Rereading this series for myself, by myself, this time (with an assist from Jim Dale as narrator) has been such a delight. (This is instead of reading them or listening to them being read by Jim Dale with and to my two boys—who are not so young anymore.) This series is so close to my heart, like it is with so many other readers. It's a litmus test of sorts...to know another Harry Potter fan of the same level is to know some bit of them that's good and passionate and kind.

Up until now, I have only been writing reviews as I read the illustrated versions—but this audiobook (and the next ones—who can stop?) jumped the gun and raced ahead. We read the illustrated editions as a family and we take our time with them. (I've already told my boys they will just have to attend readings through FaceTime or something if they can't make it home...because I have no clue how long it'll take before we get the entire series completed.)

Goblet of Fire is such a huge movement forward for the series. As everyone else notes, this is the book where everything starts to darken...the tone, the mood, the atmosphere, the probable futures, the characters arcs, whatever you want to call it or peg it as, it darkens first here. It also expands here. The book's page count is a big leap from the last three, but the story never drags from it. The world as Harry knows it grows larger and more encompassing as he understands (as kids at that age tend to do) that there is so much more out there than was previously realized. This one is also more emotionally wrought. Both Harry's and the series's depth of feeling has deepened here accordingly, and the events that take place really tap into that deeper well.

When I first read these books, the fifth title had just been released. I was late to the game because they came out when I was a senior in high school (or just after) and I didn't have time for reading, much less reading a children's book...gasp. I read them after becoming a stay-at-home mom and leaving my fast-paced job to do so. I was bored. And books found me again. Being a mom to older kids puts a much broader perspective on several aspects of the novel and adds so much more character development (to Molly Weasley in particular) that I just didn't connect with early on. For, as many parts of this installment that made me cry while reading, each subsequent reading has only added more instances that bring on the tears, rather than dull my sensitivities to the old ones.

This is not the first or second time I've reread this series (nor will it be the last). Despite my limiting the reread count here on Goodreads to these two, I have read them countless times—including the audiobook versions with Jim Dale. I can never seem to get enough.