. The story had been picked over so many times, and had been embroidered in so many places, that nobody was quite sure what the truth was anymore. Every version of the tale, however, started in the same place: Fifty years before, at daybreak on a fine summer's morning, when ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
The Book

Wizards and Hogwarts! Muggles and mudbloods! Quidditch and broomsticks! None of those things mean anything to Harry Potter, a small, skinny, bespectacled boy with an unusual lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead—until his eleventh birthday. That's when he starts receiving letters inviting him to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry learns that his parents did not die in a car crash but were killed by Voldemort, the Lord of Darkness, and that he's famous in the world of wizardry. So Harry leaves the home of his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and their hateful son Dudley, who are mere muggles (humans without one drop of magic in them), and embarks on a new life. And the changes continue as Harry spends ...
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

Salon - Charles Taylor
....for kids, Harry Potter is of their time, something that will always be theirs instead of a legacy left to them by a previous generation....Like all great fantasy sagas, the Harry Potter books have grown narratively, morally and psychologically more complex as the series progresses. There is a special pressure on a writer who midway through a series finds herself entrusted with the imagination of a huge number of readers. That Rowling has done nothing to break that faith seems a deed as brave and noble as any her hero has accomplished.

Salon - Charles Taylor
....for kids, Harry Potter is of their time, something that will always be theirs instead of a legacy left to them by a previous generation....Like all great fantasy sagas, the Harry Potter books have grown narratively, morally and psychologically more complex as the series progresses. There is a special pressure on a writer who midway through a series finds herself entrusted with the imagination of a huge number of readers. That Rowling has done nothing to break that faith seems a deed as brave and noble as any her hero has accomplished.

Guardian (UK)
...this is storytelling of a high order indeed. It draws the reader in with a riddle and a letter. It proceeds through a series of trials to a great confrontation. And it concludes with a death and a climactic resolution. E.M. Forster famously observed that, 'Yes - oh dear, yes - the novel tells a story'. HP IV is the apotheosis of 'story.'

Guardian (UK)
...this is storytelling of a high order indeed. It draws the reader in with a riddle and a letter. It proceeds through a series of trials to a great confrontation. And it concludes with a death and a climactic resolution. E.M. Forster famously observed that, 'Yes - oh dear, yes - the novel tells a story'. HP IV is the apotheosis of 'story.'

London Times (UK)
Once again, Rowling packs the pages with witty and imaginative ideas....Fourth year report? Another fine year, Ms Rowling. Three more to go and it looks as though your OWLS (Ordinary Wizarding Levels) results will be terrific.

Publishers Weekly
The details are as ingenious and original as ever ....Rowling plants the red herrings, the artful clues and tricky surprises that disarm the most attentive audience.

Publishers Weekly
The details are as ingenious and original as ever ....Rowling plants the red herrings, the artful clues and tricky surprises that disarm the most attentive audience.

Reader Reviews

Mahdi.ch

This book is really nice
This book is really fantastic and exciting I love how they give Harry the chosen one vibes I really give this book five stars amazing J.k Rowling!
bethany brown

harry potter and the goblet of fire
I like this book because it makes you feel like you are actually there and not in your bedroom....
taylor

very good
I love this book. I have all the books and the movies at my house. They all are just getting better and better.
Rishabh Shah

Goblet of Fire is phenomenal!!!
The Harry Potter series are just getting better and better! The Goblet of Fire is more gripping than the last three, opens lots of more secrets, and the absence of the usual InterHouse Quidditch Tournament has been compensated with a Quidditch World ...   Read More

Write your own review!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, try these:

  • Runemarks jacket

    Runemarks

    by Joanne Harris

    Published 2009

    About this book

    More by this author

    Master storyteller Joanne Harris has created a magical and epic romp– a fresh, funny, and wonderfully irreverent new take on the old Norse tales, sure to be enjoyed by readers young and old.

  • Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos jacket

    Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos

    by Robin L. LaFevers

    Published 2008

    About this book

    More by this author

    Theodosia Throckmorton has her hands full at the Museum of Legends and Antiquities in London. Her father may be the head curator, but it is Theo—and only Theo—who is able to see all the black magic and ancient curses that still cling to the artifacts in the museum.

We have 5 read-alikes for Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by J.K. (Joanne) Rowling
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Support BookBrowse

Join our inner reading circle, go ad-free and get way more!

Find out more


Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Table for Two
    Table for Two
    by Amor Towles
    Amor Towles's short story collection Table for Two reads as something of a dream compilation for...
  • Book Jacket: Bitter Crop
    Bitter Crop
    by Paul Alexander
    In 1958, Billie Holiday began work on an ambitious album called Lady in Satin. Accompanied by a full...
  • Book Jacket: Under This Red Rock
    Under This Red Rock
    by Mindy McGinnis
    Since she was a child, Neely has suffered from auditory hallucinations, hearing voices that demand ...
  • Book Jacket: Clear
    Clear
    by Carys Davies
    John Ferguson is a principled man. But when, in 1843, those principles drive him to break from the ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
A Great Country
by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
A novel exploring the ties and fractures of a close-knit Indian-American family in the aftermath of a violent encounter with the police.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    The Flower Sisters
    by Michelle Collins Anderson

    From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.

  • Book Jacket

    The House on Biscayne Bay
    by Chanel Cleeton

    As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.

Win This Book
Win The Funeral Cryer

The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu

Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.

Enter

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

M as A H

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.