Fantastic Beasts follows Newt, a well-meaning British magizoologist who brings his case of magical creatures to New York. After he bumps into Jacob, a No-Maj (the American word for “muggle”), Newt accidentally lets some of his animals escape.

These fantastic animals, including the Thunderbird, “a creature like a large albatross, its glorious wings shimmering with cloud- and sun-like patterns,” are the best part of the story. As Jacob says in the screenplay and in the movie which barely changes a thing from its source material, “I ain’t got the brains to make this up.” Only Rowling does.

By inadvertently releasing his creatures, Newt has committed a crime, and a former investigator from the Magical Congress of the United States of America, Tina Goldstein, wants to turn him in to authorities. While that’s happening, and Newt desperately tries to find his animals, there’s something else at play: Anti-wizard sentiment is on the rise, with protests against “witchcraft in America.” Also, a manipulative MACUSA security man, Percival Graves, keeps meeting with the shy Credence Barebone, a member of a family of anti-wizard extremists. *

Hey guys! I’m not really ready for another exausting week, but at least I have some great books to keep me company. For example, I finally got the Fantastic Beasts Screenplay! So far, it’s, well fantastic. 😉

Three Good Things:

1. ALL OF THE CREATURES NAMES. Not that I don’t hang on to every word said by Eddie Redmayne/Newt Scamander, but he sure does have a loooot of creatures in that case, and having the book tell you what they are called and what they look like every time has been great.
2. INSIGHT INTO WHAT THE CHARACTERS ARE THINKING. Okay, so, in theory actors/actresses do this, and the people acting in Fantastic Beasts did a pretty good job with it, revealing a lot, but there’s some things you just can’t know about a character until you can read their voice on a page, so I really feel like I understand the characters better now.
3. THE ILLUSTRATIONS. Guys. Besides the fact that the cover is completely gorgeous between the lettering and the coloring and the layout etc., there are drawings of all the creatures in between each… um… chapter? Anyways, it’s really really really pretty and actually maybe my favorite thing about the book at the moment because PICTURES.

Three Bad Things:

1. IT’S SHORT. It wasn’t meant to be a book, it was meant to be a screenplay, and “Newt does crazy mating dance with magical rhino” (sorry for spoilers if you haven’t seen the movie yet) takes up a lot less room/time to write down/read then it actually did in the movie. So yeah, it’s a quick read.
2. HARD TO READ WITHOUT SEEING MOVIE FIRST. To be fair, I never read it until after I watched the movie, but as I’m reading it, I can see the movie playing in my head, and while have no evidence for this to be true, it seems to me like reading the book/screenplay without first seeing the movie could quickly become confusing and not entirely enjoyable. Besides which…
3. NO EDDIE REDMAYNE. This one’s self explanatory, right? I had never heard of Eddie Redmayne before Fantastic Beasts, and now I have plans to send him piles upon piles of fanmail until he responds. And in the screenplay, well, you always have your imagination I suppose, but no Eddie.

That’s it for today! Enjoy your week, and tell me if you liked Fantastic Beasts! (either the movie OR the book version)

*taken from usatoday.com