Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two

I'm not exactly sure how I should react to this, how I should feel about it. I think that overall I'm just happy I knew the whole story beforehand, because it sure saved me a lot of disappointment. Gods, this play is definitely not good. Don't get me wrong, I haven't seen it live, and I bet the cast is really great and all, but... really? This plot? Time travel? Voldemort's daughter? Come on. It feels like a bad Disney sequel.

Having said that, well—
Is it awful? Y-yeah, kinda... but—I love Draco and Scorpius Malfoy so much, though; I'm not even mad I read it. Fine, I did get mad at first. When I first read the spoilers, I was angry and—I don't know—Harry Potter was (IS) a huge part of my life, and I felt wronged. Can you blame me? Read this book—no, read it. Then answer: can you blame me? I bet you can't.

Reading the script now, ages (one month? I think) after getting to know its whole story on the internet, is... eh? What to do? I was hoping it wouldn't be true; it is. It exists, it's out, I can't do one thing about it, and that's that. Draco and Scorpius both have some great scenes, and they made me happy. Albus is a sweetheart. I can't say it was a bad read. It's... okay now. It's bad fanfic, and I'm never going to accept it as my HP canon, but I'm trying to keep it positive here.

2 1/2 stars. I'm not sorry I read it, but. I read once that Rowling regrets the epilogue to Deathly Hallows, that she wrote it to please fans. So this script surprises me, because it's an extension and justification of that epilogue.
And it doesn't ring true, especially with regards to Ron and Hermione. Ron took on Fred and George's joke shop, and their personalities. “Oh no we're going to get in trouble” Ron is now practical joker extrovert Ron. It feels off. Also, Ron is super kissy-smoochy with Hermione in a way that feels forced in the script, and doesn't feel reciprocated to me. In almost every scene they are in together, Ron is either declaring his love randomly to her, kissing her, or blowing her a kiss...it's odd. They don't have chemistry, not in my opinion.
The story itself, saving Cedric Diggory, the major guilt of Harry's life, is an interesting device. Add to that what happened to Bellatrix, and this could have been much more than it was.

At first, I really disliked the book. As others have said, it was more like poorly written fanfiction than an actual 8th book of the Wizarding World. Perhaps, it had much to do with the fact that it was just a script and nothing else, but I really really disliked the book. I thought the characters were poorly portrayed–Ron, being reduced to little more than comic relief and a joke store owner–and actually did disservice to the original 7 books.
I think the only redeeming quality and the reason why this is rated 3 stars was because of part 2. Suddenly it wasn't about silly teenage boys, but rather the reconnection of the original characters.

SPOILERS


I think the only redeeming quality and the reason why this is rated 3 stars was because of part 2. Suddenly it wasn't about silly teenage boys, but rather the reconnection of the original characters. Ron and Hermione falling in love again (however, I still don't like the fact that Ron was drunk the first time they got married), Harry and Ginny doing better as parents, Harry and the gang forgiving Draco, and other wonderful moments.

I find this book hard to accept as a true 8th part of the Harry Potter series. Even with the character development, I felt like the story does too much disservice to the original series–even going so far as changing the way the magic system of Harry Potter works (Time-turners). Also, I don't like the fact that Voldemort fathered a child with Bellatrix. Again, it just messes with the original story instead of enriching and adding to it.

3 stars and probably won't ever read again.

I think this book may be better titled “Harry Potter is a Terrible Dad,” but that would break the grammar of the titles, I suppose.

That being said, this was the right book for this time in my life and my current relationship with Harry Potter. I'm a little younger/older than Harry – Harry himself was born two years before I was, but the series didn't become widely available in the US until I was 17, so 6 years older than Harry. Nonetheless, I mostly felt about the same age and facing the same trials and tribulations – I read about OWLS and NEWTS in between college finals, and rooted for Ron and Hermione around my own engagement. And as a teen, the exploratory world-building was right up my alley.

And on the flipside, a book focused on an older, more harried, Harry is right for me right now. The more introspective tone about setting priorities and how much to force people to live the life you wish they would was also right for me right now. Yes, I wanted the nostalgia of a real Harry Potter book, but this was good.

I felt less certain about the return of the time-turners – Rowling herself has said their inclusion was a mistake in the initial series and was quite adamant that they were all destroyed. On the other hand, if they had to come back this was the right time and the right purpose. I liked that the use of the time-turner helped highlight all of the additional possible futures in the face of years of internet speculation of what the future of the potterverse may hold.

