Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Illustrated Edition

If you are planning to purchase this book, please do so used in order to curb J.K. Rowling's spending on her transphobia.

Time for another Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire reread, but this time with pictures! This review will be primarily focusing on the Illustrated Edition, though I will probably be adding some of my views on the story as well. There will be spoilers, especially in the quotes section.

The cover is alright. Definitely not my favorite of the Illustrated Editions. The Norwegian Ridgeback’s design is interesting. I did notice a slightly amusing detail on the back of Snape smiling as he watches Harry confront the dragon. Though we can’t see the other side of the stands, it does seem like the enclosure in which Harry and the dragon are is waaaay too small and it’s a wonder it hasn’t gone up in flames by this point. The opening pages depict the World Cup camping grounds and really drive home how bright and festive that event is.

I love the illustration of the Riddle House. It’s spot on and I kind of want it blown up for a Halloween decoration of some sort. The entire chapter is quite atmospherically done.
 

The illustrations of the predawn English countryside in “The Portkey” are gorgeous. They remind me very much of some old Beatrix Potter videos I watched as a kid at my grandparents’ house. I do wish they’d switched to white text here, though, as the black blends in a bit too well with the gray-green background. Gotta say, the illustrations of Cedric and Krum (in the next chapter) look quite similar.

Not really sure why Draco warranted a full, two-page spread in the middle of “The Dark Mark,” but there it is. The forest looks properly forest-y. I never pictured Draco to have such a square jaw.

I quite like the Hogwarts Express illustrations. Gorgeous.

Things I did not need an illustration of: Blast-Ended Skrewts

Love, love, love the Beauxbatons carriage/flying horses illustration. Love me some well-rendered horses.
 

The portrait of Rita Skeeter is arresting, to say the least. I suppose it is more book-accurate than not, but uh… it’s unflattering.

The combo of Hungarian Horntail paintings with the actual text was very effective. I wasn’t expecting a second Horntail depiction so soon… or at all… but the second one matched really, really well with the text.

Interesting rendition of merpeople, or at least their faces. Kind of cat-like, really.
 

Wow, that portrait of Winky in “The Madness of Mr Crouch.” It’s… uh… wow probably the darkest portrait, in terms of subject matter. Hats off to whichever artist did that one.

Omg, the illustration depicting Voldemort’s “child-ish” form is hella creepy. As is the illustration of naked Voldemort on the following page. Very evocative.

Of course, there are many more illustrations within the book. All beautifully done. I highly recommend either finding the illustrations online (they’re probably floating around by now) or checking out this edition from your library. However you choose to view these, please figure out the best way to do so without giving JK Rowling anymore money. She definitely doesn’t need it and will only use it to fund anti-trans nonsense.

Favorite Lines

"Through the gates, flanked with statues of winged board, and up the sweeping drive the carriages trundled, swaying dangerously in what was fast becoming a gale." - Narration

"Talon-clipping by charms... treating scale rot... this is no good, this is for nutters like Hagrid who want to keep them healthy..." - Harry Potter

"Secrecy Sensor. Vibrates when it detects concealment and lies... no use here, of course, too much interference -- students in every direction lying about why they haven't done their homework. Been humming ever since I got here. I had to disable my Sneakoscope because it wouldn't stop whistling. It's extra sensitive, picks up stuff about a mile around. Of course, it could be picking up more than kids' stuff," he added in a growl. - Mad Eye Moody (Barty Crouch Jr.)

"I have gone temporarily deaf and haven't any idea what you said, Harry," said Dumbledor, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling. - Albus Dumbledore

"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." - Sirius Black

In Other News

I finished my Tsunomon project over on OviPets! Tsunomon took 4 months with a 5 month gap while I waited on a Seasonal Mutation. Tsunomon is part of my Village of Beginnings Project Line and based off the Digimon of the same name.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K Rowling - Illustrated Edition

A Spoiler Free Reread Review

If you are planning to purchase this book, please do so used in order to curb J.K. Rowling's spending on her transphobia.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite of the Harry Potter books, full stop. This review is a reread review but also specifically for the Jim Kay Illustrated Edition. This time around, I’m going to be trying to focus a bit more on reviewing Prisoner of Azkaban from the lens of it being illustrated. That said, I am absolutely in love with the cover! The contrast of the emerald green lettering against the indigo background and Knight Bus is just beautiful. I could happily just stare at this cover for a while.

I am also strangely in love with the inside cover illustration of Azkaban. I like the touch of the wrecked ships along the coastline. I also love that the Azkaban motif if carried through the title, copyright, and content pages. It’s way more beautiful than Azkaban deserves.

Honestly, the illustration of Aunt Marge in her swelled state is really disturbing and might haunt my dreams. Do not like.

Love the tile designs in chapter 4. They manage to be pretty cute. Also the two page spread for the Magical Menagerie shop is fascinating.

