I have one consistent comment about these books, especially as an educator: Who the fuck is running these schools and allowing contests that you can't back out of to exist? It'd be nice to have a more in-world explanation for why these things are allowed, especially seeing as Rowling relies almost entirely on the currently existing status quo. ("Oh, imagine if we had real schools but also dragon contests!") It mostly feels quite dull, especially for a magical school.

This is also one of the more frustrating books for me in terms of the amount of time that is spent on things that often feel irrelevant. I'm supposed to feel something for Cedric, and I never do. There's nothing there for me other than some weird lesson about how being a nice person who wants to share in winning an event leads to the death of another. His existence feels inconsequential for the reader, which is really weird. He doesn't have to be prominent as a person, but there are better ways to write that Harry could feel guilty over his death. You can have a death that feels empty and pointless without making the character feel empty and pointless, and you can have a death that shows that a person like Voldemort doesn't care about anything or anyone... But this just doesn't have that feeling or emotion.

There are so many instances where I wonder how no one seemed to notice something was happening, especially with regards to Barty Crouch Jr being masked as Moody. The hints that are dropped aren't really hints because we don't actually know Moody. There is no contradiction in personality, there is nothing there that makes it clear that this Moody is someone other than who we're told he is... It's just lazy writing. It feels more like she started the book with one idea and then flipped it in the middle. Another thing is that the kids, despite coming up with their own conspiracies, can't understand or refuse to believe that a person could be setup? They can believe in magic, but they can't believe that someone's being setup.