Snape, A Definitive Reading, by Lorrie Kim

Definitive, yes. Interesting, no.

Anyone who has invested time reading and/or watching the entire Harry Potter series knows that there is much more to Severus Snape than meets the eye, and certainly much more than he appears in the very first book. Since the end of the series and as Snape’s true nature and motives have been revealed, the character has become an unlikely hero. It is for this reason that I had such high hopes for this book.

Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling, has released several books with backstories of everything from Hogwarts teachers to the inception of Quidditch. They’re fascinating. And it makes sense. The backstories are coming from the same imagination that conceptualized the characters in the first place.

Snape, A Definitive Reading is the opposite of fascinating.

I see this book as one more example of someone riding on the coattails of someone else’s talent and success. There is nothing revelatory here, but merely a chronicling of every single time Snape and Harry Potter interacted with each other through the book series. And that, my friends, is A LOT of interacting. It’s as tedious as it sounds.

At the beginning I read carefully, but as time went on and the book maintained its dry format, I found myself skimming more and more. It’s a few hours I’ll never get back and, as a favor, I recommend you not waste your time with this book. You can do better and Snape deserves more.

6/10 Stars