BEYOND THE WAND - Tom Felton

5 stars

There is something uniquely nostalgic about listening to your first movie crush talk about his time as a child on the set of your favorite childhood fictional world. (If you’re planning on reading this, get the audiobook!!)

If you're of a certain age... Then you read, watched, and/or consumed media about a certain series. You know the one I mean. You're reading this review, and it's for a memoir about one of the actors. This series' prevalence in our popular culture has permeated the veil of basic cultural knowledge—for good or for ill—and it is a massive part of my generation's upbringing and cultural sense of identity.

More recent news about its creator aside*, I find myself inescapably drawn to news about characters, actors, and stories centered on this world that I adored as a teenager.

And, most importantly for this particular review: I was a girl that was absolutely obsessed with Draco Malfoy.

Now, let's not dwell on my ~interesting~ taste in love interests. I loved the bad boy, I loved the snark. I thought his tragic backstory had heart to it and I joined the legions of fans who looked into the mirror and saw Draco's hidden good sides.

Sooooooo I naturally latched on to Draco's actor, Tom Felton. He was synonymous with Draco, after all. And for this audiobook experience in Beyond the Wand, I found that Tom's voice immediately took me back to that place and that time, when those characters were a yearly appearance and they ruled the world's stage.

Beyond the Wand is nothing less than the perfect nostalgic trip through time condensed through the keyhole of Tom Felton's particular experience in an extraordinary childhood and surrounded by the culture of the 1990s, 2000s, and now.

Now, don't get me wrong: Tom's life was large outside of his time as Draco Malfoy. And it's had some bumps in the road. This book got much heavier than I expected, and much more honest. Tom's here to share his whole life's story, after all, and not just a part of it. I appreciated that. I feel like Tom and Draco are more separate in my head because of it—and that's probably a good thing.

Read this if you were one of those kids like me. It was a wonderful experience, and Tom's narration on the audiobook was perfection. I recommend giving it a listen!