Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter Book

SPOILER ALERT!

The Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry
Potter (Analysis of Books 1-4) provides an in-depth look at J.K. Rowling's writing. Is provides analysis of the themes and secrets in her writing. The authors of this book use the following four rules to uncover the mysteries written by J.K. Rowling in books 1-4. (1)"If she reinforces it, she means it (and wants us to remember it)." (2) "If she suddenly interrupts something, she's hiding a key clue." (3) "There's no such thing as a coincidence." (4) "Don't take a character's word for it." The authors also form and develop theories based off of the series and interviews with J.K. Rowling. The format of this book provides a one paragraph summary of a section from one of the Harry Potter books followed by a short (2-8 sentence) analysis of that section.

I rated this book a four. The book noted a lot of interesting connections in the Harry Potter series that I had never noticed before. In books 1-4, chapter 13 has always been a turning point in the book or a spot where we readers receive crucial pieces of information. On page 115, the author writes, "This is chapter 13. Welcome to Whodunit 13. As HP Sleuths know, there are clues hiding wherever there is a suspicious number. J.K.R, therefore could not resist the temptation to have the culprit and his fiendish plot make a cameo appearance within chapter 13. This is a trend that, so far, has held true through Book 4." They note little hints and tricks like that throughout the book that readers don't easily pick up on which make the original story so much more interesting.

Although this book makes some interesting connections and theories, there are some not so realistic speculations. This is what caused me to not rate the book at five stars. I found that this book will at times make slightly ridiculous hypotheses. On page 388, the author writes, "There is overwhelming evidence that Snape is a vampire. Do we believe it? Yes. Do we have proof? No, but there is bloody good evidence. Even Madam Pompfrey may not know- remember, Snape went to Filch for help when he was wounded by Fluffy.... J.K.R. had dropped many hints about Snape: -He lives in a dungeon -He's always up at night -Ron's little joke about Snape 'turning himself into a bat or something' -He has 'sallow skin' -Quirrell (who mentioned, at the Leaky Cauldron, that he was going to buy a book on Vampires) described Snape as 'flitting around like an overgrown bat' -Just like Snape had assigned an essay on werewolves to expose Lupin, Lupin then assigned an essay on Vampires(as payback?)." Waters seems content to throw out any potential idea with no direct evidence from the actual author.