New Clues to Harry Potter Book 5: Hints from the Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter

A thoroughly enjoyable HP sleuth effort. I read the entire extant HP corpus 5 times last year (I AM NOT obsessed!) But this little gem made want to read OotP again. I missed many clues, apparently! This one goes into my permanent library for re-reading after the new HP 6 is read! WWP SCORES A PERFECT 10!

For those legions of Harry Potter fans, this Hint book will test your devotion to the young wizard and his friends. While Galadriel Waters Ultimate Guide deconstructed the first 4 Harry Potter books chapter by chapter and laid out the clues, hints and subplots for us to read, this hint book is just that: HINTS. The Hufflepuffs among us will be in their glory. Waters does not draw the conclusions that made the first book so popular; rather she and her co-authors plant signposts and clues for the dedicated Harry Potter Sleuth to find answers on their own. Make no mistake: this book is for those who regard reading as a full contact sport. I found myself dusting off long-unread volumes of Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, Bullfinch's Mythology and my Oxford Unabridged Dictionary. Those Harry Potter fans who want answers spoon-fed to them need NOT apply! If you enjoy digging through books, searching out history, facts and allegory and closely examining the genius of J.K. Rowling, this book is your cup of tea. I kept looking up and finding that 3 hours had suddenly zipped past me! But every time I looked up, I realized more and more how J.K. Rowling truly is the heir to the Inklings. Ms. Waters and her co-authors throw light on these supposed "kids book" and reveal them for the ageless classics they will surely become. Loved it!

Quite the contrary actually! This book gives readers the process, rules, and sources that Ms. Waters and her colleagues use to figure out JKR's clues. We all know that JKR is a well-read individual; it only makes sense that she would indeed refer to 'classics' from literature and other sources. Unlike Ms. Waters first guide, this book is intended to give those who would like to try their hand at figuring out JKR's clues a sort of blue print to follow. It does not spell out everything like the first guide. But, it does separate what is actually their speculation and what are decidedly clues. Order of the Phoenix is incredibly complex and this book will help you to understand underlying clues in the text. It is not fanfic or some useless book of theories. It helps you to sift through the red herrings and see what JKR intended. However, this book IS NOT for the faint of heart. It will take critical thinking and a lot of reading to truly use this guide to its fullest. This book is intended for our enjoyment while we wait on Ms. Waters' update to her unofficial guide AND the all important HP Book 6! Just as a footnote...there must be something to Ms. Waters' process; after all, she only had one mistake from the first guide to Order of the Phoenix! That seems like a pretty good track record to me!

I like the fact that this guide is "hints only". I didn't expect a complete analysis like in the first book, and not sure why other reviewers had a problem with that. The authors warn you right upfront about it. I think that?s ok...it takes some work but I am having a blast trying to figure out the clues. You have to be up for solving JKR's puzzles yourself, but if you are, this is a really cool book! I'm still working on a lot of the clues, but I can see now what Galadriel was saying about Peter Pettigrew's whereabouts and why Percy has been acting like such a jerk. It was so awesome when I saw that. I'm still working all the other stuff, and I can see that there's lots to keep me engrossed until Harry Potter 6! This book definitely kept my interest and it?s a really good deal too, considering it turned out to be really a lot more than I expected. I wouldn't recommend it for casual readers, but I'd say it's a must for us "die-hard" Potter fans!

I like the fact that this guide is "hints only". I didn't expect a complete analysis like in the first book, and not sure why other reviewers had a problem with that. The authors warn you right upfront about it. I think that's ok...it takes some work but I am having a blast trying to figure out the clues. You have to be up for solving JKR's puzzles yourself, but if you are, this is a really cool book! I'm still working on a lot of the clues, but I can see now what Galadriel was saying about Peter Pettigrew's whereabouts and why Percy has been acting like such a jerk. It was so awesome when I saw that. I'm still working all the other stuff, and I can see that there's lots to keep me engrossed until Harry Potter 6! This book definitely kept my interest and it's a really good deal too, considering it turned out to be really a lot more than I expected. I wouldn't recommend it for casual readers, but I'd say it's a must for us "die-hard" Potter fans!