FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM ILLUSTRATED EDITION Hardcover – November 4, 2017

This just showed up on my doorstep and I got sucked into the vortex that is the Harry Potter world. Stunning and well written. If only actual textbooks I’d read growing up were this...wait for it...fantastic...I’d have been a straight A student. Buy it. You won’t regret it.

On the whole, I’m glad I added this book to my collection. The illustrations are gorgeous and the lore is fascinating.I really only have two problems with the book:1) The book is taller than the other Harry Potter illustrated editions so it doesn’t fit well as part of the collection2) Some of the artist’s interpretations are plain bad. As can be seen in the attached picture, the Erumpent looks exactly like a rhinoceros. Now the description says it can be mistaken for a rhinoceros from far away, but the illustration looks like the artist just drew a rhino. There are a couple of instance like that. I was hoping that, with the Fantastic Beasts movie being out, that some of the artwork would look more like the beasts from the movie.

I'm a little bit disappointed with this release. The writing is great, but my problem is with the illustrations. Specifically, the varying quality of the illustrations. Some of the artwork that has been featured in previews and on the cover is great and I expected the book to be full of similarly designed, thought out, and rendered creatures. However, too many of the illustrations are of a lower quality. Many of them look like the illustrator simply looked up an image of an actual animal and just drew it. I don't like how I can flip through the pages and think, "oh that's just an orangutan. That's just a ferret. That's just a salamander, but painted red." For example, the erumpent illustration, to me, looks like the artist just googled a picture of a rhinoceros and drew it almost exactly as it is. I understand they're not adhering to the specific art style of the movies, but I would have preferred something a bit more fantastical and other-worldly like the erumpent design from the film. Again, there are some great illustrations in here, but overall I think most of them are just ok and that's not quite what I expected.

The media could not be loaded.  I love the actual story but The pages are upside down and they start from the back cover and read to the front cover of the book. Which isn’t really a problem for me but it might be for others. Also they may have realized tbeir mistake by now and reprinted them.

A big beautiful hardcover coffee table book.Pros:The pages are made of thick textured Matte paper - like the paper artists use for watercolor paints. Hence,The images of the animals are done to look like their artsy watercolor paintings.- Contains lots of extended fold out pictures of the fantastic beasts animals.Cons:- The hardcover has no slipcover, which normally I prefer not to have, provided the books hardcover exterior doesn’t look cheap. Having said that, there is something cheap about the outer packaging of this hardcover. I’ve purchased books 1/3 the cost of this that had a much more attractive look to it (having used different types of cardboard material and fabrics to dress it up). Also the colored image on the face of the book does not do the images inside any justice. The UK edition has a much more appropriate cover art on it. Which makes me wished I ordered that copy. I included a picture of the uk edition for you to compare.- It is a bit expensive when you compare it to the costs of the newly illustrated hardcover Harry Potter editions, which have hundreds more pages in them than this book.

You have to go in knowing what you’re buying. It’s not the same as the other Harry Potter illustrated editions, but it’s still a fun book to have. The cover bows out a bit, like it’s perhaps warped. The book doesn’t close properly because of the cover. The pages are really thick and nice, but while reading I noticed the pages starting to curl. Amazon also did a poor job of packaging the book, so I’m pleasantly surprised that there’s no real damage. I got the book on sale for $12 with free shipping, I would never pay more than that for it.

As I already owned a copy of the original textbook version of this book, the one with the heavily graffiti-ed additions, by Harry and his mates, I was sceptical when I read the reviews which said that those additions would be absent from this book. Thankfully, the book itself is so beautifully illustrated and detailed, that I didn't actually miss those additions... Okay, maybe a little bit. What I did love, however, was the inclusion of beasts from the American side of the pond, although I noted, curiously, the absence of the Pukwudgie, from the Ilvermorny creatures. The Wampus, the Thunderbird (my favourite boy, Frank) and the Horned Serpent are all present, but William's species is missing. It didn't seem fair, but perhaps there may be more to his story in the coming films, and so I'll wait to see if he is included in another revision. If it's anything as pretty or detailed as this one, I will definitely have to add it to my collection.

Being a Pottehead family and of course having to collect all the books and anxiously waiting each year for the next illustrated book to come out I could not be without this!My son who is 8 is a HUGE Harry Potter fan. So when he saw the smaller version of Fantastic Beasts at his book faire of course he wanted it. So I did my research and found this book was just being released.Nothing like revealing a Harry Potter text book to my son for Christmas!Of course I had to flip through it myself and the illustrations are amazing, ranging from field sketches to amazing works of detailed art. This certainly brings that extra sense of magic to a long-time childhood favorite for me.A simple must have for the esteemed Potterhead!

Beginning with an interesting history of the politics, rules and intrigue surrounding the magical creatures in the wizarding world, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them chronicles almost all of the monsters, myths and legends within J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter universe.The illustrated edition of this novel was great fun to interact with; each page consists of parchment print and large scale drawings of beloved creatures and each creature has a small write-up by Rowling's pseudonym and everyone's favourite Hufflepuff, Newt Scamander.I struggled a little with the illustrations. There are a number of fantastic, large illustrations throughout (sometimes taking up multiple extending pages) and the illustrator has clearly taken all of Rowling's descriptions into great consideration because the facts and drawings are a perfect match in most cases. The issue I have is that some of them appear ill-defined and, especially when compared to the illustrated editions of the Harry Potter series, lacking detail incredibly; the dragons are especially disappointing (the horntail, for instance, which is a pivotal figure in the novels has hardly any clean edges or detailing at all). I was also surprised to find that the Obscurus hadn't been added in; this was a creature I was really looking forward to learning more about.This remains to be a really nice catalogue of magical creatures and was enjoyable to read through but I think it really would have benefited from a consistent illustrator across the entire series because the noticeable change in detail meant the novel just wasn't as visually impressive as its counterparts.

Art is not supposed to be perfect so I can't understand why a few are complaining about the art of this illustrated edition. Art is supposed to draw out reaction and realization from those who see and experience it. That is why I find the art in this book illuminating, excellent, extraordinary, variety, speculative, and fantastic (indeed).The only concern I do have for this book is on the printing side. The gold lettering on the cover is fading and, on my copy, the title and illustrator name has totally faded. But, all in all, the book deserves five stars.

I have a Harry Potter fan in the family and I think by stating how much he loved this book would be a good way of a review in itself. The quality of the pages and print is very good, he very much enjoyed adding it to the collection. If you have a Harry Potter fan and you’re looking for a gift, then this is recommended.

Bought for my husband as a Christmas present. He is a huge Harry potter fan and seemed to really enjoy this book. I'm not a fan of Harry potter at all, the only reason I have seen the film's is because he is. But I have to say even I got some enjoyment out of this book. The illustrations are really well done and even appear to be of different styles and types so it doesn't just come across as someone's art project book. It's a big book, with lots of details and enjoyable to anyone, fan or not. The people who put this book together did it with the intent of making a good book, not just a Harry potter cash grab. Along with the other illustrated Harry potter books this is a really good buy. I hope the price doesn't jump up too far a few years down the line, but at the moment this is a really good value for money book. Highly recommended

Amazing copy of fantastic beasts, the illustrations are simply stunning. The book looks great in hardback with my only complaint being a lack of dust jacket. At only £12 this is a must have have any fan of the series.For those collecting the Harry Potter illustrated novels, this one is a different size. It is slightly bigger then the rest. Hopefully when they release Tales of Beedle the Bard and Quidditch through the ages they’ll keep the same size.