SOURCE: “Growing Up with Harry,” in Hindu, July 24, 2000.

In the following review, Padmanabhan states that Rowling has shifted fictional gears in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and that the series appears to have arrived at a pivotal stage.

It is exquisitely fat and meaty and children all over the world are said to marvel at its plump comeliness. Even so, the very size of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (640 pages dressed in handsome hardback) is the least significant characteristic that sets it apart from its three relatively anorexic predecessors.

The first three novels in the planned seven-part series do have their distinctive features but, on the whole, you might be forgiven for thinking that each is a little more of the same. HP4 is something else. And J. K. Rowling loses no time in demonstrating that she has firmly shifted fictional gear.

Gone is...