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Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter

Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter

List Price: $24.95
Your Price: $15.72
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolutely the _best_ in-depth Harry Potter Guide YET!!
Review: I have read just about all the Harry Potter "guides," and, being an avid fan (aka: obsessed), I cannot say I have found a single better book. After begging for it as a Christmas gift, as I found the price a bit high for a college student like myself, I haven't put the book down since. This book is jam-packed with facts and histories, and theories about things even -I- have overlooked! Believe you me...once you read this, you'll be reading the first four Harry Potter books over and over again...the wait until Order of the Phoenix won't seem so long, as you become an HP Sleuth and try to find yourself what the wonderful Galadriel Waters has missed. Honestly, this is an excellent book, and please, please don't let the price fool you...this book is HUGE! Heavy, too! ^_~ Over 400 pages, filled with everything possible to make the little wheels in your head start turning. I've suggested to all my fellow fans for them to READ_THIS_BOOK!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent, Simply Excellent
Review: I got a tip on this book from a Harry Potter website and ordered it up immediately. It is a comprehensive analysis of the first 4 books in the HP series, chapter by chapter and sometimes paragraph by paragraph. The authors have cross referenced all the hints and clues they note in each book and build these clues and hints into their predictions for what's coming in books 5 - 7. A unique and thorough review of all 4 books and a must read to get ready for the release of Order of the Phoenix in June. 5 stars in a walk!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: An Interesting Book
Review: I like this book a lot, it is quite interesting and there were a LOT of things I didn't realize about the Harry Potter books. It really makes me appreciate JKR more and since reading this I have never payed attention to the people who claim the books are too long because of 'useless' (this book proves they're actually hints!) details.

The problem with this book is that it's a bit too in-depth. They look at EVERYTHING, even considering repeated words or phrases clues, like the number 12. This can get boring and often I would put the book down in disgust because they thought the littlest things were big clues. But then I'd pick it up again and find out something like,"Wow, every 13th chapter you are introduced to the villain!" and be interested again. This is a book best flipped through occaisonally.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Much ado over very little
Review: This looked like a thick, impressive book ...so I gave it a try. It turns out the reason it's so thick is that much of the contents consists of a scene-by-scene paraphrase of virtually every scene in the first four books! This is followed, for the most part, not by insights, as I was lead to suspect, but by questions: what do we think this means? Might it be a clue? Let's remember to keep an eye out for this, etc., etc. Not that the book has no merit - but this is what comprises the bulk of the text by far. One of the interesting things are the comments, hints, and answers that J.K. Rowling has provided in the course of various interviews from numerous sources that the author of this book has tracked down and includes. Also there are interesting comparisons between the English, American and French editions (I guess the author doesn't read German or Spanish, etc). Also, if you like your reading broken up with the inclusion of lots of smiley faces or frowns and parenthetical ha ha has, you'll love this book. I didn't.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An interesting and in depth analysis
Review: I found this book very interesting and liked it very much. The background info on names, in specific, was wonderful. It opens up a whole new world of ideas for me as to what will happen in the next few books and gives interesting insights as to particular characters' actions. The book is actually rather accurate most of the time (I read it after I read OotP). Some fascinating septology clues are pointed out that I never would have found on my own, like references to other works that JKR might parallel.

There were some things I didn't like. For example, parts of the Restricted Section in the back. I found it a bit far-fetched, though, certainly, what they say is possible. Then there's some things I thought that the solution/answer was obvious to, yet they couldn't figure it out. Overall, though, it was a fun book to read and was very insightful.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Mystery Solver
Review: A great tool in helping unravel the mysteries behind Harry Potter. Allows you to see thing that you most definitly missed the first time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Extremely interesting
Review: As a very big fan of Harry Potter, I really enjoyed this book. The authors tear through virtually every line in the book, chapter by chapter, analyze it, and then hypothesize what it means. Some call it excessive, and I can see where they're coming from, but for a huge fan interested in what will happen in final books and all of the characters in the book, it will most likely be a great read.

I loved the interpretations of characters' names, the clever findings of someone who has read the book a thousand times, and the dozens of shot-outs tot the all of the literary references J.K. puts into her books. Putting these things out into the open really shows HP readers how much of an unbelievable genius Rowling is, like how she puts seemingly unnecessary words into one book that come back to other books and completely change the plot. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. The comparisons the authors made of Voldemort and Hitler fascinated me, as did the theories behind certain characters. There’s a “restricted section” at the end of the book that gives ideas and theories on many things that might happen in later books. I looked at it, and it definitely didn’t ruin any surprises for me, or anything, because I know Rowling’s chosen ending and plot twists will be near impossible to predict, and also because it didn’t really give anything away.

The reason this did not earn all 5 stars for me was because of two things: the writing and the "Running Bits" sections. My problem with the writing was that there were a few grammatical errors in the book ("effect" is not a verb; it's a noun) and the unnecessary use of emoticons. They strike me as unprofessional in a book, so seeing ":^(" every few pages was annoying. The other thing was the "Running Bits" sections, which picked out certain words from the chapter, like "mate", and said that that word will crack the code to the septology because it makes an "obvious" reference to pairs. I thought those were way overboard, but they were easy to skip over, so it didn't matter that much.

Still, this book is a great read for those who love re-reading the old books in anticipation of the others. I can't wait for the analysis of Book 5!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FANTASTIC book for hardcore Harry Potter fans!
Review: This is an absolutly amazing book for hardcore Harry Potter fans (such as myself). I couldn't put this book down for days! Although I believe sometimes they over analyze some of Rowlings writting, it really does help you predict the future books. This is a great mystery for anyone that loves Harry Potter!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This changed my life!!
Review: I loved this book so much. I got it in the mail and couldn't put it down for three days straight. I learned so much about Harry Potter that I never knew existed, and now when I re-read the Harry Potter books, I'm able to pick out things that don't make sense, things that give us clues, and other tidbits that I wouldn't have been able to find without this book! I recommend any Harry Potter fan to read this. I learned so much and am thankful I got it!!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: intrersting
Review: This book was very interesting. However I don't really agree with the conclusions drawn in the book. I think the author makes little things that don't mean anything incredibly important. J.k's only human. She isn't placing meaning in every little deatil she puts in the book. However this is a fun read, and I'd recomemend it for all serious harry potter fans.


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