Customer Reviews
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
 not quite up to snuff, Jan 1, 2023
While the author does a decent job summarizing someone else's work, the look and content of this title is a clear attempt to cash in on the popularity of the books and films. Within its pages, you'll find reproductions of "Teen Beat" style magazine covers featuring the movies' stars, and quickly see that the material covered is far from comprehensive. A much better choice for a book of this nature is Fionna Boyle's "A Muggle's Guide to the Wizarding World," also available through amazon.com.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Great Companion Book for Harry Potter Fans, Sep 26, 2023
This book is a great companion piece to the Harry Potter novels. If you love the Harry Potter stories, you will certainly enjoy this book. It is full of interesting facts and background on the Harry Potter phenomenon. I especially enjoyed the information on J.K. Rowling. Since she rarely gives interviews, I was unaware of her life story and how she came to write the Harry Potter novels. Her story from a struggling writer to one of the most successful authors in history is inspiration. Much like the Harry Potter novels themselves, it will inspire the reader to pursue their dreams with conviction. The information about the book publishing was also interesting, especially the facts and pictures related to the UK releases. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It made me want to pick up the first Harry Potter novel and start reading the series again.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A Fun Peek Into the Writing Life, Aug 23, 2023
Muggles and Magic is a light, yet extensive, entertaining romp through the world of Harry Potter and author Rowling. And by "world" I mean to include the muggle world of readers and movie-watchers like you and me.
Most fascinating is the collection of notable quotes, reviews, essays, and behind-the-book/scenes stories you can find on the subjects of writing and storytelling, book publishing, and the author's writing life. Essays on the literary landscape and the genre and other fantasy writers put the books into perspective. In this way, this book doubles as a guide to the writing life, from creativity to publication, hopefully inspiring readers who already have discovered the joys of reading through Rowling's remarkable world, to also discover the joys of writing and publishing. Expect to be mightily entertained by the essay Harry Potter Ripped Off, and to turn on your philosophical mind in the essay on banning and censorship.
Movie fans can look to a shorter section on movie magic, and some photos of movie-making locations, but M&M; on the whole focuses on the HP books and resulting phenomenon, giving a written making-of feature for the books similar to what you might expect on a DVD for a movie. A section on HP merchandise and collectibles would be helpful only to the beginning collector, and can be ignored by others. A Muggle's Guide to Harry Potter features an encyclopedia of Harry Potter terms which may be helpful to new readers of HP but is just a bit of fun to dedicated fans who know such things backwards and forwards. An essay on owl habitat, care, and rights is a nice "extra" addition, while the book's color photo middle section is peppered with rich color photos of different breeds of owls to fire the imagination.
My only real complaint about the book is that I found it a little confusing, with myriad formats, perspectives, and subjects covered within each section, with some overlap. Even so, it is a fun read. In fact, with such a varied and fun format, M&M; would make a perfect companion for standing in line to read and entertain while counting down to the next book's release time.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Great Companion Piece, Jul 6, 2023
Muggles and Magic is a great companion piece for anyone who is a big fan of both the Harry Potter books and the movies. After reading it, I was able to impress my companions at a viewing of the third movie with fun facts they did not know.I especially enjoyed the Notable and Quotable sections. The Real World of J. K. Rowling contains quotes from Rowling on a variety of subjects, Film Quips contains descriptions of some of the characters and quotes from the actors who play them, and On Writing and Publishing contains mostly quotes from Rowling about writing. The Fictional Concordance would be especially useful to someone who has seen the movies but not read the books; the Harry Potter Merchandise section takes a hopeless stab at listing the many Harry Potter tie-in items. You can test your own knowledge of the world of Harry Potter by taking the book's Final Exam. A highlight for me was having well-known Tolkien artist Tim Kirk's charming sketches livening up the pages.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Indispensible Potter Companion!, Jul 5, 2023
Every time I open this book, I find another nugget of information. Easy to read and well-organized, Muggles and Magic tells the reader everything he or she ever wanted to know about J. K. Rowling and the world of Harry Potter, and then some. I only hope that George Beahm will consider putting together a follow-up volume after Books 6 and 7 are published!
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