Book Review
Rosewater drops and pearl white eyes
Book review: The Birds of the Westermost Fyre Forests by Newt Scamander
29-08-2021
Helen Merrigold-Esgarthe
๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ข, ๐ข ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ช๐ฑ: ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ-๐ข๐ค๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต.
The story of the Magician of Sarcasa, is one that many wizards know of, the tale being one of the gems of wizard Spain. As some there like to say, before there were fairytales in Europe, there was the Magician of Sarcasa.
I was reminded of this travel tale the other day when the editor recommended I review the latest book written by that intrepid explorer Newt Scamander.
His best work, The Little Dwelleg And What It Said, is an interesting account of a magical species that some wizards still refuse to recognise as a distinct species. A cross between a tri-horn and a manticore, it can re-develop into a tri-horn during its more mature phase.
A transient magical species, one that brings the complexity of the natural world to our attention, is worthy of our interest. Of course, that account of the lesser dwelleg is not Scamander's most famous work. He is far better known for his quite encyclopediac compilation, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, which along with the Monster Book of Monsters, a book that fills in the spaces that the more sentimental Fantastic Beasts too obviously suffers from, is the standard textbook for Care of Magical Creatures lessons in many wizarding schools.
The news that Professor Scamander has a new book out, gives one a pleasurable anticipation of a quiet evening beside the log fire, turning the pages of a book replete with a colourful and comprehensive menagerie of magical beasts that one has hardly heard of. I was not disappointed.
The Birds of the Westermost Fyre Forests, is a delightful picture anthology of that most amazing jungle fowl, the Jewelled Fireheist. Though not an entirely original account, as it uses and builds upon the research of the Creature hunter Shelley, who is credited on the cover, Professor Scamander presents the topic with his usual attention to the reader's need to visualise every detail of the subject, and the many beautiful photographs and arresting pictures of this pearly white eyed bird have the effect of simply turning pages of their own accord. A perfect gift for Yuletide.
Some way into the book, into the cosmic world of the jungle fowl, on page 173, one comes across a curious statement. Professor Scamander notes that the Jewelled Fireheist is known to drink the nectar of rose flowers growing in the gardens of colonial Muggle houses built on the very edges of the Costa Rica rainforest.
Any coincidence with the tale of Sarcasa's magician is probably just that, but it did make me pause and wonder awhile on the transient nature of all magical species. Are we witches and wizards just a passing stage in nature's brilliant fusions of colours as well? The jewelled illustrations of Professor Newt Scamander's latest work do make one think there is a magic we magic-users barely touch.
Judge for yourself, The Birds of the Westermost Fyre Forests by Newt Scamander (creature tracking by Shelley), is out now, only 2 Galleons and 6 Sickles, at Flourish and Blotts.
Book review: The Birds of the Westermost Fyre Forests by Newt Scamander
29-08-2021
Helen Merrigold-Esgarthe
๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ข, ๐ข ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ช๐ฑ: ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ-๐ข๐ค๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต.
The story of the Magician of Sarcasa, is one that many wizards know of, the tale being one of the gems of wizard Spain. As some there like to say, before there were fairytales in Europe, there was the Magician of Sarcasa.
I was reminded of this travel tale the other day when the editor recommended I review the latest book written by that intrepid explorer Newt Scamander.
His best work, The Little Dwelleg And What It Said, is an interesting account of a magical species that some wizards still refuse to recognise as a distinct species. A cross between a tri-horn and a manticore, it can re-develop into a tri-horn during its more mature phase.
A transient magical species, one that brings the complexity of the natural world to our attention, is worthy of our interest. Of course, that account of the lesser dwelleg is not Scamander's most famous work. He is far better known for his quite encyclopediac compilation, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, which along with the Monster Book of Monsters, a book that fills in the spaces that the more sentimental Fantastic Beasts too obviously suffers from, is the standard textbook for Care of Magical Creatures lessons in many wizarding schools.
The news that Professor Scamander has a new book out, gives one a pleasurable anticipation of a quiet evening beside the log fire, turning the pages of a book replete with a colourful and comprehensive menagerie of magical beasts that one has hardly heard of. I was not disappointed.
The Birds of the Westermost Fyre Forests, is a delightful picture anthology of that most amazing jungle fowl, the Jewelled Fireheist. Though not an entirely original account, as it uses and builds upon the research of the Creature hunter Shelley, who is credited on the cover, Professor Scamander presents the topic with his usual attention to the reader's need to visualise every detail of the subject, and the many beautiful photographs and arresting pictures of this pearly white eyed bird have the effect of simply turning pages of their own accord. A perfect gift for Yuletide.
Some way into the book, into the cosmic world of the jungle fowl, on page 173, one comes across a curious statement. Professor Scamander notes that the Jewelled Fireheist is known to drink the nectar of rose flowers growing in the gardens of colonial Muggle houses built on the very edges of the Costa Rica rainforest.
Any coincidence with the tale of Sarcasa's magician is probably just that, but it did make me pause and wonder awhile on the transient nature of all magical species. Are we witches and wizards just a passing stage in nature's brilliant fusions of colours as well? The jewelled illustrations of Professor Newt Scamander's latest work do make one think there is a magic we magic-users barely touch.
Judge for yourself, The Birds of the Westermost Fyre Forests by Newt Scamander (creature tracking by Shelley), is out now, only 2 Galleons and 6 Sickles, at Flourish and Blotts.