Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling

Title: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Series: Harry Potter Companion Books, 1
Author: Newt Scamander (J.K. Rowling)
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Length: 42 Pages
Publication Date: November 1, 2001
Available Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook
Source: Confiscated it from my sisters book collection
My Rating: ★★★★★
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Book Description: A copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them resides on almost every wizarding household in the country. Now, for a limited period only, Muggles too have the chance to discover where the Quintaped lives, what the Puffskein eats, and why it is best not to leave milk out for a Knarl.

Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to improving and saving the lives of children around the world, which means that the dollars and Galleons you exchange for it will do magic beyond the powers of any wizard. If you feel that this is insufficient reason to part with your money, I can only hope most sincerely that passing wizards feel more charitable if they ever see you being attacked by a Manticore.
-Albus Dumbledore

The book Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them is a common wizarding household item. Meaning that wizards all over the world find the information written on these pages to be very valuable and helpful with a great many magical creature related problems. Now, thanks to the amazing persuasive abilities of the one and only Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, muggles all around the globe have a chance to acquire a copy of this book. But not just any new edition, muggles will be able to purchase a copy with handwritten notes at random and irregular intervals on the pages of this book. And whose notes are these? Why, no less than those of The Boy Who Lived and his best friends Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger. These side-notes add an amusing touch to this already wonderful book. And, as if that wasn’t enough, twenty percent of the sales of this book will go to Comic Relief U. K., an organization set on helping children who live in poverty all around the world.

Now thought, in all seriousness this book is a wonderful addition to all PotterHeads out there. It’s funny and easy to read. I loved it from page one (seriously the first page had me in a fit of giggles) till the very end. It has many, many creatures identified in it, from dragons and unicorns all the way to fwoopers and acromantulas.

I truly loved this book J.K. Rowling has a wonderful gift through which she charms the reader and allows you to get lost inside the wonderful world of witches and wizards that she created. This book adds magic and expands the already big world of the infamous Harry Potter. In all honesty Rowlings could publish twenty books more just to expand on the history of Harrys world and I would more than happily read them all. I hope that someday she publishes Hogwarts Through the Ages. That would truly make my life complete, or as close as it will get xD

Comic Relief U.K.:

http://www.comicrelief.com/ 

http://www.comicrelief.com/about-us/product-licensing 

http://www.comicrelief.com/news/2009-07/harry-potter-book-profits-go-comic-relief 

http://www.comicrelief.com/news/2012-08/harry-potter-companion-books-now-available-ebooks

Review: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

Title: The Bad Beginning
Series: A Series of Unfortunate Event, Book 1
Author: Lemony Snicket
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Length: 176 Pages
Publication Date: September 30, 1999
Available Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook, Audiobook.
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository

Book Description:

Dear Reader,

I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels. One might say they are magnets for misfortune.

In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.

It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing.

With all due respect,

Lemony Snicket

This story takes place in an extremely FILTHY house owned by the strange, scary and mysterious Count Olaf. This house is set in the other side of the town in which the children live. Once the children start to live and try to adjust to their new lifestyle they are quick to realize that it will be impossible for things to get better for them. Most of the feeling of the story is one of darkness, sadness and misery with very few moments of happiness or joy.

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead by Max Brooks

Title: The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead
Series: Stand Alone Work
Author(s): Max Brooks
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Publication Date: September 23, 2011
Reviewed Format: e-Pub Edition
My Rating:  ★★★☆☆

Ok, I first heard about this book while watching Deadliest Warrior’s season finale in Spike. For those who don’t know the series takes two extremely famous (deadly) warriors and matches them up through computer based statistics; example: Alexander the Great vs Attila the Hun. For their latest season finale they decided to takes things to the paranormal level and match up Zombies vs Vampires.

Now, I got interested in the book so I research a bit about it and most of the reviews seem favorable so I went and got it. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of this book but humor wasn’t it and it is certainly extremely funny.

As the book begins you get a rundown of what are zombies, how they are created and how long they’ve been around. From there it moves into a more or less detailed description of which weapons and combat techniques are “proven” to work best on zombies. It shows the reader the various ways to survive a zombie attack ranging from fending oneself against 5 or 6 zombies, all the way to full blown apocalypse. It even gives advice on post-apocalyptic survival. From this point on the book details – in chronological order – numerous attacks through history and their outcomes. As a bonus, the reader gets an Appendix which examples how to keep an outbreak journal so that a zombie attack can be identified.

In all, the book is a funny way to kill some time. I’ll recommend it to anyone who likes zombies or dystopian themed books.