Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander, J.K. Rowling

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Hogwarts Library)

by Newt Scamander and J.K. Rowling

As featured in the first year set texts reading list in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an extensive introduction to the magical beasts that exist in the magical, non-Muggle world. Some of the animals featured in the A-Z you will have already met in the existing Harry Potter books: for example Hippogriff, Flobberworm, Kappa - others you certainly won't: read on to find out exactly what a Chizpurfle is, or why one should always beware of the sinister Lethifold ...As Albus Dumbledore says in his introduction, this set text book by Newt Scamander has given the perfect grounding to many a Hogwarts student. It will be helpful to all Muggles out there too ...On reading the book you will also find that Harry, Ron and (in one instance) Hermione - couldn't resist grafittiing the book, and adding their own personal hand-written opinions.

Reviewed by Amber (The Literary Phoenix) on

2 of 5 stars

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Actual rating: 1.5 stars

I hear that the newer editions of this book have more illustrations and detail, and that's awesome. I'm reading the original for-charity release, so my experience was a little different.

I'm just... completely disinterested in this book. I like the other two Hogwarts Library books a lot, but Fantastic Beasts reads like a textbook and I was utterly bored. I've actually lowered the score from my previous one when I was a kid. A lot of these entries are very vague and unhelpful, especially on the magical creatures that Rowling pulled from mythology. Many of the entries are littered with anecdotes, some of which are interesting, but many of which are not.

Additionally, the book has Ron and Harry's scribblings in it. If they were more frequent, this could have been interesting, but they're only a couple of snide comments about Hagrid and some Chudley Cannons graffiti that really didn't add anything to the enjoyment of the book.

I support the original publishing of the book, because Rowling's royalties were donated to charity, but honestly, if you're looking for a compendium of magical beasts... there are more interesting, more detailed ones out there.
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Original Rating: 3 Stars

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 12 January, 2019: Finished reading
  • 12 January, 2019: Reviewed
  • Started reading
  • Finished reading
  • 12 January, 2019: Reviewed