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Harry Potter #8
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two
Goodreads Choice Award
Winner for Best Fantasy (2016)The eighth story, nineteen years later...
It was always difficult being Harry Potter, and it isn't much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and a father of three school-age children.
While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son, Albus, must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.
Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is the complete and official playscript of the original, award-winning West End production. This updated edition includes the final dialogue and stage directions, a conversation piece between director John Tiffany and playwright Jack Thorne, the Potter family tree, and a timeline of events in the wizarding world leading up to "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."
It was always difficult being Harry Potter, and it isn't much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and a father of three school-age children.
While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son, Albus, must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.
Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is the complete and official playscript of the original, award-winning West End production. This updated edition includes the final dialogue and stage directions, a conversation piece between director John Tiffany and playwright Jack Thorne, the Potter family tree, and a timeline of events in the wizarding world leading up to "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."
343 pages, Hardcover
First published July 31, 2016
About the author
J.K. Rowling
662 books225k followersSee also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.
Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.
Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.
Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.
Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.
Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.
Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73,304 reviews
August 2, 2016
3 1/2 stars. I completely get why many HP fans will be disappointed with this, but I have to admit: I really enjoyed it. I'd love to see this story play out on stage.
So yeah, I understand the sad feelings. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has a completely different vibe. Aside from being a play, it's also a more mature, character-driven, less magical story. It does not feel like an eighth Harry Potter book at all; there's a real disconnect between this play and the other seven novels. And you know what? I'm so glad.
I guess it's just what you're hoping for. To be honest, I never wanted another Harry Potter book. The thought of extending a series I loved so much actually made me NOT want to read this. I got to the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and thought it was magical perfection - the story had completed its arc in full and I put it aside feeling a slight melancholy, but a whole lot of satisfaction. I didn't want more.
However, if you went crazy needing more from the HP series, you'll probably be disappointed by this. If you feel there's a gap where something HP is missing, then I don't think this will fill it. Separate the two in your mind, and you have a better chance of liking it. Because this is something different - and I'm happy about it.
First, of course, it's a play. Right away it's going to be something unlike what we've seen before. I don't usually love to read plays, especially modern ones, but this one is very readable because the dialogue is wonderful. I don't know why people are saying "it's so obvious JKR didn't write most of this" because I think her style is all over it - the very fact that this play (which is meant to be viewed on stage) can be just as easily read like a book tells me JKR had a lot of input.
Also, it's funny. Much more consistently comical than the books, but with the same style of humour - i.e. lots of Ron being a buffoon.
Hermione: If some part of Voldemort survived, in whatever form, we need to be prepared. And I’m scared.
Ginny: I’m scared too.
Ron: Nothing scares me. Apart from Mum.
The plot leaves a little something to be desired. Again, it feels different from the main series. It's not so much about the world and magic, but more about relationships, conflicts (particularly between Harry and Albus) and the dialogue between characters. I suppose this makes more sense in a play, where the story unravels through dialogue and not through an omniscient narrator.
And, as I touched upon earlier, it feels... older. I don't know how well kids will appreciate the jokes about growing old and how Ron now says "oof" every time he sits down. Or the family drama between Harry and his son, Albus. But I liked it.
I'm happy with this addition. I truly am. If it had been too similar to the seven novels, I feel it would have risked reopening a series that had been closed in a great place. Instead, we have something very unique and, for me, very entertaining. Some of the staging directions also leave me excited about seeing the play (when I win the lottery or acquire a magic wand, maybe).
One thing I have to say that I said in another comment thread: NOW, it's time to stop. This was a risky experiment and it turned out to be fun, but JKR needs to leave this world alone now. I really do not want to read about old-age Harry, Ron and Hermione rolling around in magical wheelchairs. So, just stop.
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August 2, 2016
It was alright. It was just alright.
I know I gave this 4 stars, but to be honest, J.K. Rowling can write a dictionary with Harry Potter illustrations and I'd probably give it 4 stars, so my rating is almost irrelevant here, given my extreme bias.
The thing is, it was cute, it was sweet, it was entirely nostalgic to see the old crew again, but I hated the play format. As a person who grew up with Harry Potter, and who is in her early 30s now, I feel like I grew up with Harry Potter and the crew, and with the advent of this book, I have, in fact, grown old with them. It was lovely to see them again. It was like meeting old friends.
I don't feel old. I'm a more responsible person, for sure, but I feel young at heart. When we're young, adulthood, responsibilities, just the prospect of adulting seem so daunting...then one gets there and it's like, well, I'm as immature as I ever was. I love fun as much as I ever did. Growing old isn't that bad. And seeing the old crew being as much as they ever were brings joy into my not-yet-old-and-grizzled-heart.
I could do without the kids, to be honest. Oh, sure, they're little Potter and Granger-Weasley spawns, but come on, nobody ever has and nobody ever will win me over as much as their parents, whom I have loved the instant we met them on the Hogwarts Express.
(Ok, maybe not Ron...)
But I digress. The kids aren't all bad. I rather like little Scorpius, actually.
That it's rather discombobulating to see anything otherwise.
But yeah, characters are great, but the format. THE FORMAT.
I don't even know it's fair of me to judge this based on the fact that I don't like that it's a play, because for fuck's sakes, IT'S A PLAY. Like, what did I expect? This may be the most confusing review I've ever written. I just don't like the play format. It's meant for the stage. That means it's up to the skill of the actors to portray what is implied. It's up to the audience to interpret nuances. It is almost entirely based on dialogue, and I hate that. I miss Rowling's writing. I love Rowling's writing, and I wanted more of it. The play brings up so many things that could have been written so much more, had it been expanded into a book format. The children's growing pains, particular that of young Albus. Harry's feelings as a parent. Draco's struggles with who he was and who he is. Furthermore, Ron is relegated to little more than comic relief. Let's be honest, I never liked the guy, but for him to be much of the same character that he ever was conjures up the image of the try-hard middle-aged dude, and I know that Ron is more than that.
I like it? I don't like it? I don't know. But I would certainly relish watching it on the stage if I ever had the chance. It's bound to be better than on paper.
I know I gave this 4 stars, but to be honest, J.K. Rowling can write a dictionary with Harry Potter illustrations and I'd probably give it 4 stars, so my rating is almost irrelevant here, given my extreme bias.
The thing is, it was cute, it was sweet, it was entirely nostalgic to see the old crew again, but I hated the play format. As a person who grew up with Harry Potter, and who is in her early 30s now, I feel like I grew up with Harry Potter and the crew, and with the advent of this book, I have, in fact, grown old with them. It was lovely to see them again. It was like meeting old friends.
I don't feel old. I'm a more responsible person, for sure, but I feel young at heart. When we're young, adulthood, responsibilities, just the prospect of adulting seem so daunting...then one gets there and it's like, well, I'm as immature as I ever was. I love fun as much as I ever did. Growing old isn't that bad. And seeing the old crew being as much as they ever were brings joy into my not-yet-old-and-grizzled-heart.
I could do without the kids, to be honest. Oh, sure, they're little Potter and Granger-Weasley spawns, but come on, nobody ever has and nobody ever will win me over as much as their parents, whom I have loved the instant we met them on the Hogwarts Express.
(Ok, maybe not Ron...)
But I digress. The kids aren't all bad. I rather like little Scorpius, actually.
SCORPIUS: And it’s just like my father’s! I got his nose, his hair, and his name. Not that that’s a great thing either. I mean — father-son issues, I have them. But, on the whole, I’d rather be a Malfoy than, you know, the son of the Dark Lord.The adults have grown, they've changed. Some have changed so much that I hardly recognize them, Draco, for instance. I like that he's, well, nicer now, but he doesn't feel like Draco, you know? I've been so used to Harry and Draco doing this...
That it's rather discombobulating to see anything otherwise.
But yeah, characters are great, but the format. THE FORMAT.
I don't even know it's fair of me to judge this based on the fact that I don't like that it's a play, because for fuck's sakes, IT'S A PLAY. Like, what did I expect? This may be the most confusing review I've ever written. I just don't like the play format. It's meant for the stage. That means it's up to the skill of the actors to portray what is implied. It's up to the audience to interpret nuances. It is almost entirely based on dialogue, and I hate that. I miss Rowling's writing. I love Rowling's writing, and I wanted more of it. The play brings up so many things that could have been written so much more, had it been expanded into a book format. The children's growing pains, particular that of young Albus. Harry's feelings as a parent. Draco's struggles with who he was and who he is. Furthermore, Ron is relegated to little more than comic relief. Let's be honest, I never liked the guy, but for him to be much of the same character that he ever was conjures up the image of the try-hard middle-aged dude, and I know that Ron is more than that.
I like it? I don't like it? I don't know. But I would certainly relish watching it on the stage if I ever had the chance. It's bound to be better than on paper.
August 3, 2016
Update:
+1 star for
-1 star for
-1 star for
-1 star for
and -1 star for
*sigh* The more I think about this the sadder I get...
Original review:
I'm not going to rate this right now because honestly I don't what to think about it. Reading this really felt like Harry Potter fan-fiction to me, partly because it's hard to wrap my head around an 8th (sort of) Harry Potter story and partly because reading it as a play instead of a novel just made it feel...less like Harry Potter. I didn't dislike it; I definitely didn't love it--but I do want to be fair and say that reading a play is never, never as good as seeing the live production. In theory maybe this book shouldn't exist because it won't ever do the story justice. However, I'm glad I got to read it because I don't think I'll ever get to London to see the real deal, and at least now I know what it's all about.
+1 star for
-1 star for
-1 star for
-1 star for
and -1 star for
*sigh* The more I think about this the sadder I get...
