BOOK REVIEW: FTN reviews Grimm: Aunt Marie’s Book of Lore

Aunt Marie’s Book of Lore
Published by: Titan Books
Released: Out now
Price (UK): £14.99
ISBN-10: 1781166536
ISBN-13: 978-1781166536

As well as inheriting the “gift” from his aunt Marie of being able to see the creatures’ true forms, homicide Detective Nick Burkhardt also inherits useful artifacts, including the Book of Lore. Aunt Marie’s The Book of Lore is an in-universe replica of the book as seen on the show.

Oh my this is just wonderful, I’m not one for gushing over anything in a review, I think it just screams of sycophantic bottom kissing but Aunt Marie’s Book of Lore is just such a neat little thing I can’t help myself.

If you don’t know (and if not, why not?) Grimm is a television show from the States about a cop who discovers that he’s from a long line of Grimms, or Guardians, who are charged with keeping humans safe from the magical horrors that try to harm us; it’s like the Bill but with monsters and it’s brilliant, the stories are very loosely based on the stories of the German Brothers Grimm, stories well worth a read themselves if for no other reason than to sit open mouthed at the sheer horror of the originals.

The main character finds out he’s a Grimm from his dying Aunt Marie and this is her book, or diary, explaining all the different beasts and creatures that inhabit our world and it really has been beautifully done.

What we have is essentially the sort of hand drawn and slightly dirty looking book that you might find whilst clearing out your old Aunt’s house, only this one is full of scribbles about monsters etc. The book is crammed with pencil drawings and scribbles with the occasional bloody mark and you can really imagine Aunt Marie sitting by a camp fire nursing her wounds and writing up her diary on the Japanese Geisha vampires she’s just killed off whilst her comrades stitched each other up and sang shanties, it really does have a great level of atmosphere about it; it doesn’t just look like a spin-off to make money, although I would have adored it had it had an older cover, it is slightly spoiled by having characters from the TV series plastered all over the front-  there are also a couple of random modern pictures seemingly dropped onto the pages which again cheapen the overall effect this is more baffling than anything else, why go to all the trouble of making this look so “authentic” (for want of a better word) to then drop a photo of a syringe or a driver’s licence for no reason whatsoever? I don’t know either but I’d have it taken out if I could.

So, should you buy this? Well if you’re a fan of Grimm then yes of course it’s a fun and well-made addition to the show and something any fan of the show would jump at to own.

5 out of 5 Nerds