Leider muss ich mich der Enttäuschung anschließen, die viele Freunde der Harry Potter Saga bei diesem Buch befiel. Die recht absurde Geschichte wird insbesondere deswegen so schlecht, weil man nicht das Gefühl hat, das die Protagonisten der Geschichte wirklich so handeln würden. Die Figuren, die man aus Harry Potter kannte, wirken hier nicht authentisch wiedergegeben, sondern sehr entfremdet. Ebenfalls ist das ganze von einem komödiantischen Tonfall begleitet, der der Ernsthaftigkeit der Gefahr nicht wirklich gerecht wird.

Cursed Child? More like cursed book. I hated everything about it. Gave it a full star instead of a half only because I love the world so much and it was nice to see some of my favorite characters again after so long.

As a former theatre kid, the play format didn't bother me at all, but the story itself was terrible. I've seen people call it a well-written fan-fiction and honestly that's an insult to many of the amazing fan-fictions out there.

No, it's not Harry Potter, Book 8. No, it's not J.K. Rowling's familiar, wonderful writing. It's a tad derivative, somewhat difficult to connect to, and only gives a taste of that world that we grew up loving. But you know what? I could see it. I could feel it. Despite all of the weight this play has to carry, this was that same world: time-worn and viewed through the smallest of looking glasses, but it was “home” nonetheless. I'm thankful I got to experience it one more time.

Now bring the play Stateside!

Part of it might have been the play format, but the story didn't grab me like the other books. Took a while to really get into, and the protagonist's inner conflict wasn't really a big enough deal to me to feel connected to the story. Also didn't at all feel like a natural transition from the last Harry Potter stories. After a while the story got more interesting, and it did at least hold my attention but I wouldn't recommend it.

So many emotions.. I wish I could see it on the stage! It would be amazing!! And intense... Yeah for warning for those still yet to read it... It is IMMENSELY intense!!! I bought chocolate after finishing it.

Also kind of spoilers but not really (you just won't understand if you haven't read it).
Page 307 what a plot twist (not of the actual plot but like a “WHOA PLOT TWIST!” kind of event/revelation) and also .... Page 317 was... I'm going to say unnecessary... As in I don't recommend reading it in public because it's beat-the-tears-out-of-your-heart painful... But I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the wizarding world once more..

I had some reservations about reading a play style book, but after a few minutes those reservations went by the wayside. I loved this book and realized just how much I missed Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco. Add their children into the mix, and you have some new characters to fall in love with. If you are a Harry Potter fan and have been on the fence with this one, do yourself a favour and read it. You won't be disappointed.

Let me start by saying that I love Harry Potter, and the series is among my all time favorites. That being said, this was a disappointment for many reasons. It is obvious that this was not entirely written by J. K. Rowling. If it had been, it would not have been this bad. She certainly doesn't need any help, especially of the mediocre sort. I bought this knowing that it was in script form, and I still wish they would have taken the time to make it novel worthy before releasing it. I never thought I would give anything Harry Potter 2 stars, and it pained me to do so. But, anything higher would've been a lie.

This was great!
It does in no way live up to the standard that is Harry Potter, but I really enjoyed it!
The format does change the detail of which the story can be told, and I think in particularly that this would have been better as a novel rather than a play.
I love the new characters, though, and Scorpius is an absolute treasure.
At times I did find the characters I knew well to be a bit out of character, but with a different author it's to be expected I guess. I like to think that the script J.K. Rowling originally wrote is not the end result we're reading Spoiler [In particular, the fact that Voldemort had a child, which I find in no way plausible, like, at all. It would have made more sense if Delphi had just been raised by Death Eaters and wanted Voldemort in charge. And that Harry's pain in his scar returning would be something like phantom pains because he was feeling deja vu of his youth when voldy was alive.] 
This story is quite a whirlwind, and would have been explained better in a novel, I mean things that would have been difficult and a real hard task were just glossed over. 
Overall, I really did enjoy it though, even if it isn't like the rest of the series. In a sense, I don't think it should have been branded as the eighth Harry Potter book, but instead as a spin-off, or something. 
Lastly, I just need to say this: we need a ship name for Albus and Scorpius.

Executive Summary: I enjoyed this, and would definitely like to see a live performance or since that's likely going to be nearly impossible, a recorded performance (or movie adaptation?). Still it's not quite the same thing as a new Harry Potter book. It's probably the closest we'll get though.

Full Review
I wasn't sure what to think about this. I want to see the play, but that's not practical. I'd have loved a novel, but paying to read the script of a play? Was this just a money grab? Maybe I'd wait and see what other people thought.

