DATE WITH DEATH

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 100TH EPISODE SPECIAL

GARDEN OF EVIL

CHARMED AGAIN

SPIRIT OF THE WOLF

The cover to The Book of Shadows boasts that it is "The Unofficial Charmed Companion".  Well, it might be unofficial but it's not what I would call a Charmed companion.

The opening section, entitled The Power of Three, contains a brief overview of witchcraft and wicca, but sadly this is only a prelude to a book that is far more about witchcraft than it is about Charmed.

So instead of then moving onto the series itself, we then move onto lengthy sections about what every well-prepared witch should have in his or her spell chest and where and when they should cast their spells.  All of these have only the occasional reference to Charmed, as well as some frustrating typos.

Finally, after over 100 pages of that (out of 176), we get onto the series itself.  Unfortunately, this section is little better than what's gone before.

Each of the 44 season one and two episodes is covered with the usual writing and directing credits plus the details of the guest cast, which appears to have been liberally taken from IMBD, complete with omissions and mistakes.  So, for example, Courtney Gains is listed as having played Marcie Steadwell in Ms. Hellfire when a simple visit to his website (and, indeed, his previous credits) shows that he was Bane's lackey DJ and that Hynden Walch played Marcie.

In addition to this basic information there's also a brief plot summary and a short paragraph about the magical aspects of the episode.  This is all that really needed to be said about that side of things, instead of devoting most of the book to something that isn't directly related to the show (which is as much about the sisters and their relationship as it is about magic).  Rather annoyingly, for a book entitled The Book of Shadows not even every spell we've seen on the show is featured.

A separate section also details some of the show's bloopers, and the author seems to spend more time covering these than the show's good points.  Even worse, the bloopers for Witch Trial are listed under Morality Bites and vice versa!

A quick biography section rounds things off, but the list of each actor's credits can easily be found on IMDB, which is where it was probably taken from in the first place.

Charmed isn't the greatest series in the world, but even so it deserved a lot better than this cheap cash-in.  Definitely one to avoid. BACK TO THE TOP

THE BOOK OF SHADOWS:
THE UNOFFICIAL CHARMED COMPANION

Written by N.E. GENGE

THREE RIVER PRESS

£9.99

RATING: 1/10