3 out of 5

First off, props: this is a legit book.  Over an inch thick, hardcovers, over-sized, and with a surprising amount of text, representing journal entries / spells from various queens of the Butterfly lineage in the as-featured-in-the-show Book of Spells.  I’m not 100% on what I was expecting, but something that more represented a casual read: something more trade paperback-sized, heavy on pictures.  And while there’s certainly a fair amount of art in The Magic Book – and sure, that text is pretty big print – a flip-through tells you this isn’t the kind of thing you just open to a random page for some Star-related giggles; you’re intended to read through, and each chapter builds on some bits and pieces from the one or ones preceding.

…That acknowledged, I was disappointed with how insubstantial the contents were.  Coming between season three and four, there existed the possibility for this to dig deep and expand on some history, and though there’s the satisfaction of picking up some characters given passing mentions in what was then the forthcoming final season, this book hardly offers up anything that enriches the show.  It’s very much a missed opportunity.

Setting that aside as an expectation, all of the aforementioned text still doesn’t offer very much beyond a couple light-hearted grins at Glossaryk’s butting-in notes, or, in general, some of the Queens’ personality quirks: of communicating only through riddles, or preferring an ongoing party to queening.  Otherwise it’s surprisingly repetitive, with humor that falls flatter more often than not.  Rarely, the text will surprise by leaning in toward the kind of mature approach to emotions that the show would sprinkle across its ridiculousness, but these moments are very brief, and are undercut by a inconsistent feeling to how the chapters are patched together, not really convincing us that these are full entries from any given  queen.

Which I know is me asking for a lot, but the book, to me, sends mixed signals on what it’s going for, structured like it’s a more sober look back at some unsung characters, but then refusing to actually get into anything serious, and opting instead for very tame humor, without a sense of conclusion to any chapter, or the book itself.

I still think it’s impressively put together in that it contains a lot more content than I would have guessed, and the front pages for each queen are quite wonderful.  The recipes and tweets and other attempts at mixing up the content are fun, but very ephemeral; the book gains ground when it lets its various narrators narrate for longer journal entries, hinting at what might’ve been a much more intriguing variation on this ‘Book of Spells.’

But I get it: it’s a kids show, but it’s got a fair amount of lore.  Going overboard with the latter probably wouldn’t sell too many units to your kid demographic, but then our writers and designers only end up going halfway with it anyhow.

Conceptually cool, with a generally amusing vibe, The Magic Book of Spells is, alas, very non-required reading for Star fans.