Grace (BURTSBOOKS)'s Reviews > Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

4.5 stars

I really don't think I need to tell y'all that I loved this because I've been raving about this series since the moment I started it back in January but for the sake of clarity - I love this.

I believe everyone (even people that have no attachment to it at all) has a Harry Potter story under their belt. Whether it be the story of their first time reading it or the time they convinced everyone in their family to dress up as the Weasley's or when their Potterhead teacher made them play Quidditch in gym class, everyone has some kind of HP story they whip out at dinner parties - this is mine.

Back in my early teens, after a childhood of ignoring the wizarding craze under the guise of my idiot-self being too sophisticated for magic (yes, 8-year-old Grace was an asshole - that isn't the story) I was a camp counsellor. But I wasn't a counsellor at any ordinary camp, oh no, I was a counsellor at a theatre camp. Each year we would put on a different musical and the year I was 15 it was decided we would do a child-friendly, dumbed down version of the Goblet of Fire, complete with all your favourite musical numbers stolen straight from A Very Potter Musical.

I played James Potter, helped countless kids memorize their lines, choreography and ten musical numbers and yet the only plot points I picked up of the entire musical was the Yule Ball and (view spoiler)[Cedric Diggory's death. (hide spoiler)]

The whole time I was reading this book - 5 years later - all I could think about was that musical and what I knew was coming because of it. I was worried the entire novel and utterly heartbroken once it actually happened - 5 years of build up to finally understanding what was happening in this book and I'd say It was 100% satisfying.

This book is masterful; it is the book where everything changes and you feel it with every flip of the page. It maintained the classic spirit of books 1-3 while perfectly balancing the added stakes and darkness. Also, like every other installment the way everything that is revealed at the end answers all your questions and puts all the more new ones straight back into your head was just as satisfying as it was the first three books and it was perfection. I want to curse 8-year-old Grace for being an idiot and 15-year-old Grace for not paying attention at work because, boy oh boy, do I wish I read this series sooner.