Book Log #97: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling

[annathepiper]

Four books in, and I'm finally into territory I hadn't read before--though not entirely new story yet, since I'm farther ahead with the movies than I am with the books. Still, though, it was good to get the entire, full-length book version of the Goblet of Fire story. The biggest fun I had with this entire thing was the raising of the stakes with the return of Voldemort, and the expansion of what the reader gets to know about the world past what goes on at Hogwarts. The opening chapter being entirely outside Harry's point of view was a refreshing switch. Also, points to Dumbledore for finally doing a bit of badassery on camera, and showing something of why he has such a rep of being Most Awesome Wizard Around.

Favorite side details: the leprechauns at the Quidditch World Cup forming giant messages like HA HA in the air. Hagrid and Madame Maxime, whose love is apparently very, ah, large. ;) Seeing the older Weasley brothers, Bill and Charlie, on camera--and oh look, finally, somebody in this cast I might actually find kind of hot, since Bill and Charlie both sound rather cool. Hermione's little moment of glory at the Yuletide dance, which has rather more impact in the book than it does on film. And ah yes, the joy of seeng Malfoy being turned into a ferret.

('Cause I still ain't feeling the Malfoy love, or for that matter, the Snape love. Though I will grant that it's also cool to finally see some more reason why Snape is interesting. I don't find him the slightest bit swoonable, but I definitely find him interesting. Malfoy, on the other hand, remains an annoying little twatwaffle. Comparing the two, I find my desire to see some sign of Slytherin characters with actual morals increasing. It gets kind of tiresome for all the Slytherins to be twatwaffles all of the time, after all.)

Also, not to be repetitive or anything, but GAH, the ellipses! Rowling only seems to whip them out in Big Important Plot Point Moments, but this time around, it was particularly painful to read. Especially in the big Voldemort Explains His Devious Plan Chapter, where we got ellipses all over the place in his dialogue and in the narrative. For me, the ultimate effect of this was that Voldemort's dialogue read like either a) he kept wandering off his train of thought, or b) he was doing a very bad William Shatner impersonation. Neither of these possibilities added to his overall intimidation factor, I'm tellin' ya.

So, long story (and this was quite the long story) short, on the one hand I have very cool expansion of what the reader knows balanced against what should have been a way more intimidating Villain Reveal sequence than it actually was. I'm giving this installment three stars.

Comments

[firni.livejournal.com]

I heart the term TWATWAFFLES.

Don't expect any royalties, however.

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

Heh, had sort of the opposite reaction, at least insofar as it sounded cool but didn't work for me as an insult -- should an insult sound yummy?

[annathepiper]

Come to think of it, waffles would probably improve Draco's disposition! Maybe that's his problem: lack of waffles in his childhood. ;)

[annathepiper]

Hey, I swiped it myself from smartbitches. They are such a good source of, in addition to snark on romance novel covers, excellent insult and cuss words. ;)

[damara.livejournal.com]

You know, I don't even remember the ellipses in these stories. They definitely did not make an impression on me the first time around. :)

[annathepiper]

They leap out at me big time. Part of it is the thing I pick up from the romance genre, especially reading smartbitches, where people tend to snark heavily upon overuse of ellipses in older novels. And part of it is also that my beta readers have dinged me heavily for overuse of ellipses in my own work, so I'm quite sensitive to their use. ;)

[janne.livejournal.com]

While I didn't notice the ellipses as such, I do recall that Voldemorts big scene was a rather awkward and protracted read. Ellipses probably didn't help on that -- in my mind they're a sort of Barbara Cartland trademark and having Voldemort talk like one of her mildly dazed heroines is a bit distracting.

While I'm in the swoonable Snape camp myself, that's admittedly more based on the Alan Rickman Snape than the Rowling one :D That mans voice should be R-rated or something.

[annathepiper]

*snicker* Yeah, the whole Barbara Cartland Heroine thing kept coming to mind for me, too. Since I regularly read smartbitches, I periodically see that exact complaint come up in comments there. Then solarbird pointed out that it makes for a William Shatner impersonation, too, and I now cannot stop snickering at the mental image of Ralph Fiennes in Voldemort makeup channeling Shatner.

As for Mr. Rickman, I do grant you, movie!Snape is more appealing than book!Snape, in no small part because the dude does have a very delicious voice.

