I already know how this book is going to go since I watched the movie first, but I still enjoyed reading the first book’s screenplay, so I’ll enjoy this one too.

Read: July 8, 2024

Genre: Fantasy, Magical Realism, Historical
Audience: Middle-grade, General
Book contains: good vs evil, crimes, implied mass murder, murder, child murder, manipulation, child death

Purchase a copy from Amazon.ca

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Going a Little Off Course

Credence survived in New York, and now he is in Paris looking for his birth mother. Grindelwald, escaping custody, is in Europe as well, following Credence and still hoping to get him on his side. The team from the first book must once again band together to stop Grindelwald and save Credence from himself.

This book is where the story went off the rails a little bit.

I’m getting used to the screenplay structure, though the plot of this book itself was full of mysteries that, instead of tying themselves together at the end, left a lot of loose ends.

After getting back from my road trip, I was excited to just read a book on my balcony, enjoying the warmth and the shade. I read this the old-fashioned way, but after having seen the movie, I was able to recall the scenes in my head while reading, thus making a pseudo-audiobook to read along with. I had to read it on Monday, though, since Notes from Underground took longer than expected to finish.

We get a lot of the same characters back again, which is a treat, and a collection of new characters as well. I enjoyed the way the new characters fit into the puzzle, though there were some strange things—like how McGonagall was already a teacher at the school, despite the timeline being set eight years before she was canonically born. I liked the inclusion of Dumbledore though, and other characters from the main series were fun to meet.

There is a lot of relationship growth/development in this book. Due to a misunderstanding, Newt and Tina have grown apart, and Newt’s main motivation in this book is to find Tina to clear things up. Jacob and Queenie, after connecting in the last book, also experience some troubles. Credence is on the hunt for who he is and where he came from, and being in flux is dangerous for a person like him. Grindelwald lurks in the shadows, moving forward with his plans of world domination and wizarding rule.

J.K. Rowling’s style isn’t screenplays, but together with her team, she managed a pretty good story all things considered. I can’t really judge this book without knowing what happens next, as I’ve already watched the third movie at this point, but a lot happened in this book that wasn’t cohesive with the first and isn’t cohesive with the third. It feels a bit like she dropped the ball with this series going forward, as it’s turned into a story about Grindelwald and Dumbledore, straying from its roots of “Fantastic Beasts.”

The pacing was fine, but a lot of things were happening and some of the plot points didn’t make sense. For everything that did happen, though, it never felt too rushed or too slow.

While I loved the first book of this series, books 2 and 3 aren’t the best, and are fine to skip. Still, if you liked the first book a lot, and want to know more about what the 20s in the wizarding world were like, this is a great book for you.

Related Reviews:

Fantastic Beasts Book 1: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling
Fantastic Beasts Book 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald by J.K. Rowling
Fantastic Beasts Book 3: The Secrets of Dumbledore by J.K. Rowling & Steve Kloves
Harry Potter Book 1: The Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling