★★★★★ The hinge point of the Harry Potter books

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)

JK Rowling

** spoiler alert **

I read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire eleven years ago today. It wasn't the first time -- I also read it back around 2000, when it first came out. Indeed, I believe I bought the book in hardback, something I almost never do, in order to get it as early as possible. I'm not sure why I was re-reading it in 2011 -- perhaps I did a series re-read in preparation for one of the movies.

I remember my first thought on seeing Goblet of Fire was, "Wow! That is a thick book!" This was, of course, a Harbinger Of Things To Come and also too The New Normal: Order of the Phoenix was even longer, and the subsequent two were close to Goblet of Fire in length. Is "long" good? Well, it depends on the book. There are some books you just want to reach the end of, and there are some you wish would go on forever. Goblet of Fire is closer to the second class than the first. It is also, it is fair to say, long for a reason: once the Triwizard Tournament starts, Goblet of Fire becomes something like a series of adventures, one for each trial. It is long because it is several stories in one book.

The standout moment in Goblet of Fire is the ending, when Harry confronts Voldemort. It feels like the first time that happens, although it is not, really. In Philosopher's Stone Harry met the Quirrel-embedded implementation of Voldemort, and in Chamber of Secrets (probably my favorite of all the Potter books) he met and destroyed what we later learned was a horcrux of Voldemort in the form of Tom Riddle's diary. But Goblet of Fire is the first time Harry meets a free-standing, fully restored Voldemort.

It would not be misleading, I think, to say that the second half of the Harry Potter series begins at that moment. From this point on, it's no longer a fun series about a boy wizard -- it's a battle of Voldemort against Harry and Dumbledore.

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