Original review:
I'm not going to rate this right now because honestly I don't what to think about it. Reading this really felt like Harry Potter fan-fiction to me, partly because it's hard to wrap my head around an 8th (sort of) Harry Potter story and partly because reading it as a play instead of a novel just made it feel...less like Harry Potter. I didn't dislike it; I definitely didn't love it--but I do want to be fair and say that reading a play is never, never as good as seeing the live production. In theory maybe this book shouldn't exist because it won't ever do the story justice. However, I'm glad I got to read it because I don't think I'll ever get to London to see the real deal, and at least now I know what it's all about.
April 28, 2020
Now this was a real shame. It read like some juvenile fan fiction. The characters were utterly lifeless. Perhaps seeing this would be better. The stage actor’s performances would carry the emotion and drama the dialogue completely failed to convey.
The stage directions were also minimalistic. I mean we have a basic location set for us, but that’s about all. There’s no real expression or sense of urgency. All in all, it’s just a little flat. The plot is feasible, even if it felt a little forced, but the characters were just poor. The new ones aren’t so bad, but the old characters, Harry, Ron and Hermione, were barely themselves. They just had no depth to them; they’re like reflections of their surface level. Ron felt like a piece of furniture that seemed to enjoy inserting several badly times jokes. Hermione seemed cold. And Harry, Harry simply isn’t Harry.
How can he identify himself as a bad farther? How can he believe that he had no farther figure in his own life? He had many. He had inspiration from many great men. They taught him a great deal about life and himself in the process. So why would a man who has defeated the face of evil be so daunted by giving his son some simple advice? It doesn’t add up. Harry Potter would make an excellent farther.
This didn’t even feel like the same world.
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The stage directions were also minimalistic. I mean we have a basic location set for us, but that’s about all. There’s no real expression or sense of urgency. All in all, it’s just a little flat. The plot is feasible, even if it felt a little forced, but the characters were just poor. The new ones aren’t so bad, but the old characters, Harry, Ron and Hermione, were barely themselves. They just had no depth to them; they’re like reflections of their surface level. Ron felt like a piece of furniture that seemed to enjoy inserting several badly times jokes. Hermione seemed cold. And Harry, Harry simply isn’t Harry.
How can he identify himself as a bad farther? How can he believe that he had no farther figure in his own life? He had many. He had inspiration from many great men. They taught him a great deal about life and himself in the process. So why would a man who has defeated the face of evil be so daunted by giving his son some simple advice? It doesn’t add up. Harry Potter would make an excellent farther.
This didn’t even feel like the same world.
___________________________________
You can connect with me on social media via My Linktree.
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August 4, 2016I'm not going to rate this.
I didn't hate it.
I didn't love it.
It's just a thing that exists and I'm accepting it for what it is.
*edit: I didn't mean for this review to come off as shady as it did. I'm going to make a video discussing my feelings further. I'm happy that we got to visit this world again, but it just wasn't what I was expecting it to be. If you LOVED this book, that's okay! I'm happy that you enjoyed it.
I didn't hate it.
I didn't love it.
It's just a thing that exists and I'm accepting it for what it is.
*edit: I didn't mean for this review to come off as shady as it did. I'm going to make a video discussing my feelings further. I'm happy that we got to visit this world again, but it just wasn't what I was expecting it to be. If you LOVED this book, that's okay! I'm happy that you enjoyed it.
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June 13, 2020If Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Eddie Redmayne, Katie Leung, Evanna Lynch and Noma Dumezweni all said Trans Lives Matter, so can you.
August 1, 2016
Let's be honest - this read like badly written fan fiction
January 6, 2024
(B+) 79% | Good
Notes: All the charm of the originals, but too steeped in revisiting previous storylines to be much more than good nostalgia.
Notes: All the charm of the originals, but too steeped in revisiting previous storylines to be much more than good nostalgia.
February 10, 2017
This review contains *mild spoilers*.
I've waited for this particular story for what feels like ages, and words cannot even describe for how grateful I am that it finally exists in my hands. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child continues the wondrous magical world that we all know and love.
The story starts out at King's Cross with the original trio preparing their school-age children to board the train to start their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
It's at this time that Harry and his son, Albus, share a nice father-son moment:
“Albus: Dad . . .
Do you think — what if I am — what if I’m put in Slytherin . . .
Harry: And what would be wrong with that?
Albus: Slytherin is the House of the snake, of Dark Magic . . . It’s not a House of brave wizards.
Harry: Albus Severus, you were named after two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.”
(I dislike Snape, but the overall conversation made me tear up a bit.)
I also really appreciated that they talked about Slytherin in a positive light.
We have a few time jumps here and there, and then complications arise because Harry - Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement - seized an illegal Time-Turner from Theodore Nott and has kept it.
“The once-great Harry Potter, now a stone-cold Ministry man.”
Meanwhile, Albus gets sorted into Slytherin and struggles with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted.
Harry tries to reach out to Albus but finds that he has diffuclity understanding someone different. And their connection wobbles from year to year because of it.
“Harry: Do you want a hand? Packing. I always loved packing. It meant I was leaving Privet Drive and going back to Hogwarts. Which was . . . well, I know you don’t love it but . . .
Albus: For you, it’s the greatest place on earth. I know. The poor orphan, bullied by his uncle and aunt Dursley . . .
Harry: Albus, please — can we just —
Albus: . . . traumatized by his cousin, Dudley, saved by Hogwarts. I know it all, Dad. Blah, blah, blah.
Harry: I’m not going to rise to your bait, Albus Potter.
Albus: The poor orphan who went on to save us all. So may I say — on behalf of wizarding kind — how grateful we are for your heroism. Should we bow now or will a curtsy do?
Harry: Albus, please — you know, I’ve never wanted gratitude.
Albus: But right now I’m overflowing with it — it must be the kind gift of this moldy blanket that did it . . .
Harry: Moldy blanket?
Albus: What did you think would happen? We’d hug. I’d tell you I always loved you. What? What?
Harry (finally losing his temper): You know what? I’m done with being made responsible for your unhappiness. At least you’ve got a dad. Because I didn’t, okay?
Albus: And you think that was unlucky? I don’t.
Harry: You wish me dead?
Albus: No! I just wish you weren’t my dad.”
Harry and Albus are trying to reach each other here, both are failing.
As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes darkness comes from unexpected places.
The Cursed Child answered a lot of topics that had been left unanswered in my mind, and it makes my heart tighten just thinking about everything.
“Harry: And I’ve locked away the map. You won’t see it again. Your mum left your room exactly as it was when you ran away — you know that? Wouldn’t let me go in — wouldn’t let anyone go in — you really scared her . . . And me.
Albus: Really scared you?
Harry: Yes.
Albus: I thought Harry Potter wasn’t afraid of anything?
Harry: Is that how I make you feel?
Albus looks at his dad, trying to figure him out.
ALBUS: I don’t think Scorpius said, but when we returned after failing to fix the first task, I was suddenly in Gryffindor House. Nothing was better between us then either — so — the fact that I’m in Slytherin — that’s not the reason for our problems. It’s not just about that.”
I really appreciated that their relationship was developed in a very honest and raw way.
And not only theirs, but the development of Draco and his son, Scorpius, was truly melting my everything.
“Draco: Astoria always knew that she was not destined for old age. She wanted me to have somebody when she left, because . . . it is exceptionally lonely, being Draco Malfoy. I never realized, though, that by hiding him away from this gossiping, judgmental world, I ensured that my son would emerge shrouded in worse suspicion than I ever endured.
Harry: Love blinds. We have both tried to give our sons, not what they needed, but what we needed. We’ve been so busy trying to rewrite our own pasts, we’ve blighted their present.”
Watching Draco care deeply and fiercely for his child made me open up my heart.
Oh, and I wanted to mention how ecstatic I was when Albus befriended a Malfoy. Their friendship was inspiring until the very last heartbreaking page.
“Scorpius: Your dad thinks the rumors are true — I am the son of Voldemort?
Albus (nods): His department are currently investigating it.
Scorpius: Good. Let them. Sometimes — sometimes I find myself thinking — maybe they’re true too.
Albus: No. They’re not true. And I’ll tell you why. Because I don’t think Voldemort is capable of having a kind son — and you’re kind, Scorpius. To the depths of your belly, to the tips of your fingers. I truly believe Voldemort — Voldemort couldn’t have a child like you.
Scorpius: That’s nice — that’s a nice thing to say.
Albus: And it’s something I should have said a long time ago. In fact, you’re probably the best person I know. And you don’t — you couldn’t — hold me back. You make me stronger — and when Dad forced us apart — without you —
Scorpius: I didn’t much like my life without you in it either."
We also had a lot of unexpected returns from the people that ended up sacrificing themselves in previous books, which truly broke me— I kept looking for Fred Weasley to show up and crack a joke... but, alas, you can't always get what you want.
But to end this review on a more positive note, I want to mention my favorites: Hermione and Ron.
“Ron: I mean, we’ve been together so long — and married for so long — I mean, so long —
Hermione: If this is your way of saying you want a marital break, Ron, then, to be clear, I will skewer you with this quill.
Ron: Shut up. Will you shut up for once? I want to do one of those marriage renewal things I’ve read about. Marriage renewal. What do you think?
Hermione (melting slightly): You want to marry me again?
Ron: Well, we were only young when we did it the first time and I got very drunk and — well, to be honest, I can’t remember much of it and . . . The truth is — I love you, Hermione Granger, and whatever time says — I’d like the opportunity to say so in front of lots of other people. Again. Sober.
She looks at him, she smiles, she pulls him to her, she kisses him.
Hermione: You’re sweet.
Ron: And you taste of toffee . . .”
I'm always up for more canon Romione.
To sum up, I thought at first that the format of the story would interfere with getting completely pulled in, but I needn't have worried— this book was the definition of unputdownable. It truly didn't take long for me to realize how much I missed reading about Harry Potter and his magical surroundings. Hogwarts will always be like home. And now... I'm getting tearful just thinking about what an impact it made on me, as both the reader and person I am today.
