Book Review

Fantastic beasts and where to find them by J K Rowling

The book’s action is set in New York in 1926, where the dark wizard Grindelwald, wanted for multiple murders across Europe, is thought to have shifted. Newt Scamander, our bumbling hero, has arrived in New York with a case full of fantastic beasts. Newt is a more sophisticated version of Hagrid in that he is a magizoologist who wants to teach the wizarding community that the subjects of his study should be protected, not feared. 
 
It should surprise no one, then, that within hours of his arrival, many of the creatures escape and run amok over the city.In his quest to recover them, Newt gets three companions—a No-Maj (American for “muggle”), an ex-Auror with a heart of gold and her sister who can read minds. Add to that the American version of the ministry of magic, struggling to keep the community hidden from Muggles, and a group that is determined to unearth witches, and you have a rollicking story that barely gives the reader time to breathe.

Rowling’s prodigious imagination is hard at work, conjuring up one fantastical creature after another. Swooping Evil, Occamy, Diricawl and other names are accompanied by descriptions no less magical in nature. Some, like the Bowtruckle and Niffler, are familiar to us from Potter’s Care of Magical Creatures lessons. Fitting, considering Newt writes one of the textbooks assigned to Potter in his first year at Hogwarts.

It may take more than a few pages to settle into the story, given that it is written at the pace of the movie, but Rowling knows better than most how to draw her readers in. For this reader, the entry of the endearing Queenie, the aforementioned mind-reading sister, did the trick. From that point, pages were turned faster than the Niffler pockets shiny things.

It will surprise no one that Rowling has penned yet another thrilling tale.

Sofia Year 9