Beasts: A Fantastic First Look

If this is your first time hearing about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, you might be a “no-maj”. Fantastic Beasts is, of course, one of two schoolbooks of Harry’s that J.K. Rowling published in 2001 during the unbearably long wait between Goblet of Fire (published in 2000) and Order of the Phoenix (published in 2003). It’s…

Diagon Alley Expansion Opens July 8th (Roundup)

On Wednesday, Universal Studios released several high-res images from their highly-anticipated Diagon Alley expansion to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (WWoHP) theme park in Orlando, Florida. WWoHP opened four years ago, and the expansion will open to wizards, witches (and most importantly, muggles) on Tuesday, July 8th. Here are those images: Personally, I am very,…

Pottermore: Azkaban, Chapters 1-15

It has been nearly three months since the release of Chapters 8-15 on Pottermore. As I wrote in the Chamber of Secrets review article, I really only visit Pottermore to experience the artwork and sounds that each new Moment brings, and to read new information written by J. K. Rowling. Included in the first Prisoner…

Review: Half-Blood Prince Game

From start to finish: Where Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix gave me what I really wanted out of a Harry Potter game–authentic free exploration of a realistic Hogwarts–Half-Blood Prince really improved on that concept. Even more previously inaccessible locations were added to Hogwarts (thanks to the Aurors for opening them), making the…

Review: Half-Blood Prince Movie

Half-Blood Prince continues almost directly from where Order of the Phoenix ended, showing Harry and Dumbledore at the Ministry of Magic shortly after the battle with Voldemort. Reporters are taking pictures of them for the Daily Prophet. I love this opening. I thought it was brilliant. From there, the film continues in a muggle office…

Editorial: Much Ado About Sorting

Yesterday, Evanna Lynch, who plays the very eccentric Ravenclaw Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films, was sorted on Pottermore. Into Gryffindor. Here’s what she had to say (or tweet, rather) about the matter: Ahhhh umm errrrrr…. Just got sorted. Slight identity crisis. Need to sit down and process this… #pottermore I’m in Gryffindor. #Pottermore…

Editorial: Devour or Savor Pottermore?

On Monday, I posted the following question on the FictionRow page on Facebook (which you are still more than welcome to answer): Pottermore: Did you devour the content or do you plan to savor the experience? I decided to post this question after I saw the following complaint on Hypable.com, a website that I frequent…

Pottermore: Questions and Updates

There were some updates to Pottermore today. The “Log In” button was removed from the Pottermore website. I can only speculate that this means the Pottermore team is working on something, possibly updating their system to get ready to send out the first set of Hogwarts letters. Update: currently, I am only able to access…