Also, it was pretty nice getting to know that both Harry Potter and I are afraid of pigeons:
“Harry: You told me you don’t think I’m scared of anything, and that — I mean, I’m scared of everything. I mean, I’m afraid of the dark, did you know that?
Albus: Harry Potter is afraid of the dark?
Harry: I don’t like small spaces and — I’ve never told anyone this, but I don’t much like — (he hesitates before saying it) pigeons.
Albus: You don’t like pigeons?
Harry (he scrunches up his face): Nasty, pecky, dirty things. They give me the creeps.”
Yes, Harry!!
Oh, and my favorite acts were acts 2 & 4— because family dynamics and mystery!!
Just... I'm so glad this book exists, I truly missed my favorite trio.
5/5 stars (of course)
*Note: I'm an Amazon Affiliate. If you're interested in buying Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, just click on the image below to go through my link. I'll make a small commission!*
This review and more can be found on my blog.
September 7, 2017
Reviewed by: Rabid Reads
RULE FOR SPOILERS: if it's in the first 10%, and therefore (in most cases) available for scrutiny from undecided readers in the FREE downloadable preview, IT'S NOT A SPOILER.
That being said, a LOT of things happen--IMPORTANT things--in the first five percent, let alone ten percent of HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, so if you'd rather go into your read without significant prior knowledge, leave this review immediately.
That's the only warning you're going to get.
In my experience there are two types of hardcore fans for any given series:
1. The Blind Zealot.
This type of fan will forgive an author almost anything. Inconsistent behavior in main characters, enormous plot holes, unexplained developments, etc., it doesn't matter, b/c OHMAGAWD, I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! *squeeeeeeee*
2. The Thoughtful, Critical Reader.
This type of fan loves a series based solely on its merit. They aren't blind to the aforementioned plot holes or inconsistent characters, they are in fact disappointed by such occurrences, but they can still maintain LOVE for the overall series.
For example, I LOVE HARRY POTTER, but I did not love HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, b/c I felt Rowling encapsulated all the teenangsty emotions of adolescence a little bit too thoroughly.
It was, in a word, exhausting.
PLOT TWIST: I think both types of fans are equally likely to have issues with this latest addition to their Harry Potter library.
Blind Zealots:
The trouble with ending a series is that if it's done well, you have all the answers to all of your questions, and a vague enough HEA-type scenario that your well-loved cast of characters is assured whatever it is that they deserve.
Heroines and Heroes live happily ever after, Villains and Minions are thwarted and punished, and while you aren't foolish enough to think everyone's adventures are over, Good continuing to triumph over Evil is reasonably guaranteed.
BUT.
Once you've finished something, the only way to reopen it is too create new conflict--without conflict there's no story.
Suddenly the nebulous "HEA" isn't so nebulous, and that new clarity jeopardizes everything you've happily assumed about what comes next.
Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron, previously cardboard cutouts of adult wizards, become real parents with real children, and those children must grow up, making mistakes while they do it, and, worse, they must go through puberty and all the angst that entails.
That's not happily ever after . . . That's REAL LIFE.
Then Real Life takes your daydream of a-son-of-Harry-Potter being sorted into Slytherin and reinventing the house's image with the kind of unaffected rebelliousness you associated with a teenaged Sirius Black, and crushes it under its heel, forcing you to realize that wizards . . . are kind of assholes.
So now, adding insult to injury, the image of the utopian magical society that sprang fully formed from Voldemort's ashes is forever ruined.
A Blind Zealot might find ignorance preferable to that turn of events.
But those aren't my issues. My issues are thus:
1. I HATE TIME TRAVEL.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm an escapist reader. I need to be consumed by a book to fully enjoy it, and that means I NEED to be able to believe what I'm reading is the truth.
BUT.
Time travel destroys the possibility of believing anything, b/c it's ALL subject to change.
Why mourn a character's death if it will more than likely be nullified in the next chapter or two? Why dredge up any outrage on a character's behalf when the object of her torment will be thwarted during the second take?
For me, it's not an issue of, "why would I?" It's an issue of, "I can't." And if I can't feel anything in response to your characters or your story, why would I read your book?
2. Resurrecting Voldemort-as-villain is lazy. And infuriating.
We survived three of Voldemort's failed attempts at rebirth, we survived one success, and we survived a three book revelation that essentially said we had to kill him SEVEN TIMES for his death to actually stick.
After all of that, how could anyone think it would be a Good Idea to bring him back AGAIN?
Admittedly, it wasn't quite that simple, but . . . it was also exactly that simple. Everything and everyone else connected to ye olde grande scheme was superfluous, merely the means of achieving a so-very-tired end.
As for the aforementioned superfluous detail:
3. Unnecessary drama.
At first I debated whether or not it was fair to fault a staged production for being overly dramatic, but I hate unnecessary drama on the screen as much as I hate it on paper, so, YES, it most definitely is fair.
A. Stop crying, dammit. Especially you, Harry. *rolls eyes*
B. Ginny's instant escalation from concerned-but-understanding wife into finger-pointing harridan. If you've read it, you know to what I'm referring.
C. Harry's impersonation of a father-as-dictator
4. Contradictions, including, but not limited to:
In Act 2, when Harry uses his conversation with Dumbledore-as-portrait as reasoning for his ludicrous request, Headmistress McGonagoll admonishes him for treating a "memoir" like the actual person:
BUT, in Act 4, this:
Either they're two men or they're one man and a flawed copy. Pick one and stick with it, please.
5. Plot holes.
A. If Dolores Umbrage warded her Hogwarts office against unauthorized entry, do you really expect me to believe that
B. How many times have we heard some variation of, "Am I the only person who's read Hogwarts, a History?"
And how many of those times were specifically in reference to wards that prevented witches and wizards from magicking themselves onto Hogwarts' property?
Yet suddenly and inexplicably, anyone can use the floo network to travel to any number of chimneys on the grounds.
C. There was also some nonsense about Albus and Scorpius not needing to worry about a certain de-wanded Hogwarts student being harmed b/c "the professors would never allow serious injury to occur," which is, simply put . . . laughable.
That's not to say HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD was horrible and I hated it. It wasn't and I didn't. I even loved parts of it, Scorpius in particular. BUT. Even taking into consideration that it was a script, not a novel, it wasn't the same level of quality we've come to expect from Rowling (who, no, may not have written the thing in its entirety, but who, YES, did collaborate on and ultimately give her seal of approval for), and that is disappointing.
I'm not going to bother recommending or not recommending this one--you'll either read it or you won't, and at this stage of series worship or indifference, your decision will have little to do with what I have to say about it. SO. Go forth and do what you were always going to do.
RULE FOR SPOILERS: if it's in the first 10%, and therefore (in most cases) available for scrutiny from undecided readers in the FREE downloadable preview, IT'S NOT A SPOILER.
That being said, a LOT of things happen--IMPORTANT things--in the first five percent, let alone ten percent of HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, so if you'd rather go into your read without significant prior knowledge, leave this review immediately.
That's the only warning you're going to get.
In my experience there are two types of hardcore fans for any given series:
1. The Blind Zealot.
This type of fan will forgive an author almost anything. Inconsistent behavior in main characters, enormous plot holes, unexplained developments, etc., it doesn't matter, b/c OHMAGAWD, I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! *squeeeeeeee*
2. The Thoughtful, Critical Reader.
This type of fan loves a series based solely on its merit. They aren't blind to the aforementioned plot holes or inconsistent characters, they are in fact disappointed by such occurrences, but they can still maintain LOVE for the overall series.
For example, I LOVE HARRY POTTER, but I did not love HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, b/c I felt Rowling encapsulated all the teenangsty emotions of adolescence a little bit too thoroughly.
It was, in a word, exhausting.
PLOT TWIST: I think both types of fans are equally likely to have issues with this latest addition to their Harry Potter library.
Blind Zealots:
The trouble with ending a series is that if it's done well, you have all the answers to all of your questions, and a vague enough HEA-type scenario that your well-loved cast of characters is assured whatever it is that they deserve.
Heroines and Heroes live happily ever after, Villains and Minions are thwarted and punished, and while you aren't foolish enough to think everyone's adventures are over, Good continuing to triumph over Evil is reasonably guaranteed.
BUT.
Once you've finished something, the only way to reopen it is too create new conflict--without conflict there's no story.
Suddenly the nebulous "HEA" isn't so nebulous, and that new clarity jeopardizes everything you've happily assumed about what comes next.
Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron, previously cardboard cutouts of adult wizards, become real parents with real children, and those children must grow up, making mistakes while they do it, and, worse, they must go through puberty and all the angst that entails.
That's not happily ever after . . . That's REAL LIFE.
Then Real Life takes your daydream of a-son-of-Harry-Potter being sorted into Slytherin and reinventing the house's image with the kind of unaffected rebelliousness you associated with a teenaged Sirius Black, and crushes it under its heel, forcing you to realize that wizards . . . are kind of assholes.
So now, adding insult to injury, the image of the utopian magical society that sprang fully formed from Voldemort's ashes is forever ruined.
A Blind Zealot might find ignorance preferable to that turn of events.
But those aren't my issues. My issues are thus:
1. I HATE TIME TRAVEL.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm an escapist reader. I need to be consumed by a book to fully enjoy it, and that means I NEED to be able to believe what I'm reading is the truth.
BUT.
Time travel destroys the possibility of believing anything, b/c it's ALL subject to change.
Why mourn a character's death if it will more than likely be nullified in the next chapter or two? Why dredge up any outrage on a character's behalf when the object of her torment will be thwarted during the second take?
For me, it's not an issue of, "why would I?" It's an issue of, "I can't." And if I can't feel anything in response to your characters or your story, why would I read your book?
2. Resurrecting Voldemort-as-villain is lazy. And infuriating.
We survived three of Voldemort's failed attempts at rebirth, we survived one success, and we survived a three book revelation that essentially said we had to kill him SEVEN TIMES for his death to actually stick.
