Customer Reviews

The Hidden Myths in Harry Potter: Spellbinding Map and Book of Secrets

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Unfortunately, some people seem to have mistaken this item, which is a large map that comes with a very short booklet of explanations, for my full book on the subject, "The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter." The map, which was drawn by Virginia Allyn, is great. (She gets all five stars in the rating I gave it.) It's interesting and it's very funny. There's a lot of Rowling-like humor in Virginia's drawings. But obviously a map isn't going to have the same amount of information as a 40,000-word book. It's a fun poster that also happens to have substance, and it's meant for either very young fans or for those older fans who already know the background of myths and legends in Potter but want to see it all as a picture.

Author David Colbert has done a great job in THE HIDDEN MYTHS book. Focusing on the creatures, characters and other hidden meanings within the Potter series of books, Colbert has created a book that is both easy to read and follow for all HP fans. The map is a fun addition. With Book 7 still a long way from being published, I especially found it especially entertaining to finish this book and then immediately read the new ULTIMATE HARRY POTTER TRIVIA BOOK by author Daniel Lawrence to test how much I really know (or should I say "don't" know) about Harry Potter and Books 1-6. Excellent companion book. Being both a librarian and Harry fan, I highly recommend.

This book is fine for real young readers who are just getting into mythology. It is a fine introduction but not a lot of details.

the only good part of this book is the map but even that isn't useful. i strongly suggest you don't waste your money or time on this one. You'd get the same and actually more extensive information from almost any of the other books. One of the best but even that is missing a few important things is.. Fact, Fiction, and Folklore in Harry Potter's World: An Unofficial Guide. If you want to read my review of that I'll be writing one as soon as I'm done with this.

I bought this edition for my daughter, to help her understand the sources behind her favourite series, and see the connections to the world of myths. She refers to this book and the map from time to time, re-reading it with or without HP books. I think that as an introductory information for young readers this book is good; the map is nice and the comments provide just enough information to make the young readers interested in the subject of myths and wanting to learn more. Adult readers would probably be disappointed and should buy another HP reference book.

I think this is a great resource, especially for those of us who can't remember certain details of mystical places and times.

Great idea, but bit dissapointing even for a Harry Potter fiend like myself.

Maybe I'm just not in the right age bracket though.

Loved the drawings and I know my Grand Child will too...The adventrue continues....A Christmast present

This book is simple yet cute. It has a nice map with exaggerated drawings representing where the certain items are that they are discussing. Great addition to a HP collector but only takes about 10 minutes to read.

An interesting book which contains a lot of information on the background of many of the people/places/things in the Harry Potter books, although I have some doubts over the accuracy of some of the information it contains.

The book is a good reference for information on people such as Nicholas Flamel, Circe and Paracelsus and for the origin of names (e.g. Patil)while most of the creature information is also interesting. One problem is in regard to the Unicorn. The Unicorn legend actually came about over the misidentification of the Rhinocerus and was made by European and Middle Eastern traveleres coming back from Africa.

On the whole I was very satisfied with the book and would reccommend it to anyone who is interested in the background of these legendary people, animals and places/things referenced in the Harry Potter books.