Who was I kidding? I ended up buying it and nearly reading it all in one sitting. I really enjoyed it. I loved getting to visit with the old characters again. It was like catching up with old friends. The new characters were really good too. I especially like Scorpio Malfoy. He was probably my favorite of the kids.

Ms. Rowling has already come out and said she won't be writing anymore adult Harry Potter books, but how about books about the kids in this book? There is a lot of room for more stories in the world, and I hope that we may get some, probably now much more than before this play was released.

I'll be curious to see what kind of reaction this gets. It's not the eighth Harry Potter book. It's a play with the characters from the Harry Potter books. It's incredibly short compared to a novel. It wasn't written by Ms. Rowling either. Those are all important things to keep in mind before picking this up. Maybe that's why Ms. Rowling didn't want to write the novel. The seven books stand on their own, and always will.

However the same magic I felt when reading those books was there for me. I suspect it may not be the same for others though. These books seem almost universally loved (at least I haven't met anyone whose read them than didn't enjoy them). I'm sure those people exist, but I suspect this will be a lot more divisive than that.

All I can say is for me personally, I'm glad I picked this up, and I'll probably read it again at some point, but not nearly as many times as I've read the original novels. It's a nice addition to the world of Harry Potter for me, but it's not quite the same as getting an eighth book.

Now if anyone has some kind of magic ability to score tickets to the play some point in my lifetime, I'll trade you all the gold I have in Gringotts..

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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I went into this with low expectations for a few reasons (negative buzz being one of many), and sadly had them all met – I don't think anything were exceeded.

This is fan-fiction, pure and simple. Sure, it's official fan-fiction written in conjunction with Rowling – but it's not the same series, it doesn't feel the same. It feels like someone's trying to recapture what they had, in just a slightly different form. I'm fine with that – if people want to throw money at Rowling, Tiffany and Thorne for doing this? Let them. Let's just not pretend it's more than what it is.

The story primarily focuses on Harry and Ginny's middle child, Albus. Albus is pretty uncomfortable living in the shadow of the Boy Who Lived – he doesn't like the notoriety or pressure that comes with that territory. Which is absolutely understandable – especially now that he's at Hogwarts, where Harry's legend is strongest. Between that, and typical teenager strife with Dad leads Albus to take some really big risks with banned magical technology.

These risks center on time travel – and this is where it lost me. I just can't stand the kind of stories where someone goes back in time with perfectly good intentions and messes things up, changing the future so much that it's not recognizable. So then they (or someone else) have to go back in time again to prevent/minimize the damage. And magically, this second (or third) intervention restores everything back to the way it was before the time travelers left. Sure, this is a series in which magical things like that are clearly possible. But there's possible and too-incredible. It almost doesn't matter how good this story/execution was, I wouldn't be crazy about it.

The writing was . . . okay. Nothing spectacular, nothing that had the same ...“magic” as the other books in the series. It's not as bad as many claim – but it's not as good as others claim either. How some of this can be staged, I just can't imagine. I'm not saying it can't be – but wow, that's a real technical challenge, I'd think.

There were some nice moments, some great fan-service stuff – and I'm very glad I got to meet Scorpius Malfoy. I'd rather spend time with him than any of the rest of the descendants of the original series, there's something very cool about this kid. I should also mention that there's some nice father-son moments with Harry and Albus.

On the whole, I'm glad I read this, but I really can't get crazy about it.

I really enjoyed being in the Harry Potter universe again. The story was interesting, but if written out in narrative form and not in the form of a play, it would have been novella length. Because of this, there wasn't a lot of character development or a complex plot.

I did like the friendship between Harry's son, Albus, and Draco's son, Scorpius. It was also fun seeing all of the original characters as adults as well as the nods given to characters in the original series.

Would recommend to fans of Harry Potter. Just go into it with realistic expectations of what it is and you will enjoy it.

I anticipated this book to be different from the series by virtue of it being a play, and I'm glad I began reading with this mindset, as I think it allowed me to enjoy the book more. Sure, it's no Goblet of Fire or Half-Blood Prince, but it's familiar because of the characters, spells, and “flashbacks”. It was a funny and easy read (read in one sitting in a few hours), and I'd really love to be able to see the play in London to see the story come to life. I am thankful for another story but also for JK Rowling saying this is it for Harry Potter. In sum, Harry Potter fans will enjoy this read if for no other reason than getting another opportunity to spend time with beloved characters in the beloved non-muggle world.