After all of that, how could anyone think it would be a Good Idea to bring him back AGAIN?
Admittedly, it wasn't quite that simple, but . . . it was also exactly that simple. Everything and everyone else connected to ye olde grande scheme was superfluous, merely the means of achieving a so-very-tired end.
As for the aforementioned superfluous detail:
3. Unnecessary drama.
At first I debated whether or not it was fair to fault a staged production for being overly dramatic, but I hate unnecessary drama on the screen as much as I hate it on paper, so, YES, it most definitely is fair.
A. Stop crying, dammit. Especially you, Harry. *rolls eyes*
B. Ginny's instant escalation from concerned-but-understanding wife into finger-pointing harridan. If you've read it, you know to what I'm referring.
C. Harry's impersonation of a father-as-dictator
4. Contradictions, including, but not limited to:
In Act 2, when Harry uses his conversation with Dumbledore-as-portrait as reasoning for his ludicrous request, Headmistress McGonagoll admonishes him for treating a "memoir" like the actual person:
HARRY: And Dumbledore—Dumbledore said—
PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: What?
HARRY: His portrait. We spoke. He said some things which made sense—
PROFESSOR McGONAGALL: Dumbledore is dead, Harry. And I’ve told you before, portraits don’t represent even half of their subjects.
BUT, in Act 4, this:
DUMBLEDORE (openly weeping now): I was blind. That is what love does. I couldn’t see that you needed to hear that this closed-up, tricky, dangerous old man . . . loved you.
A pause. The two men are overcome with emotion.
Either they're two men or they're one man and a flawed copy. Pick one and stick with it, please.
5. Plot holes.
A. If Dolores Umbrage warded her Hogwarts office against unauthorized entry, do you really expect me to believe that
B. How many times have we heard some variation of, "Am I the only person who's read Hogwarts, a History?"
And how many of those times were specifically in reference to wards that prevented witches and wizards from magicking themselves onto Hogwarts' property?
Yet suddenly and inexplicably, anyone can use the floo network to travel to any number of chimneys on the grounds.
C. There was also some nonsense about Albus and Scorpius not needing to worry about a certain de-wanded Hogwarts student being harmed b/c "the professors would never allow serious injury to occur," which is, simply put . . . laughable.
That's not to say HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD was horrible and I hated it. It wasn't and I didn't. I even loved parts of it, Scorpius in particular. BUT. Even taking into consideration that it was a script, not a novel, it wasn't the same level of quality we've come to expect from Rowling (who, no, may not have written the thing in its entirety, but who, YES, did collaborate on and ultimately give her seal of approval for), and that is disappointing.
I'm not going to bother recommending or not recommending this one--you'll either read it or you won't, and at this stage of series worship or indifference, your decision will have little to do with what I have to say about it. SO. Go forth and do what you were always going to do.
Want to read
August 19, 2016It's finally HERE!!! HP FOR LIFE!!
My post on Hello Beautiful Book Blog
WHO'S EXCITED?!?
OMGGGGGGG
It's going to be published on HARRY'S BIRTHDAY!!!!
OH HAPPY DAYYYY
FROM TIME MAGAZINE ONLINE:
My post on Hello Beautiful Book Blog
WHO'S EXCITED?!?
OMGGGGGGG
It's going to be published on HARRY'S BIRTHDAY!!!!
OH HAPPY DAYYYY
FROM TIME MAGAZINE ONLINE:
"There’s good news for Harry Potter fans who won’t be able to make it to London to see the theatrical production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: the play will be published in book form immediately after its debut.
The script, written by Jack Thorne and based on a story by J.K. Rowling, Thorne and John Tiffany, will be published as an eBook by Pottermore, Rowling’s digital publishing platform, and in hardcover by Scholastic in the U.S. The first printing will be a “Special Rehearsal Edition,” reflecting the script from the early part of the preview period, and a later “Definitive Collector’s Edition” will present the finalized version (as many plays make small changes during previews).
The story picks up 19 years after the end of the original series, with Potter working at the Ministry of Magic, now a father of three. As Pottermore describes, “While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted.”
The play premieres on July 30, and the book will be released July 31, which just so happens to be The Chosen One’s birthday."
May 4, 2018
CONGRATS TO HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD FOR WINNING THE 2016 GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS FOR BEST FANTASY!!!
Bloody Hell!
I freaking cried. I was afraid I wasn't going to like this book but I did and I damn cried. This is a SPOILER FREE review so I can't tell you what made me cry.
Even though this is about the kids and all of our loves are older, they wrote the book in a way that we get to have some memories of certain things. And my favorite character made me cry again!
I really hope they put this play out on dvd sometime and make it available to everyone. Although, it might be weird seeing other people playing the parts.
Anyway, I loved reading about the children. I loved the friendship between Albus, Harry's son and Scorpius, Draco's son. Scorpius was the sweetest one of all, who would have thunk.
I didn't like some of the parts Ron played, he seemed like an idiot but he's Ron and I love Ron.
Of course most of you already know it's written in a play format. This was weird at first and then I got into it. I don't think I have ever read a play before, it seems like I would remember.
This was a nice little trip down Hogwarts Lane and the little mystery/hijinks the kids get up to that brings on all kinds of issues was a cool edition. Well, not really, but you know what I mean.
I loved it. I can't say that I loved everything about it and I might not have loved it if that one part didn't come into play, but who cares. I am so happy with it for what it is. I hope you all love it as much as I did and if you don't then that's okay too.
Thank you for being my light in the darkness
MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List
Bloody Hell!
I freaking cried. I was afraid I wasn't going to like this book but I did and I damn cried. This is a SPOILER FREE review so I can't tell you what made me cry.
Even though this is about the kids and all of our loves are older, they wrote the book in a way that we get to have some memories of certain things. And my favorite character made me cry again!
I really hope they put this play out on dvd sometime and make it available to everyone. Although, it might be weird seeing other people playing the parts.
Anyway, I loved reading about the children. I loved the friendship between Albus, Harry's son and Scorpius, Draco's son. Scorpius was the sweetest one of all, who would have thunk.
I didn't like some of the parts Ron played, he seemed like an idiot but he's Ron and I love Ron.
Of course most of you already know it's written in a play format. This was weird at first and then I got into it. I don't think I have ever read a play before, it seems like I would remember.
This was a nice little trip down Hogwarts Lane and the little mystery/hijinks the kids get up to that brings on all kinds of issues was a cool edition. Well, not really, but you know what I mean.
I loved it. I can't say that I loved everything about it and I might not have loved it if that one part didn't come into play, but who cares. I am so happy with it for what it is. I hope you all love it as much as I did and if you don't then that's okay too.
Thank you for being my light in the darkness
MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List
January 16, 2018
They're back..One More time..19 years later.
In a different style..
Harry Potter & The Cursed 8th Book
DRACO: I don’t care what you did or who you saved, you are a constant curse on my family, Harry Potter.
A 'Play', of friendship, courage & anti-prejudice as before..
AND
Marital relations, Father/Son issues.
A new Story goes farther than ever..
travelling back & forth in time..
Then back to where it all began..
To close the circle.
Once & for all.
HARRY: The Boy Who Lived. How many people have to die for the Boy Who Lived?
A Bittersweet ending to The Saga of The Boy Who Lived.
Our Friends are different a little bit here than we knew them?
YES, I mean who isn't? It's 19 years later.. Are you now as you'd expected would be 10 years ago? Are your real life friends still the same 12, 15 years later?
The Story is in Different form & atmosphere?
YES., It's a Play..screen play - and not to mention that there's a ‘Definitive Edition’ of the play as it is just the Rehearsal Edition..
Not the Trio story rather the children's? YES. It's story of 19 years later...of the new generation..
So STOP Moaning like Myrtle,It's still very faithful to the magical series..
A perfect conclusion to the Symmetry* of the Epic series in the History.
~~~~~~~~~~
Since the Ending of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows we wanted more...One more time.
Many asking too many "What If"..
What if Harry's son end up in Slytherin?
What if Ron and Hermione didn't work out as the author herself suspects?
What if there's a Time Turner left?
What if we use it to save someone of Death?
What if we use it to save Voldemort? or to make more Horcrux ? Or worst?
What if we had One More Book? Nineteenth Years Later?
**The Play**
--------
First of all, Please do a Worldwide tour...Please include Egypt.
It's easy to read, and to get into the story..
Alas, I have to admit that being in form of ‘play’ and not a novel made it even a bit “dry” like most Fan Fictions., I even thought, after spending a direct 6 hours reading 3 Acts that it may be one and not the real deal -since I read it first in ebook format till my hard copy arrive to Egypt-
Anyway, You have to use your imagination to get the scenes...recall your past experience, life in Hogwarts and you'll be easily in...Reliving the Magic
Add to being a play, it's not all by J.K. Rowling, the story is by her, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany together..
And the Playwright is by Jack Thorne...not Rowling.
Yet the lines are really fun, smart..just amazing.
And you have to let go once you start ‘Act Two’ cause everything starts to heat up much..in a very fast packed adventure, and theatrical dramatic ones…
The Story
--------
“Can you Keep the Secret?”
Will try my best.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's different... more mature...real wild and dangerous cause it deals with the most dangerous Instruments...TIME..
This time you'd feel that Rowling is really cruel to the characters..
It may be about the Test of Life....To Choose between what's good and what's easy..
BUT it was real hard test to us all..
I will merely summing up only Act One..
It starts right with the “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” Epilogue scene..
Albus Severus Potter is worried sick he'd end up in Slythrine
Yet.. as soon as he started his year, this was the least of his troubles.
Surprisingly befriended with Scorpius Malfoy, surprisingly hates Hogwarts…
Surprisingly hates being the child of The Boy Who Lived, while many died in his cause.
