Once Upon A Time: An Insiders Guide To Storybrooke
PLOT: This book was intended to get a little more in-depth into the show. It gave the main cast thoughts. It gave summaries of the first two seasons and Easter eggs. It gave the people behind the scenes like the prop creators, the costume designer, the visual effects team, the writers, and the producers. Actually, it talked to everyone but Adam and Eddie.
MY THOUGHTS: Behind the Magic certainly gives you your money's worth in content. But was this a necessary read? The cast interviews were interesting but it wasn't need to know their takes on the characters they play. It's good for a read but nothing that's gonna stick with you when you turn the last page. Unless you’re a super huge fanatic of the cast. And that's not taking anything away from the cast because I think they're all fantastic! Especially Lana. What she puts into the Evil Queen is just AMAZING! How this woman has not won an award for her portrayal of this character I don't know. It's much more interesting to me to hear their thoughts on the DVD commentaries. One of the most interesting parts to me was Edwardo Castro's interview about the costumes because in the past I've done sketches of outfits. He's absolutely brilliant! How he stays so true to the original looks and the details he puts into each and every single piece is inspired! And what I'd like to see is a Beyond The Magic Inside Edwardo's sketchbook where we see all his sketches and thoughts on every costume from Season 1 to the current. I would love that, and buy it! There's a YouTube video that goes into his wardrobe room and it was even more fascinating to see. I think that a lot of the content of this would work better as a DVD personally because I am visual. Such as the interview with the VFX team. And this is also I think something I saw on a DVD extra. They talk about how they created the whale, the ship, and Pinocchio. When you read them talking about it unless you’re a FX geek and you speak effects then you're gonna read through that fast. Versus when you actually see it on screen and then playing it out before your eyes. Which makes you want to actually spend a day with them and watch them at work. As well as the props. Which we get nice pictures and stories about some of the props. But I think that as a DVD this would work for them to have shown us the construction of the boat, and the beanstalk. And maybe the prop people going around different shops and we see them actually purchasing finds and creating from those finds what we see on screen. Or instead of reading about a writer's session let us actually see one, where they're discussing the ideas. I think I actually saw a YouTube video of this as well. So a lot of the criticism I have for this isn't because it's not good information but it's a personal preference to see these things rather than read about them. And I really wish I could go on a tour of the OUAT sets. Admittedly when I got to the end of the book although I wanted to read every page of it I also wanted to skip the last 12 because they were the Episode Guide of Season 2. Another criticism is this book is very poorly made. To not have owned it that long the pages have all come a loose as if I've owned it for years!!
RATING: 7, In summary, it's a really good book to own if you are a fan of the show. But it's not a have to have.