Bia

I was debating whether to give this book 3 stars or 4, and ended up deciding on 3. I really enjoyed this book and this series, but this book didn't feel like a conclusion and I felt that so much was missing. I know there is another book coming out called The Shaw's confession, but I wanted everything to be answered and tied up nicely in this 3rd and final book.

If I'm going to be honest, I was pretty disappointed and unsatisfied with the lack of answers in this book. Book 2 was mostly set up for the questions, and I was hoping that by the end of this book everything was going to click, but for me it never really did. They did investigate, and some questions were answered, but there were still questions and plot holes left. I felt that there were so many things that were being kept from Mara and the crew and that was a bit frustrating for me. I really wanted to know more about the professor and hoped that he would interact with them, but he never did. I was hoping that he would just tell them everything, and who he was exactly. He somewhat did in the letters they got, but again I just felt like he was holding back. I don't know if that's just me or if I missed something, but something, I can't pinpoint exactly, was missing.

David, Noah's dad, what was up with him? He was just so nonchalant about everything, it was strange. Then he just disappeared, why didn't the police mention anything about him? It's as if he was never there. I mean didn't the kids tell them? Jude, who was a pretty important villain (misunderstood hero? I don't know), just became completely useless in this book. And was only there for convenience of other characters, and I was kind of sad about that. I was waiting for his villainous monologue/explanation to ensue but it never did, he just stood there, doing nothing.
I am however, really happy that Daniel was told the truth and was there to help them investigate, even if this had nothing to do with him. I was just glad that there was someone in Mara's family that believed and tried to understand her. She deserved it after the hell she went through I was quite sad to see Stella leave and was hoping she was going to come back towards the end. She was a bit annoying but she was still pretty important and I wanted to know what her letter said.

I really liked how action packed this book was, I was never bored and the change in Mara was very interesting to read. It was hard not to back her up and agree with her, especially during the metro scene. I feel that if I were Mara at that moment, I probably would have reacted the same, am I just crazy? Probably.

As a whole I loved this series. I loved the characters, found the plot to be pretty unique and loved the paranormal/creepy factor. However, I just wish that there were more answers than questions, but I guess now I'll have to wait for the The Shaw's confessions (ugh. I need it now!).

When I read the first book, I was pretty disappointed. Everyone kept going on and on about how “scary” and “creepy” the books were, and I didn't find anything creepy about the first book. I love horror, so the creepiness felt a little flat for me. However, this book really stepped up on the creepy/scary factor. I have no words to describe my emotions right now. Honestly, this book was AMAZING! I was so confused, so creeped out and I just didn't know what to think about anything. The entire time I had no idea if I could really trust Mara and her thoughts. I was just waiting for her to wake up at some asylum and find out everything was in her head. But that didn't happen.

So many unanswered questions that I am dying to know. Hopefully the third book covers it, but I'm so impatient, I need to know now! Her grandma, oh my god whats up with those flashbacks in India? Was it really her grandma or Mara in a past life? What went on between her grandma and Noah's real mom? And what about all that crazy shit with Jude and the others that apparently possess their own powers? I could go on and on about all the million questions that I have, but I'll just get super frustrated all over again.

Oh Noah. I refuse to believe that he died. REFUSE. He can't he can't. I'm just waiting for his grand debut in the final book because I'll be devastated if he dies and Jude lives. Ugh, I just wanted to go into this book and smack the crap out of her family members and make them believe Mara. I know that to them she just sounds crazy, and they mean well, but it hurt my heart knowing the truth while her family just stayed in the dark.

And can we talk about Dr. Kells? There's something much more to her, and I have a feeling that Dr. Kells isn't even her real name, I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't even a real doctor. I feel like she might have powers herself, maybe she knew Mara's grandma and Noah's mom, maybe it was a group or cult of some kind. I'm just dying to pick up the third book, but at the same time I don't want to burn out.

This book just tugged at my emotions and I just hope everything will be okay in the end. And I just need some goddamn answers.

The way this book was told was pretty interesting, in the first chapter we are following a teacher who is talking to her class about retiring after an incident took place. The other 5 chapters follow that same storyline but with different perspectives. The whole book felt like a puzzle and each chapter was like the missing piece, which kept me interested enough to keep going. However, I wasn't a huge fan of the writing, I felt like it was a lot of saying and not showing, and the dialogue would get pretty over the top at times.

It took me such a long time to get to this play simply because I didn't want a cursed child 2.0 experience. But in the end, I'm so glad that I gave fantastic beasts a shot because it was simply amazing. If you are hesitant to pick it up because you are still traumatized by the disaster known as cursed child, don't be because trust me you will love it with all your heart.

Reasons as to why I loved this play so much:

- The characters were all wonderful in their own special way. I must admit though, I wasn't fond of Queenie at first but then she grew on me in the end. I loved how they incorporated a no-maj (I mean muggle) in the whole mess because his reactions to magic was very entertaining to read.

- The fact that it was set in New York City and we got a glimpse of how the American wizards are in comparison to the beloved British wizards that we all know was so awesome to read. I genuinely thought every Wizard used the same terminology, but apparently they don't. It was so weird reading no-maj instead of muggle, and it got me curious on how other wizards from other parts of the world call non magic folks. It was also interesting to read the different rules (ex: american wizards can't marry muggles), granted that the setting was during the 1920s so not sure if the laws are still the same.

- I loved how we got introduced to new magic spells (or at least the once mentioned I've never heard of before), learned about obscurus which I found pretty interesting and got an insight of how MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America) is like.

- I knew about a little less than halfway throughout the play that Credence was the cause of the obscurus, however I did not see the whole Graves really being Grindelwald because of polyjuice potion plot twist. I didn't notice him drinking or carrying around any polyjuice potion, maybe I missed it, so when that was revealed I was so taken aback. But I did not like Graves and found him a slime ball, so him being Grindelwald did make sense.

- The plot was super fast paced and extremely entertaining. I loved Newt as a main character and loved learning bits and pieces about his magical creatures.

- I wish the ending carried out a little bit longer because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the characters. There was so much I wanted to learn about them. I wanted to know more about Queenie and Tina's life, about the whole relationship between Newt and Leta Lestrange (I had to read on Wikia to know what happened between them and why Newt got kicked out of Hogwarts). But hopefully we will see them again in the future.

All in all this play was a very quick, very fun and it got me out of my book slump. I can't wait until I watch the movie and see how the story plays out on screen. I'm hoping it will be just as good as the play.