The Father/Son issue in its worst..
And before his fourth year starts..Everything happens fast…
Harry as Ministry official and Hermione as Minister for Magic seize an illegal last Time Turner..that even more dangerous..
Amos Diggory wants his son back...who had been killed by Voldmort in the Triwizard Tournament more than 20 years ago..
Albus feels his father's responsible for this death..
An attempt to change a minor misfortune of the past leads into a massive , colossal damage to the present and the future..
And even turns into a horrible Dystopia.
It's like The Butterfly Effect… Days of Future Past
Again it's a story of the value of Friendship… The wrong of Prejudice...
But it's also about Father/Son relation very well written..
I loved how it goes, from wrong to kinda right.
Between Harry and Albus, Between Dumbledore and Harry…
And even between Draco and Scorpius..
Also the Marital relation is really good here…
I loved Ron and Hermione their opposite character yet their strong bond.
And the love that lived...between Harry and Ginny.
Oh and Draco and his wife…
Okay, time for,
The Characters
-----------
Again... Rowling is really cruel to her characters here..
Harry's being a "Hot Head" is clearly deepening the problem with his son..
he's always has been a hot head by the way..
yet Ginny is a good mother, and better wife than I expected.
Hermone was good , not excellent but I LOVED how she turned into two different characters .. one was really awesome in the Dystopia, the second was really bad...but that may match what happened.
I just may be didn't like Ron much that I didn't feel angry enough for him being a bit shallow in this play but that still a bit sad.
And I have to admit that I really LOVE how Draco is...with his still being have the trace of what he was before...
BUT don't forget it's not about Harry Potter anymore...it's more about the Kids...
Though I wished to see more of Rose who's been shallow but I just loved Albus and Scorpios..
You'll be surprised with who you're gonna meet here.. truly.
Some of the Characters we all love makes appearance, some of them even you may never expect to see again!!!!
I have to say that I felt goosebumps everytime an old character appears...not just flashbacks, some was in The Future Past, or a real dystopia, some in dreams, even in portraits and some are just mentioned.
I really loved it. And wished for even more.
I was so sad for the death of some, and the re-death of some..
And just remember ... when you're 40.. you don't live the adventures much as your children..
And this last story is about them after all....
The Children..
Who's The Cursed Child
-------------------
As if I'm gonna tell, ha!
Till the mid of the third act you'll have many suspicious.
In Harry Potter’s dreams here he can be The Cursed Child...
-one of the best haunting scenes in every early novels was always Harry’s dreams, I bet it's purely written by Rowling here-
oh and looking from The Dursleys perspective, he is..even worse, he's so in his Son's eyes as well…
And that's what triggers everything here.
Many surprises, many twists…
I loved it… I loved the ending as well…
Playing in time is dangerous and as every one since the last book asked about Why Not Using the Time Turner….here's the answer..in the last book of the Series that changed the History forever..
Letting Go.
------------
By the end of this book you'll realize why J.K. Rowling announced that that's it for Harry Potter stories… it is the the full circle… the Beginning meets the End..the time has answered every What-if we can think of.
What if we use the time Turner to...
It's all here.
19 Years for most of us, since the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997...Reading the story of Harry and his friends in 7 Volumes..
Reading as many lines about the back story of them and the rest of characters in the Pottermore and social media by Rowling.
Craving for one more time with them...after the Epilogue that passed 19 years.
Get excited with the very short article 2 years ago on Dumbledore Army reunited in the Qudditch World Cup.
Now here it is, a full story, one last story full of love and nostalgia.
We can't go back in time. We shan't dwell in the past..
And when I finish it, 2 times, I really admit This is EVERYTHING I've ever wanted in a Harry Potter sequels but I just wish a Time Turner, back to 1997 and start reading Harry Potter all over again.... :)
It's not good to dwell in past anyway, so I'm just Happy I lived this series..grown up with it..
I, and many of Potterheads and fans, were worried sick it may let us down but I'm so glad that many liked it.
And it's bittersweet to know that's it.
BUT We must have THE ‘Definitive Edition’ of the play that promised.
The series of Harry Potter, the boy who lived,is now complete…
And we still have a Wizarding World so vast to explore.
With J.K. Rowling, our Queen of Magic.
Mohammed Arabey
From 31 July 2016
To 1 Aug. 2016
**“ The Symmetry in case you didn't notice it yet.”
And you can really add more similarities to that .
This time it's so related to the Heart of the Series,Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which is heavily echoes here..
If you agree about the symmetrical relation specially between this one and Goblet of Fire, let's discuss it at the comments :)
February 14, 2017
SPOILER FREE VIDEO REVIEW: https://youtu.be/WUFTFkyDHlY
2.5* (I think)
So here's the deal. I went into this being apprehensive. My expectations were low and I was right. I just felt like Harry Potter's story ended where it had to end. The questions that were left unanswered kept the story alive as I would imagine what might be going on in their lives as adults. This answers all those questions and then some. I wanted to rate this higher but I think 2.5 is as high as I can go. These characters didn't feel like the characters I fell in love with. The story had cringe worthy moments and honestly felt like fan fiction. I think seeing this actually performed would be incredible, but reading it was just, average. Might do a video review so I can go more into depth because I definitely have more to say.
2.5* (I think)
So here's the deal. I went into this being apprehensive. My expectations were low and I was right. I just felt like Harry Potter's story ended where it had to end. The questions that were left unanswered kept the story alive as I would imagine what might be going on in their lives as adults. This answers all those questions and then some. I wanted to rate this higher but I think 2.5 is as high as I can go. These characters didn't feel like the characters I fell in love with. The story had cringe worthy moments and honestly felt like fan fiction. I think seeing this actually performed would be incredible, but reading it was just, average. Might do a video review so I can go more into depth because I definitely have more to say.
August 10, 2016
FULL VIDEO REVIEW IS LIVE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNTYG...
I have a lot of mixed feelings on this book. Am I happy we got another Harry Potter story? Yes. Am I satisfied with some aspects? Absolutely. But am I disappointed as well? Unfortunately, YES.
L I K E S :
Characters:
I was so happy to feel like the characters were authentic. Throughout the entire novel, these felt like the children I grew up alongside and their development over the last two decades into adults felt REAL. Everyone was who I wanted them to become (ESPECIALLY DRACO) and even the kid's had their own distinctive voices I really enjoyed. The dynamic of the characters (Harry & Draco are a perfect example, as well as Harry & Ginny and Ron & Hermione) were consistent with the books, yet still developed over the years into what I felt they should be. Also Scorpius is my everything, he is one of the purest characters in all of literature and if you disagree, bye.
Things that were addressed that needed to be addressed:
Minimal moments that made me happy: Basically, I think there are so many people that loved everything about this book, but as I read this book very critically and found a lot of faults, the parts I loved seemed pretty minimal so I've grouped them here.
-Beginning: I loved that the story started at the epilogue of Deathly Hallows. I didn't even think this was a possibility, but I think it was the perfect way to mesh these two stories into one another.
- Draco & Harry's Dynamic: These two developed exactly as I wanted them to. While there is still an air of distaste around both of them, they've truly grown and come to terms with each other.
-
-
Humor: I personally really enjoyed the humor in the play! The jokes coming from the cast felt really true to their characters and this book had me laughing out loud all throughout the books. I'll go over specific lines in my video review for the sake of length on here, but I don't think there was a single intentional joke that didn't have me howling of laughter.
Scorpius & Albus: Okay listen, I am one to respect anyone's sexuality, so if these two claim they're straight, they're straight. But seriously, there is so much queer baiting in this script that it pains me to know it was never going to amount to anything. I don't understand why it's so bad to have two gay wizards as the main characters. If you're going to throw lines at me like "He doesn't like his friend talking to a girl" and "They hug each other with fierceness. They hold for a beat." IMMA SHIP THEM TOGETHER. And that's not to undermine their love as friends; regardless of their sexuality, they have a beautiful relationship and their dynamic is a pleasure to read. It's clear they love each other so much, even if it is just as friends. I just think I would have loved this story on a whole 'nother level if their friendship became something more at the end of the story.
D I S L I K E S :
Lack of characters: This goes into my feeling that this plot was FAR TOO LARGE to be limited to the time constraints and physical space on the stage for a play. There is an absence of every character who is not Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Albus, Scorpius,and Delphi.
-Hugo: Does not appear ONCE. What REALLY confuses me and goes into the contradiction to the books, is that he was at Kings Cross in the Deathly Hallows epilogue, yet he's not in the first scene. He starts Hogwarts during Albus/Scorpius/Rose's third year, yet he. is. never. there. He's Ron and Hermione's child for gods sake! He should have been in this book!
- Rose, James, & Lily: While we do see these three in the beginning for a few scenes, all three are virtually absent from the entire play after about Act Two. How on earth do you expect me to believe these two groups of parents are off on another CRAZY adventure, but don't show any thought about their children, other than Albus? It's just unreasonable and does not make sense. I'm going to say this a million times throughout these reviews, but if you use the argument that "it's a play, they don't have enough time," then they should not have made this story a play. Lack of room for a plot is the biggest reason to NOT include it and putting out something incomplete is just sloppy and amateur.
- Neville: Neville is mentioned COUNTLESS times throughout this novel. He's a professor at Hogwarts and you bet your ass he would coddle The Golden Trio's children like they were his own, but again HE DOESN'T SHOW UP ONCE. I'm purely disappointed.
- Teddy Lupin: Teddy is obviously a very minor character but HE WAS ALSO AT KINGS CROSS (which still confuses me because he had left Hogwarts at this point, but whatevs) HE WAS STILL THERE. They made a big deal that Teddy was a "part of the Potter family" and came over for dinner frequently, but he isn't even mentioned in the books. Also, his CHARACTER ITSELF was made a big deal by Jo, who wanted the story to end on another child being left an orphan. But nope, there's no space for anyone who wasn't a main character (which is a large fault in the author's planning because side characters are still hugely important to a story) so we don't see him at all.
