Goblet of Fire

[in_the_blue]

I'm listening to Jim Dale's rendition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire again for the first time in a long, long time. I'd forgotten how creepy and well-written the first chapter really is.

So, is it just me, or does Order of the Phoenix pale in comparison? This one seems to be written so much more tightly. Curious if others of you agree, because I'm still not convinced that OotP is really the well-crafted and well-written masterpiece that Stephen King declared it to be (aside from the overabundance of adverbs). And not because of what happens... but because of the way it's written.

Comments

[queen-nerd06.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what you mean. There is something about OotP that doesn't fit in with the rest of the HP series. I think it is because JKR used OotP mainly as a bridge between book 4 and 6. At least I hope so. That means book 6 will be packed with the action scences that were missing from OotP.

Re:

[sunny-daylee.livejournal.com]

And the R/H stuff. Where was that? All Hermione did all book was knit and tell Ron off for not telling anybody off! (grumbles) I was hoping their "relationship" would progress some.

[amberdulen.livejournal.com]

I thoroughly prefer GoF -- maybe it's because I'm still getting used to OotP, but I think GoF introduced more useful and interesting aspects of her world (despite JKR's very blatant attempt to deposit new names into the Canon base) and I think it was a more interesting, better-rounded better plot all around. Plus, there was no serious surprise in the ending of OotP like in previous books. It's sort of lost the "Whodunnit" aspect. Voldemort dun it. He's going to dun it for the rest of the series.
I think you're right, also, that OotP has less continuity than GoF. In GoF there was the Triwizard Tournament to tie things together; in OotP there are a dozen plot lines that can all be roughly traced back to Voldemort, but don't enmesh nearly as well.
Glad to know someone else is willing to say that maybe OotP wasn't the best of the books so far.

[awelkin.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on OotP.

Catherine