“Talons and Tea Leaves” was the first chapter for Harry Potter I remember reading. It had been published in Disney Adventures magazine ahead of the Prisoner of Azkaban book release. I remember it being much more atmospheric than it is when I read it now. Possibly to do with some of the illustrations Disney added. The doily motif used in this version of the book, however, doesn’t lend itself well to the atmosphere or the chapter, even if it is easy enough to read through. “Talons and Tea Leaves” does contain my favorite illustration, though. Jim Kay’s hippogriffs are absolutely gorgeous; fully deserving of their two-page spread. All the hippogriff illustrations are gorgeous. I especially love the background details in the Buckbeak portrait in chapter 14.

The illustration of Crookshanks and Scabbers is fantastic. Really captures Crookshank’s menacing look. As a veteran Harry Potter fan it is, of course, absolutely hilarious to me how Scabbers looks so terrified of him.

The grindylow two-page spread is impressive. Makes me wish it was included in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Gorgeous and well detailed. The Werewolf page is less impressive. Between this illustration and the movie version, it’s super easy to tell a real wolf from a werewolf. Much rolling eyes.

The Marauder’s Map illustration is much more in line with what I’ve always envisioned as opposed to the movie version. I LOVE all the little details you can read if you squint. So cool.

So… butterbeer. Introduced in this book, so it makes sense Harry wouldn’t have had it before. However, if Fred and George can sneak down to Hogsmeade whenever they like and have brought butterbeer back before… which I assume they would have and do in this book… then why is it so odd to Lupin that Harry gets all excited about it. I doubt James and them wouldn’t have snuck butterbeer into the castle given the opportunity. Just a weird bit of retconning silliness I noticed.

I am in love with the tortoise teapot at the head of chapter 16. Love it, love it, love it. The greenhouse in the same chapter is wildly eccentric.

The Servant of Lord Voldemort contains the most menacing portrait of Snape I’ve ever seen. He looked unhinged… which he probably was in that moment, the git. The portrait of Peter is also terrifying, though for different reasons.

So yes, I am still very much in love with Prisoner of Azkaban. The illustrated version definitely enhanced the reading experience. 10/10, will probably reread this version again. And open it just to stare at the pretty pictures.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Illustrated Edition by JK Rowling

Re-Read Review

If you are planning to purchase this book, please do so used in order to curb J.K. Rowling's spending on her transphobia.

I have probably read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at least 20 times. This time, I read the illustrated version with a few jumps back over to the paperback because spiders are just not my jam. The Jim Kay illustrated version is beautiful. I loved almost every moment of it with a special highlight being the full 2-page spread of the phoenix. The illustrations really added to my enjoyment of the book, which is not really one of my favorites of the Harry Potter series.

Chamber of Secrets is definitely one of those books that both flourishes and suffers upon reread. The flourishing part has to do with the massive amount of foreshadowing and set up Rowling seeds throughout. Like, really, the amount of stuff from Chamber of Secrets that is more relevant because of later books is astounding. Not entirely surprising if you’re a massive Harry Potter nerd like I am or find out that Rowling originally wanted to have a lot of Half-Blood Prince stuff in Chamber of Secrets, but still really impressive. The suffering actually has more to do with Rowling’s magic system and the holes I saw in it… which of course is what this review is going to focus on.

Okay so, somewhere in between taking off from London and getting pummeled by the Whomping Willow, the Ford Anglia managed to gain sentience. Unless it was sentient from the time Arthur started working magic on it… in which case, how??? This is where Rowling’s magic system really starts getting into the weeds of “how does that happen” and we’re apparently not supposed to notice because “magic.”

I honestly feel like this is the most sinister Tom Riddle ever is. There’s just something special about a more quiet villain, which he definitely is at this point. I’m not sure I felt this way in my first read, but this time around it’s like “ooohhhh crap. Harry doesn’t have a clue and Riddle’s just smiling and doing his own thing…”

On a side note, “werewolf cubs”? So… not kids bitten my werewolves, but hereditary werewolves? The implications of this are not actually touched on here and are never brought up again and I have questions.

I find it interesting that intent has nothing whatsoever to do with freeing House Elfs. Lucius just vaguely threw the sock in Dobby’s direction and Dobby is freed. No intent on Lucius’ part. I feel like, if the House Elf enslavement thing was magically binding, there would have had to be some intent on the part of the wizard to unbind the House Elf. Slavery is gross to begin with and the method of keeping House Elfs enslaved is also gross and brings into question some logistics, but yeah… this really jumped out at me on this reread.

Anywho, Chamber of Secrets is really where the Harry Potter series starts to show its darkness. I know this isn’t revelatory for us older fans, but it’s very, very true. Chamber of Secrets is still ostensibly geared toward younger readers, but it’s unmistakably dark.