- Hagrid: OK WHERE THE HELL IS HAGRID. Someone suggested to me that he may have wrongfully passed, but if McGonagall is alive, I'm betting Hagrid's giant blood gives him a different lifespan than most wizards. HE WOULD LITERALLY DO ANYTHING TO SPEND TIME WITH HARRY&GINNY&RON&HERMIONE'S CHILDREN WHERE IS HE. We go through like three or four alternate timelines of Hogwarts and he is absent in all of them. Seriously, it's a straight up disservice to his character.
Harry & Albus's relationship:
The scene in the Ministry: okay I got a looooooot of issues here.
1.
2.
THE TIME TURNERS:Oh lordy, lordy. Prepare for the longest rant of this entire review.
1. To give you a run down, the system of time travel established in Prisoner of Azkaban is essentially a "fixed timeline" meaning that the time traveler's actions would not alter the timeline at all. (ex. it's Harry who creates the Patronus to save himself & Sirius because as Harry himself claims "It was easy, because I'd already done it.) In Harry Potter & The Cursed Child, it follows the timeline known as the "Grandfather Paradox" (aka used in Back to the Future) which is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SYSTEM OF TIME that is more flexible and allows people to change history by their actions. YOU. CAN'T. HAVE. TWO. DIFFERENT. SYSTEMS. OF. TIME. It's made clear that creating a paradox is possible in POA (an example given is that one can kill their future/past self if they are recognized by themselves), but that doesn't change that fact that there is no evidence of the fixed timeline that has been established for 12 years in TCC. Paradoxes fucking everywhere and The Doctor is sobbing from his Tardis.
2.
3.
4. On Pottermore, (here's an image as a source https://twitter.com/LIBassBunny/statu... - the original post I found it from is from 3 years ago) J.K. Rowling admits that she left a ton of plot holes in the system of time travel she created. She claims to have fixed that over the years, ending the solution with destroying all of them during the battle at the Department of Mysteries. And I think this is great, this is what authors should have the incentive to do when they make a mistake. BUT if she wanted to fix it, why would she approve a script that is built on the foundation of something she tried to erase in her books? It truly makes me question either how genuine her approval is, or the integrity of her character to turn her back on her previous decisions.
To sum up, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child BUTCHERED the system of time & time travel created by Jo and I have no words to describe how detrimental this is to the plot.
Big secret plot twist I don't want to spoil:
2.
3.
4.
This is ridiculous. This is far too convenient. There is too little information on when this actually happened. I refuse to accept this as part of the plot.
Random little things that bother me:
- First trip back in time:
-The Trolley Witch:
T H I N G S T H A T M A D E M E C R Y :
-Harry in Godric's Hollow:
-Hagrid meeting Harry for the first time:
-Draco opening up to Harry:
There are a million more things to say in my video review, so stay tuned for that on my YouTube channel. All in all, I'm happy we got this book. I'm happy I read it. I'm happy that some things stayed true and somethings impressed me. But I'm super disappointed that it's so dissociated from the rest of the books plot-wise and that it was very underdeveloped. I will stand by my opinion that this should have been a full novelization of the play, and that would have fixed a lot of the inconsistencies and plot holes. I will absolutely go to see this play when it hits New York, and I would recommend it to any Harry Potter fan.
I have a lot of mixed feelings on this book. Am I happy we got another Harry Potter story? Yes. Am I satisfied with some aspects? Absolutely. But am I disappointed as well? Unfortunately, YES.
L I K E S :
Characters:
I was so happy to feel like the characters were authentic. Throughout the entire novel, these felt like the children I grew up alongside and their development over the last two decades into adults felt REAL. Everyone was who I wanted them to become (ESPECIALLY DRACO) and even the kid's had their own distinctive voices I really enjoyed. The dynamic of the characters (Harry & Draco are a perfect example, as well as Harry & Ginny and Ron & Hermione) were consistent with the books, yet still developed over the years into what I felt they should be. Also Scorpius is my everything, he is one of the purest characters in all of literature and if you disagree, bye.
Things that were addressed that needed to be addressed:
Minimal moments that made me happy: Basically, I think there are so many people that loved everything about this book, but as I read this book very critically and found a lot of faults, the parts I loved seemed pretty minimal so I've grouped them here.
-Beginning: I loved that the story started at the epilogue of Deathly Hallows. I didn't even think this was a possibility, but I think it was the perfect way to mesh these two stories into one another.
- Draco & Harry's Dynamic: These two developed exactly as I wanted them to. While there is still an air of distaste around both of them, they've truly grown and come to terms with each other.
-
-
Humor: I personally really enjoyed the humor in the play! The jokes coming from the cast felt really true to their characters and this book had me laughing out loud all throughout the books. I'll go over specific lines in my video review for the sake of length on here, but I don't think there was a single intentional joke that didn't have me howling of laughter.
Scorpius & Albus: Okay listen, I am one to respect anyone's sexuality, so if these two claim they're straight, they're straight. But seriously, there is so much queer baiting in this script that it pains me to know it was never going to amount to anything. I don't understand why it's so bad to have two gay wizards as the main characters. If you're going to throw lines at me like "He doesn't like his friend talking to a girl" and "They hug each other with fierceness. They hold for a beat." IMMA SHIP THEM TOGETHER. And that's not to undermine their love as friends; regardless of their sexuality, they have a beautiful relationship and their dynamic is a pleasure to read. It's clear they love each other so much, even if it is just as friends. I just think I would have loved this story on a whole 'nother level if their friendship became something more at the end of the story.
D I S L I K E S :
Lack of characters: This goes into my feeling that this plot was FAR TOO LARGE to be limited to the time constraints and physical space on the stage for a play. There is an absence of every character who is not Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Albus, Scorpius,and Delphi.
-Hugo: Does not appear ONCE. What REALLY confuses me and goes into the contradiction to the books, is that he was at Kings Cross in the Deathly Hallows epilogue, yet he's not in the first scene. He starts Hogwarts during Albus/Scorpius/Rose's third year, yet he. is. never. there. He's Ron and Hermione's child for gods sake! He should have been in this book!
- Rose, James, & Lily: While we do see these three in the beginning for a few scenes, all three are virtually absent from the entire play after about Act Two. How on earth do you expect me to believe these two groups of parents are off on another CRAZY adventure, but don't show any thought about their children, other than Albus? It's just unreasonable and does not make sense. I'm going to say this a million times throughout these reviews, but if you use the argument that "it's a play, they don't have enough time," then they should not have made this story a play. Lack of room for a plot is the biggest reason to NOT include it and putting out something incomplete is just sloppy and amateur.
- Neville: Neville is mentioned COUNTLESS times throughout this novel. He's a professor at Hogwarts and you bet your ass he would coddle The Golden Trio's children like they were his own, but again HE DOESN'T SHOW UP ONCE. I'm purely disappointed.
- Teddy Lupin: Teddy is obviously a very minor character but HE WAS ALSO AT KINGS CROSS (which still confuses me because he had left Hogwarts at this point, but whatevs) HE WAS STILL THERE. They made a big deal that Teddy was a "part of the Potter family" and came over for dinner frequently, but he isn't even mentioned in the books. Also, his CHARACTER ITSELF was made a big deal by Jo, who wanted the story to end on another child being left an orphan. But nope, there's no space for anyone who wasn't a main character (which is a large fault in the author's planning because side characters are still hugely important to a story) so we don't see him at all.
- Hagrid: OK WHERE THE HELL IS HAGRID. Someone suggested to me that he may have wrongfully passed, but if McGonagall is alive, I'm betting Hagrid's giant blood gives him a different lifespan than most wizards. HE WOULD LITERALLY DO ANYTHING TO SPEND TIME WITH HARRY&GINNY&RON&HERMIONE'S CHILDREN WHERE IS HE. We go through like three or four alternate timelines of Hogwarts and he is absent in all of them. Seriously, it's a straight up disservice to his character.
Harry & Albus's relationship:
The scene in the Ministry: okay I got a looooooot of issues here.
1.
2.
THE TIME TURNERS:Oh lordy, lordy. Prepare for the longest rant of this entire review.
1. To give you a run down, the system of time travel established in Prisoner of Azkaban is essentially a "fixed timeline" meaning that the time traveler's actions would not alter the timeline at all. (ex. it's Harry who creates the Patronus to save himself & Sirius because as Harry himself claims "It was easy, because I'd already done it.) In Harry Potter & The Cursed Child, it follows the timeline known as the "Grandfather Paradox" (aka used in Back to the Future) which is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SYSTEM OF TIME that is more flexible and allows people to change history by their actions. YOU. CAN'T. HAVE. TWO. DIFFERENT. SYSTEMS. OF. TIME. It's made clear that creating a paradox is possible in POA (an example given is that one can kill their future/past self if they are recognized by themselves), but that doesn't change that fact that there is no evidence of the fixed timeline that has been established for 12 years in TCC. Paradoxes fucking everywhere and The Doctor is sobbing from his Tardis.
2.
3.
4. On Pottermore, (here's an image as a source https://twitter.com/LIBassBunny/statu... - the original post I found it from is from 3 years ago) J.K. Rowling admits that she left a ton of plot holes in the system of time travel she created. She claims to have fixed that over the years, ending the solution with destroying all of them during the battle at the Department of Mysteries. And I think this is great, this is what authors should have the incentive to do when they make a mistake. BUT if she wanted to fix it, why would she approve a script that is built on the foundation of something she tried to erase in her books? It truly makes me question either how genuine her approval is, or the integrity of her character to turn her back on her previous decisions.
To sum up, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child BUTCHERED the system of time & time travel created by Jo and I have no words to describe how detrimental this is to the plot.
Big secret plot twist I don't want to spoil:
2.