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

I think i liked this book better thanyou, but totally with ya in that I *never* really got the Draco love (tho Snape as interesting is certainly seeable and even agreeable), or why so many cool girls I know online decided they wished to be Slytherins. When I had my sorting hat dream after/during the first book, I was praying "please *not* Slytherin" (or hufflepuff, because apparently my dreamself is a snob; I got Gryffindor, which was my first choice and made me all happy).

[annathepiper]

I wouldn't want to necessarily be a Slytherin myself, mind you. Now, Ravenclaw? I'm there! But I'd like to see a Slytherin character show up somewhere who isn't necessarily, y'know, evil. Just because "ambition" is your dominant characteristic doesn't automatically mean you're going to jump onto the Voldemort Bandwagon at your first chance. I'd very much like to see a Slytherin character who's willing to do less than honorable things for the sake of the greater good--that Sorting Hat song in the first book, after all, talks about how "those cunning folk will use any means to achieve their ends" or some such. Those ends don't necessarily have to be evil.

Draco I'd buy as swoonable if he had any sign of style or any trace of sympathetic characteristics. I mean, I get the whole Bad Boy Appeal thing. I spent a good chunk of the years of watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, after all, ogling Spike. ;) But the thing with Spike was, he had style and humor and occasional glimmers of better character that led him on an interesting development arc later. With Draco, four books in, all I'm seeing is continued twatitude with nothing sympathetic to balance that out.

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

Oh hell, I'm not attracted to guys and pre-Seeing Red *I* thought Spike was one of the best characters on TV.

And like you, I totally don't get the Draco-love, except that for a while there a very, very different Draco in Cassandra Claire's Draco trilogy was quite popular online. I'm assuming that's where it all came from.

Agreed w/you about Slytherins not having to be evil, but as far as the ones you actually see? Okay, plenty of them aren't necessarily evil, depending on what you call evil, but there isn't a one I'd want to spend time hanging out with. A bunch of sociopaths, they strike me as.

[annathepiper]

Oh, I'm well aware of the Draco trilogy, yeah. :) Though I am not in HP fandom, and therefore not in a position to guess whether that was a standard-setter or just an example for how the lad is perceived in said fandom.

And sure, the Slytherins we see in the books are a bunch of twonks. Which is my entire point. I'd like to see more Slytherins who aren't twonks. Part of me suspects that anybody who's in Slytherin and who's going to wind up halfway decent may be more likely to be a twonk in their childhood and adolescence, though; the closer to decent Slytherins may not show their true colors until they're actually grown up.

I find myself wondering, for example, whether Mad-Eye Moody might have been a Slytherin. So far I've seen no reference that says what House he might have been in as a youngster, but he certainly seems to have that idea of "willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his ends", and yet he still falls on the side of the light.

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

I'm not in HP fandom either (tho a couple of different someone's managed to incite my interest in erotic elves, so I guess I am now in an HP fandom community, at least to the extent reading some of the porn therein when I have time makes me part of it), but two different friends of mine who were draco fans told me to go read the C.C. books when I expressed pretty much the same opinion about Draco as you.

I actually liked it, well enough that I read her real book when it came out earlier this year w/a slight name respelling (Cassandra Clare). (yes, I know, ff people get irritated w/that real vs fanfic distinction, but it's one I make--apologies if me saying so bugs you tho)

That's an interesting take on mad-eye, & would be even more interesting if turned out to be true. Heh, maybe I should run the idea by one of my more hp fannish friends who might remember enough of the appropriate details to give a more educated opinion than I can.

[annathepiper]

Late answer to this, but for the record: "real" vs. "fanfic" as a distinction is no skin off my nose. ^_^

More HP-ness to come when I read Book 7. Which I do still intend to do. Honest!

[bloody-keri.livejournal.com]

Of all the HP books, GoF was my least favorite - which is odd because for many it's THE favorite. I think it was the whole tournament thing that turned me off. I'm not a sports kind of person and that was all just too sportsy for me! The cemetary scene was excellent, though.

[annathepiper]

Hrmm. Not sure yet which one I'll wind up liking the most. So far, at least as reflected by the overall ratings I've been giving each, Chamber of Secrets is in the lead. But I'm genuinely liking Half-Blood Prince so far too, if nothing else because it's a refreshing switch from Harry being so sulky all throughout Order of the Phoenix. ;)

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

gah, I really must catch up w/my f-list. I think I've completely missed yet another review. *g*

[annathepiper]

Catch up quick, I'm halfway through HBP! ;)

[bloody-keri.livejournal.com]

Chamber of Secrets is my fave, hands down. I just like the whole feel of that one.

[annathepiper]

Indeed. For me, it's the tightest story of the lot. :)