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A review by aimeesbookishlife
Harry Potter: A History of Magic by Steve Kloves, Julia Eccleshare, Tim Peake, J.K. Rowling, Anna Pavord, British Library, Roger Highfield, Steve Backshall, Lucy Mangan, Richard Coles, Owen Davies
3.0
I wanted to rate this higher because there were bits I really liked - Rowling's original drawings for the characters, some early drafts with her notes scrawled in the margins - but overall I didn't think the book quite deserved four stars.
A lot of the history information (about the actual history of magic, rather than the history of Harry Potter) was glossed over in so little detail that I felt short-changed. There was a page on broomsticks that didn't go into any real detail about WHY broomsticks and witches have been so linked in our consciousness, and the same with cauldrons. You can learn more on both subjects by looking them up on Wikipedia. I know this book isn't trying to be a history textbook but I still expected a bit more than just a list of things that appear in Harry Potter with a one-paragraph explanation for each.
The pictures and photos were stunning though. I bought the Kindle edition and that turned out to be a great thing because it meant I could double-tap on the photos to enlarge them - very useful for the early Potter manuscripts! There were character portraits by Jim Kay throughout, which were stunning, often shown alongside their descriptions from the books so you could see how much effort the artist had put in to getting them just right.
The main thing that annoyed me though is that the introduction at the beginning mentions a lot of the most interesting details, such as plot changes Rowling made during her writing. It was kinda spoilery, because it meant that when I got to that section I already knew what the 'big reveal' was going to be. If you want to read this, I would recommend skipping the introduction and coming back to it at the end.
A lot of the history information (about the actual history of magic, rather than the history of Harry Potter) was glossed over in so little detail that I felt short-changed. There was a page on broomsticks that didn't go into any real detail about WHY broomsticks and witches have been so linked in our consciousness, and the same with cauldrons. You can learn more on both subjects by looking them up on Wikipedia. I know this book isn't trying to be a history textbook but I still expected a bit more than just a list of things that appear in Harry Potter with a one-paragraph explanation for each.
The pictures and photos were stunning though. I bought the Kindle edition and that turned out to be a great thing because it meant I could double-tap on the photos to enlarge them - very useful for the early Potter manuscripts! There were character portraits by Jim Kay throughout, which were stunning, often shown alongside their descriptions from the books so you could see how much effort the artist had put in to getting them just right.
The main thing that annoyed me though is that the introduction at the beginning mentions a lot of the most interesting details, such as plot changes Rowling made during her writing. It was kinda spoilery, because it meant that when I got to that section I already knew what the 'big reveal' was going to be. If you want to read this, I would recommend skipping the introduction and coming back to it at the end.