Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J. K. Rowling

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
J. K. Rowling

Front cover

Date read: 9 - 15 December 2017
Length: 282 pages (293 including appendices)

Newt Scamander visits New York with a suitcase full of interesting creatures. But when a few escape and roam the city, he has no choice but to enlist the help of a Muggle (No-Maj). He also as to avoid a death sentence put on him by MACUSA! Can he escape and find his creatures?


I enjoyed the story and it was easy to read, but I didn't feel it flowed as well as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I preferred The Cursed Child in terms of the writing, but for the actual story I felt Fantastic Beasts was better.

My favourite bit is when they go into the suitcase and you get to see all the different places where the creatures live. It is so imaginative and really puts you in a different place. I watched the film shortly after finishing the book, and it was great to see what you had imagined in your head come to life on the screen. I think they did it very well.

It was good to get to know other characters from the same world as Harry Potter even if it was from a different time and country. I found it amusing the little differences such as the term for non-magical people; Muggles in Britain and No-Maj's in USA. But I suppose there are differences in the language anyway.

I liked Jacob, but not so sure about Tina. Even after finishing and watching the film, I just feel suspicious of Tina, like she's hiding something or she's up to something. I really do like Jacob. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and such a lovable character.

I toyed between 3 and 4 stars for this one. As much as I liked the story, the writing did let it down a little bit.

J. K. Rowling

Overall rating

Thanks,
The Wee Librocubicularist

Perfect (Flawed #2) by Cecelia Ahern

Perfect
Flawed #2
Cecelia Ahern

Front cover

Date read: 28 November - 8 December 2017
Length: 428 pages


Celestine North is on the run from Judge Crevan and his Guild of Whistleblowers. She has a secret he desperately wants to stay hidden, but she's determined to bring down the Guild and end "Flawed" life for everyone. Who will win this war?


It's like the more you read, the better it gets. I felt like this one was really such a page-turner, and found it hard to stop reading at times. There's definitely a lot more drama, and it just goes from one thing to the next; it's quite a fast pace.

I wish there was another one. I know the story did finish and most things are resolved, but I think it could have been a trilogy, with the third book being about life after the events here. I know I would be interested in that, and I imagine quite a few other readers would be too!

One thing that I didn't like was Celestine taking forever to figure out where the video was hidden! There were several major clues for her, and she just seemed to dismiss them all. It was basically at the last moment a light bulb went off for her, and she finally realised what had been under he nose all along.


I would definitely read a third book if it was published.

Cecelia Ahern

Overall rating

Thanks,
The Wee Librocubicularist

Jason (Anita Blake #23) by Laurell K. Hamilton

Jason
Anita Blake #23
Laurell K. Hamilton

Front cover

Date read: 22 - 27 November 2017
Length: 255 pages

Anita Blake is a vampire hunter, an animator and a U.S. Marshall for the Preternatural Team. She has a lot of lovers. A lot. When one of her werewolf lovers gets a new girlfriend, they turn to Anita for help explaining bondage and rough sex. Who doesn't like a show and tell lesson?


I really like Anita Blake, but I miss when the stories were about supernatural mysteries and big bad evils they had to defeat, and not just all about sex like they are now. Anita has definitely changed a lot over the course of the previous 22 novels, and it shows. She had a lot of morals back in the beginning, and it seems that her morals have changed considerably. She used to be monogamous, would never have been involved with something that she kills. Now she has many, many lovers, and just about all of them are preternatural in some way, from werewolves to vampires.

Jason is a novella, so it is quite short in comparison to some of the others. I haven't read an Anita Blake book in such a long time. I read the first 22 over the course of a couple of years, then stopped because at the time there weren't any more to read! Jason was a good reminder of some of the characters (and let's be honest, there are rather a few) after not reading for a while.

I've heard the next novel, Dead Ice, is better, so I will read that soon. I will keep reading them until she stops writing them, but I can't guarantee I'm going to enjoy them as much as in the earlier novels.


As far as this novella is concerned, it really is basically one sex scene as a book. There's the discussion to begin with, then doing what they've discussed. Anita comes to the realisation that Jade is not the female lover for her, and they all end in a big happy puppy pile. Apart from sex, nothing much else happens.

Laurell K. Hamilton

Overall rating

Thanks,
The Wee Librocubicularist