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'The Goblet of Fire': such a name conjures up images of a Grail quest.
Rowling's prose has dealt with such dark issues before, and she herself
announced that a character is set to die in this novel... And also that
Harry has a growing interest in girls. You can't help but try to guess
what's going to happen in this book, the clues are so tantalizing. I sort
of guessed correctly who Harry's squeeze was going to be, but Rowling completely
surprised me with the identity of the deceased. The secrecy surrounding
Harry Potter 4 was done very well, and the book more than lives up to your
expectations.
There was the increased security for all bookshops, although one resourceful girl sneaked a copy out and read it (she must have done a gone back in time charm). Gringotts are most displeased that she managed to steal a copy past the massive three headed dog which was guarding it. However, it may have been unwise for them to have chosen Fluffy... The girl was seen carrying a gramophone player at the time.
Never mind. Harry Potter himself has placed a silencing charm upon her,
for she has not yet revealed the plot (although this may also be due to the
sheer vastness of the book, which seems to be double or even triple the usual
Potter). Secret preparations were in place for the dispatch of the book.
The Hogwarts Express was pressed into service, and every owl practiced with
weights for a fortnight. Even Buckbeak was allowed back from exile in
order to do his bit. The password had to be changed from 'Pig Snout',
since muggle security guards seemed to find this offensive. Everything had to be
right for the biggest spell of magic ever. The muggles think it's fiction,
but we know better...
I think the main appeal of Rowling's books is not the character of Potter
himself (most often the visiting protagonists are much better sketched than the
boy himself). Since all the novels revolve about Potter, I sometimes think
that it would be better to see Hogwarts through his eyes, in the first person.
However, Rowling bewitches you with her plots, which are superb. I hear
it's a seven book series, and I believe that Rowling knows exactly what's going
to happen in the end. Each volume seems to have clues for future books,
and now appear to be much more open ended, and thus more compulsive.
Certainly, preorders for Harry Potter 5 are going to break even more records in
bookshops.
Hogwarts itself seems to have come from Walpole's 'Castle of Otranto', with its
ghosts and lively paintings. However, Hogwarts is both far more benign and
malign than Otranto, if that makes any sense. Certainly Rowling's prose is
more polished than Walpole's. Although the narrative is very modern, there
are quite a few healthy references to the past. I love Rowling's use of
Latin, her playing with words. If anything though, I would probably want
to branch Rowling off into the more adult writing of Christopher Fowler and
Joanne Harris. Harris certainly has the same love of the Gothic, the
Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and last, but not least, chocolate. In
'Blackberry Wine', Harris' latest novel, there is just about the same high
regard for the media as Rowling produces here in 'The Goblet of Fire'. I
think that most authors cannot but help put what they know into their writing,
and I think Rowling's sudden celebrity has added a powerful ingredient to these
novels, especially this one.
What's most attractive about this series of novels is this narrative
progression. Rowling lets Harry Potter grow up before our eyes, so the
books should become more mature as they go on. Harry Potter's certainly no
Bart Simpson or Peter Pan, forever trapped in childhood - but there's no doubt
that he's every bit as immortal as they are. I think his appeal lies not
in his being a fabulous wizard, but in the fact that he is so human. He's
not a totally virtuous hero, he's not whiter than white, and is more than
capable of spite and mischief. This makes him a far more
interesting protagonist in his fight against evil, a battle he only conducts due
to the dire circumstances of his parents' murder.
But Rowling's proved before that she can make you twist and turn with her
fiction. There are plenty of surprises in this new book, which I'll not
reveal. The Goblet of Fire is a very long book, but like Harry himself,
you'll be racing towards the end. This is the best book in the Harry
Potter series - so far. Rowling is the consummate entertainer: she always
leave you wanting for more.
Now, how about extending it to an eight or nine book series?
Kevin Patrick Mahoney
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