3.
4.
This is ridiculous. This is far too convenient. There is too little information on when this actually happened. I refuse to accept this as part of the plot.
Random little things that bother me:
- First trip back in time:
-The Trolley Witch:
T H I N G S T H A T M A D E M E C R Y :
-Harry in Godric's Hollow:
-Hagrid meeting Harry for the first time:
-Draco opening up to Harry:
There are a million more things to say in my video review, so stay tuned for that on my YouTube channel. All in all, I'm happy we got this book. I'm happy I read it. I'm happy that some things stayed true and somethings impressed me. But I'm super disappointed that it's so dissociated from the rest of the books plot-wise and that it was very underdeveloped. I will stand by my opinion that this should have been a full novelization of the play, and that would have fixed a lot of the inconsistencies and plot holes. I will absolutely go to see this play when it hits New York, and I would recommend it to any Harry Potter fan.
August 3, 2016
• review also posted on Wordpress! •
Warning: This review contains major spoilers! Don’t read this if you haven’t read the Harry Potter series and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child yet!
-------------------------------------
If you loved Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, I wouldn’t recommend reading my review. This is going to be a rant! You’ve been warned!
-------------------------------------
This is the very first time I have rated a book one stars! Believe me, I don’t want to do this, but I really didn’t enjoy reading Cursed Child. Before I get started, I want you to know the following:
1. A couple of weeks ago, I read some spoilers from people who had watched the play. Those immediately lowered my expectations. I knew going into this I wasn’t going to like it.
2. I knew this was not written by J.K. Rowling.
3. I knew this wasn’t the eight book, but the script for the play.
I love the Harry Potter series so much. And I always will. It means a lot to me and when I heard about this, I immediately pre-ordered it. I’ve seen some people say ‘it’s Harry Potter so obviously I love this’, but I can’t say the same. Call me critical but I spent money on this. People spend money on tickets to go see the play. I expect something decent in return then.
To call this fanfiction is an insult to all the people who try to bring more joy to a fandom. The Cursed Child was just plain bad writing. I will get into detail later, but I refuse to accept what happened as canon. I don’t care what J.K. Rowling says. This is a disgrace to the characters and the people who loved the original book series. You might think that I’m taking this too seriously, but they shouldn’t ask money for this if it were ‘just for fun’. This is literally being promoted as ‘the eight story’ in the Harry Potter series. I knew before I started it that it wasn’t, but the marketing team pretends it is.
So no, I won’t apologise for being critical. Just because this isn’t a book, but a play, doesn’t mean that the story shouldn’t be as good. In fact, that is such an insult to plays! It’s just another form of media. I’ve seen some people say: “You can’t judge this if you haven’t seen the play”. Well, if that’s the case, they shouldn’t have published it as a book. I can’t afford going to London and paying a lot of money in order for some people to validate my opinion.
Let’s start of with the things I did like:
This felt as if I was reading a book. It didn’t take time to adjust to the format. I’m also curious to see what everything is going to look like in the actual play. But, since I really don’t like the actual story and what they did to the characters, I’m not sure yet whether I’d be willing to pay money for that.
Out of all the characters, Hermione was the only one who still resembled who she used to be. I’m proud that she has become Minister for Magic! I also really liked Minerva! And Draco proved he was a good parent (much better than Harry…).
I enjoyed the interactions between Albus and Scorpius! They’re such good ‘friends’ (A.K.A. boyfriends).
That was it. Those were the only thing I like. My list of dislikes is much longer! I had six full pages of notes. When I read a book that’s over a thousand pages long, I don’t even have that many notes! Let’s get started:
The plot is basically 90% about trying to bring back Cedric Diggory. I don’t understand why Albus is so obsessed with Cedric. So many people died for Harry, why does it have to be Cedric? Obviously because Amos asked, but to have almost the entire plot of this play resolve around that…
I’d rather read every single second of a class taught at Hogwarts! Because this wasn’t magical enough. Sure, it features the characters we know and love and Hogwarts, but we rarely get to see actual magic. When Albus, Delphi and Scorpius are searching for the Time Turner in Hermione’s office, they don’t even try ‘accio’! Instead, they search the entire bookcase! Whenever we do get some magic, it isn’t explained enough. Why couldn’t Delphi use ‘imperio’ on Albus? She said: “to fulfil the prophecy […] Imperio just won’t do”. Why not? Or when Harry transfigured into Voldemort… Is that even possible? Why would wizards go through the trouble of brewing polyjuice potion then? All of this is just very convenient, but didn’t make enough sense.
One of the things that bothered me most, was Ron Weasley’s characterisation. He has become a caricature of the person he used to be. The only reason he’s there, is for comic relief. All he does is eat and make stupid jokes. They act as if he’s so dumb and doesn’t take anything serious. Did Thorne actually read the original series before he wrote this? Because this is not the Ron I know! I refuse to believe that he was so drunk at his own wedding he doesn’t remember anything. And why would Ron give someone love potion? He had a terrible experience with it when he was a teenager, why in the world would he do that? It doesn’t make any sense!
Another character who was completely butchered was Cedric Diggory. In the alternate universe where he lost the Triwizard Tournament, he becomes a death-eater and kills Neville. Cedric was one of the kindest characters. It’s absurd to assume that he would become a racist murderer just because he got humiliated!
Scorpius said: “Cedric was a different person entirely – dark, dangerous”. We only found out that he killed Neville, but Scorpius didn’t interact with him. I don’t understand where this observation comes from. And I had that feeling quite a few times while reading this; as if I had skipped a couple of pages without realising it.
Harry Potter is a terrible father. I didn’t like him once in this ‘book’. Granted, Albus is a whiny teenager: he has no idea how privileged he is. Don’t tell me he doesn’t get special treatment because he’s a Potter. A lot of people have it worse than him. Still, Harry had no right to say the things he did. And his excuse? He didn’t have a father figure growing up. He had plenty! What about Arthur, Sirius, Remus, Hagrid and even Dumbledore, Harry?! Harry had no right to attack Minerva either. Just because a woman doesn’t have children, doesn’t mean she isn’t able to take care of them. She’d be a much better parent than he ever was.
And when did he become a psychic? His scar hurts, he actually hears Voldemort’s voice and can speak Parseltongue again, but Delphi hadn’t even saved Voldemort yet (actually, she never does). How is he able to do that if nothing has changed? Voldemort wasn’t back, yet he acted as if he was? Once again, I just don’t understand…
Also, what is up with Lily’s blanket? I don’t remember him ever talking about it in the books, yet now Harry pretends as if it’s his most precious possession in the entire world. I know he didn’t possess it in the other books, but it’s still strange that he’s so obsessed with it now.
Oh, and the special privileges? Harry is at Hogwarts all the damn time! I don’t remember parents being allowed there. I guess being a Potter does mean you’re allowed to do more than others.
A lot of people hate Severus Snape and don’t see him as a brave person. While I don’t feel as strongly about that as them, I completely understand why they feel that was. He was horrible to his pupils, particularly Hermione, Harry and Neville. But, in the alternative universe, Hermione and Ron secretly work together with him. He used to be so mean to them, it seems highly unlikely to me they would forgive him! Just because he didn’t turn out to be a death-eater, doesn’t mean it justifies his behaviour. Snape’s interactions with Scorpius were so cringe-worthy. He isn’t a nice guy who makes one or two jokes and he’d never talk that openly about Lily.
Because so many characters felt differently, I didn’t care about them anymore. When Hermione and Ron sacrificed themselves and received the dementor’s kiss, I felt nothing. On the one hand, I’m sad we didn’t get to see Sirius, Remus, Tonks an Teddy. But on the other hand, I’m very glad, since their characters would have been butchered as well!
This book almost pretends as if the other Potter and Granger-Weasley kids don’t exist. Ever heard of Hugo???
The timeline is so strange. Page 22 and a year has past. Page 27 and they’re already starting their third year at Hogwarts. Seven pages later, another year has past! Surely, they could have given us a glimpse at their lives at Hogwarts without having to do it like this. Later on, Scorpius and Albus are in Scotland, without any brooms or wands. Yet the very next page, they’re already in Godric’s Hollow! How is that even possible? Again, this is not explained.
And how did Albus and Scorpius know every single detail from what went down over twenty years ago at the Triwizard Tournament and Battle of Hogwarts? Did their parents tell them literally everything? Were very detailed books written? I need to know this!
In the alternate universe, they kept mentioning an ‘Augurey’ and I had no idea what it meant. It’s only explained many scenes later. I cannot stress enough how underdeveloped some plots were. Sometimes, I had no idea what was going on because things weren’t explained well enough. And that causes plot holes.
I’m so thankful they didn’t use the Time Turner often in the Harry Potter series. I can already imagine how how things would have ended otherwise: Harry would have gone back in time and kill Voldemort and save James and Lily. Whenever a universe has the ability to time travel, that’s the kind of things that happen. It’s predictable. Yet that’s exactly what Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is about. They go back in time over FOUR TIMES just to go back to how things were at the beginning of the play. It’s such a waste of time. I can think of so many plots that would have been more interesting. Imagine there’s ever going to be a F.R.I.E.N.D.S movie and it turns out Monica has left Chandler and never wants to see her children again. That wouldn’t make any sense at all. But that is how Cursed Child feels like to me.
Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favourite books an films, so I obviously have no problems with time travelling. But this was just too much.
As I’ve mentioned before, I really missed the magic. And of course the characters, because Cursed Child completely butchered them. Think of how much better this would be if it was about one school year at Hogwarts, without Voldemort trying to kill everyone. Just one year of the adventures Scorpius and Albus encounter. There didn’t need to be this much family drama. Honestly, I’m pretty sure this was the script of a Days of Our Lives or The Bold and the Beautiful episode instead! Just think how they could have explored the other houses, besides Gryffindor! But no, in Cursed Child, everyone is still prejudiced towards Slytherins and they pretend Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff don’t even exist!
