[First read: December, 2001. 4 stars. 
 Second read: 12th February, 2016. 3 stars.] 
 Read as part of The Infinite Variety Reading Challenge, based on the BBC's Big Read Poll of 2003. 
 The Goblet of Fire is quite a great improvement on the writing side of the series so far: when I first read these books I didn't much care on how well written they were, but in terms of the usual (punctuation, grammar, spelling etc) it was steady as before, but the pacing and characters were much better and further developed than before. 
 The main things I enjoyed about this book were quite few and far between, but first and foremost, the development of Hermione is something I'm looking at much closely and I thought she had grown quite a lot since The Prisoner of Azkaban here. I've found that Ron and Harry are pretty much the same as they were since the beginning, and I've never really much enjoyed Harry as a character anyway (how much better would it be if Neville were the protagonist? Funnier, in any case), but the way Hermione handled herself, spoke to others (both those her own age and those older or younger) and just her general demeanour was nice to read about. I also thought Molly really came in to her own, too, though I'm surprised there isn't more Ginny around in these first four books considering how bleedin' important she becomes later on. 
 The plot never really grabbed me and I don't think it ever had. I can barely remember anything of the film at all either (about to be re-watched later...). I've found that a lot of the things that happen are just co-incidental, or seem that way. I also think it's quite infuriating the way magic is used in such a blase manner: oh, one night to grow back bones? How handy. A specific spell for that one specific problem? How handy. There being hardly any consequences for doing any kind of magic? How handy. The magic system isn't the best and I feel like it's become quite background, until it's needed to disarm or kill or something, and I find that I kind of skip over the magical elements that are wand-provided. 
 I'm still not really feeling the vibe and at this point I can't see myself re-reading them ever again, though the next book has Luna and everyone bloody loves Luna, which oddly hasn't put me off her like it usually would other things. If anyone can make me feel the magic, it's Luna. 
 Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | Shop | Etsy