THE SELECTED WORKS OF TS SPIVET, Reif Larsen

This is a highly annotated and illustrated book, the idea being that the narrator has supplied the reader with a great deal of information additional to the main text. This extends to the preliminary material, where the book’s Subject metadata has been set out as though they are the character’s notes inserted into the imprint page. This is a clever touch, as it ties in with design elements used throughout the rest of the book to put a bit of interest in a page not many readers would ordinarily look at.

The imprint page

Throughout the rest of the book, however, these annotations become distracting. While they aptly illustrate the main character’s personality and situations or objects within the text, they disrupt the narrative. Compare this to the use of ‘character-written’ annotations and images in FantasticBeasts and Where to Find Them.

A typical annotated page. Note the comparative
wordcount of the main text and the annotation in
the margin, and imagine reading a note like this, or
deciphering a diagram accompanied by a note, every
page of the book