It's a good behind the scenes look at the film, but it's frustratingly brief and oddly scared of spoiling anything (to the degree that the book doesn't ever mention that Nagini is the Maledictus' name - a fact revealed a whole two months prior to the film's. It's still a nice behind the scenes look, though. I just wish it was more detailed and wasn't so scared of spoiling elements of the film; it's a book purporting to be the ultimate behind the scenes guide to the film, being released after the film premieres, but utterly afraid to talk about several elements of the film. Also the book doesn't really have an ending. It just sort of stops, like there was supposed to be a final chapter that wrapped everything up but it was scrapped at the last minute.

All that being said, it's still very informative and very entertaining, featuring quotes from most of the major actors involved, lots of insights from various department heads, and a host of images from the film, behind the scenes, and concept drawings. It's a great book for those who loved the film to have. ( )

I really wanted to like this book, but in light of recent terrible comments and behaviour from JKR herself, I found myself constantly distracted and annoyed. But that’s totally not fair to the rest of the actors, artists, and production crew who worked so hard to bring this magical and glorious film to life - especially since this book specifically explores the making of the Crimes of Grindelwald, which took far more effort than just one, single, ignorant author. So, on to the book! The author separated topics and subjects by location, a logical enterprise considering that the Crimes of Grindelwald travels far more than the previous film in the series, which was set simply in New York. We travel from chapter to chapter exploring real world locales London and Paris (with a brief stop in New York) and delve into their magical counterparts, with special focus on Newt’s London townhouse and the Circus Arcanus. Of course, we also get to dip back to Hogwarts for some classic wizarding world nostalgia, as Newt’s backstory is explored a little more in depth. Compared to the first Fantastic Beasts film, the Crimes of Grindelwald is a much more complex film simply due to the variety of settings, and in some ways the story gets a little mashed by the constantly changing art direction and overall style, but when considered separately (as the chapters of this book allow you to) the styles become more distinct and can stand on their own as long as you let them. I honestly would have liked to see more of just Paris and London, since these were the new settings to explore and I’m already rather obsessed with them stylistically even without the magic of the wizarding versions, so that was maybe the one major downfall of the book overall. A fun romp through the story, though stylistically a bit weaker and therefore a bit harder to focus on distinctly. ( )