This is only about three hundred pages long, yet it was so repetitive. Scorpius and Albus do something stupid; Draco, Harry and Ginny run after them and need Hermione because “their children are missing!” AGAIN!
I also had some problems with the writing itself:
Voldemort Day? ‘Oh Potter’ instead of ‘Oh Shit’? Mudbloods in the dungeons? The Blood Ball? WE GET IT, VOLDEMORT IS BACK!
“A Malfoy who may be a Voldemort” Euhm, that’s just awful writing. ‘Voldemort’ isn’t a last name; it’s not as if ‘Lord’ was his first name. It should have been ‘Riddle’ instead.
‘Thank Dumbledore’ instead of ‘Thank God’ is not only cheesy, it is also incredibly arrogant. I’m not the most religious person but to say that Dumbledore is a God…
It’s so sexist that at the Triwizard Tournament, every school got a lot of cheers besides Beauxbatons! I know boys also attend it, but it’s still more ‘feminine’ than Durmstrang or Hogwarts.
Almost everyone who has read this, can’t deny there is something going on between Albus and Scorpius. They are so gay! But of course, this book is heteronormative to the max! I can already hear J.K. Rowling in a couple of years: “Actually, they were dating, but it wasn’t important to the story”. Please don’t give this woman any praise when it comes to diversity, she doesn’t deserve it. The Cursed Child could have meant a great deal more if they weren’t so afraid to include characters who aren’t straight for a change. And don’t even get me started on Albus’ crush on Delphi. He’s like fourteen and she was twenty? That’s disgusting.
Which brings me to Delphi, the daughter of Voldemort and Bellatrix. Do you really expect me to believe that Voldemort was capable of love and lust? Why do they feel the need to establish that every character is ‘oh so straight’?! Supposedly, Bellatrix gave birth to Delphi before the Battle of Hogwarts in Malfoy Manor. WHAT?! In Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows, we actually see her there! Don’t you think anyone would have noticed? DRACO ACTUALLY LIVED THERE! How oblivious is he supposed to be then? This doesn’t make any sense!
I could go on, but I think I’ve made my point. There were so many things that bothered me and I don’t ever want to read this again. I regret paying this much money for it. I refuse to accept this as canon. I will pretend this doesn’t exist.
Warning: This review contains major spoilers! Don’t read this if you haven’t read the Harry Potter series and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child yet!
-------------------------------------
If you loved Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, I wouldn’t recommend reading my review. This is going to be a rant! You’ve been warned!
-------------------------------------
This is the very first time I have rated a book one stars! Believe me, I don’t want to do this, but I really didn’t enjoy reading Cursed Child. Before I get started, I want you to know the following:
1. A couple of weeks ago, I read some spoilers from people who had watched the play. Those immediately lowered my expectations. I knew going into this I wasn’t going to like it.
2. I knew this was not written by J.K. Rowling.
3. I knew this wasn’t the eight book, but the script for the play.
I love the Harry Potter series so much. And I always will. It means a lot to me and when I heard about this, I immediately pre-ordered it. I’ve seen some people say ‘it’s Harry Potter so obviously I love this’, but I can’t say the same. Call me critical but I spent money on this. People spend money on tickets to go see the play. I expect something decent in return then.
To call this fanfiction is an insult to all the people who try to bring more joy to a fandom. The Cursed Child was just plain bad writing. I will get into detail later, but I refuse to accept what happened as canon. I don’t care what J.K. Rowling says. This is a disgrace to the characters and the people who loved the original book series. You might think that I’m taking this too seriously, but they shouldn’t ask money for this if it were ‘just for fun’. This is literally being promoted as ‘the eight story’ in the Harry Potter series. I knew before I started it that it wasn’t, but the marketing team pretends it is.
So no, I won’t apologise for being critical. Just because this isn’t a book, but a play, doesn’t mean that the story shouldn’t be as good. In fact, that is such an insult to plays! It’s just another form of media. I’ve seen some people say: “You can’t judge this if you haven’t seen the play”. Well, if that’s the case, they shouldn’t have published it as a book. I can’t afford going to London and paying a lot of money in order for some people to validate my opinion.
Let’s start of with the things I did like:
This felt as if I was reading a book. It didn’t take time to adjust to the format. I’m also curious to see what everything is going to look like in the actual play. But, since I really don’t like the actual story and what they did to the characters, I’m not sure yet whether I’d be willing to pay money for that.
Out of all the characters, Hermione was the only one who still resembled who she used to be. I’m proud that she has become Minister for Magic! I also really liked Minerva! And Draco proved he was a good parent (much better than Harry…).
I enjoyed the interactions between Albus and Scorpius! They’re such good ‘friends’ (A.K.A. boyfriends).
That was it. Those were the only thing I like. My list of dislikes is much longer! I had six full pages of notes. When I read a book that’s over a thousand pages long, I don’t even have that many notes! Let’s get started:
The plot is basically 90% about trying to bring back Cedric Diggory. I don’t understand why Albus is so obsessed with Cedric. So many people died for Harry, why does it have to be Cedric? Obviously because Amos asked, but to have almost the entire plot of this play resolve around that…
I’d rather read every single second of a class taught at Hogwarts! Because this wasn’t magical enough. Sure, it features the characters we know and love and Hogwarts, but we rarely get to see actual magic. When Albus, Delphi and Scorpius are searching for the Time Turner in Hermione’s office, they don’t even try ‘accio’! Instead, they search the entire bookcase! Whenever we do get some magic, it isn’t explained enough. Why couldn’t Delphi use ‘imperio’ on Albus? She said: “to fulfil the prophecy […] Imperio just won’t do”. Why not? Or when Harry transfigured into Voldemort… Is that even possible? Why would wizards go through the trouble of brewing polyjuice potion then? All of this is just very convenient, but didn’t make enough sense.
One of the things that bothered me most, was Ron Weasley’s characterisation. He has become a caricature of the person he used to be. The only reason he’s there, is for comic relief. All he does is eat and make stupid jokes. They act as if he’s so dumb and doesn’t take anything serious. Did Thorne actually read the original series before he wrote this? Because this is not the Ron I know! I refuse to believe that he was so drunk at his own wedding he doesn’t remember anything. And why would Ron give someone love potion? He had a terrible experience with it when he was a teenager, why in the world would he do that? It doesn’t make any sense!
Another character who was completely butchered was Cedric Diggory. In the alternate universe where he lost the Triwizard Tournament, he becomes a death-eater and kills Neville. Cedric was one of the kindest characters. It’s absurd to assume that he would become a racist murderer just because he got humiliated!
Scorpius said: “Cedric was a different person entirely – dark, dangerous”. We only found out that he killed Neville, but Scorpius didn’t interact with him. I don’t understand where this observation comes from. And I had that feeling quite a few times while reading this; as if I had skipped a couple of pages without realising it.
Harry Potter is a terrible father. I didn’t like him once in this ‘book’. Granted, Albus is a whiny teenager: he has no idea how privileged he is. Don’t tell me he doesn’t get special treatment because he’s a Potter. A lot of people have it worse than him. Still, Harry had no right to say the things he did. And his excuse? He didn’t have a father figure growing up. He had plenty! What about Arthur, Sirius, Remus, Hagrid and even Dumbledore, Harry?! Harry had no right to attack Minerva either. Just because a woman doesn’t have children, doesn’t mean she isn’t able to take care of them. She’d be a much better parent than he ever was.
And when did he become a psychic? His scar hurts, he actually hears Voldemort’s voice and can speak Parseltongue again, but Delphi hadn’t even saved Voldemort yet (actually, she never does). How is he able to do that if nothing has changed? Voldemort wasn’t back, yet he acted as if he was? Once again, I just don’t understand…
Also, what is up with Lily’s blanket? I don’t remember him ever talking about it in the books, yet now Harry pretends as if it’s his most precious possession in the entire world. I know he didn’t possess it in the other books, but it’s still strange that he’s so obsessed with it now.
Oh, and the special privileges? Harry is at Hogwarts all the damn time! I don’t remember parents being allowed there. I guess being a Potter does mean you’re allowed to do more than others.
A lot of people hate Severus Snape and don’t see him as a brave person. While I don’t feel as strongly about that as them, I completely understand why they feel that was. He was horrible to his pupils, particularly Hermione, Harry and Neville. But, in the alternative universe, Hermione and Ron secretly work together with him. He used to be so mean to them, it seems highly unlikely to me they would forgive him! Just because he didn’t turn out to be a death-eater, doesn’t mean it justifies his behaviour. Snape’s interactions with Scorpius were so cringe-worthy. He isn’t a nice guy who makes one or two jokes and he’d never talk that openly about Lily.
Because so many characters felt differently, I didn’t care about them anymore. When Hermione and Ron sacrificed themselves and received the dementor’s kiss, I felt nothing. On the one hand, I’m sad we didn’t get to see Sirius, Remus, Tonks an Teddy. But on the other hand, I’m very glad, since their characters would have been butchered as well!
This book almost pretends as if the other Potter and Granger-Weasley kids don’t exist. Ever heard of Hugo???
The timeline is so strange. Page 22 and a year has past. Page 27 and they’re already starting their third year at Hogwarts. Seven pages later, another year has past! Surely, they could have given us a glimpse at their lives at Hogwarts without having to do it like this. Later on, Scorpius and Albus are in Scotland, without any brooms or wands. Yet the very next page, they’re already in Godric’s Hollow! How is that even possible? Again, this is not explained.
And how did Albus and Scorpius know every single detail from what went down over twenty years ago at the Triwizard Tournament and Battle of Hogwarts? Did their parents tell them literally everything? Were very detailed books written? I need to know this!
In the alternate universe, they kept mentioning an ‘Augurey’ and I had no idea what it meant. It’s only explained many scenes later. I cannot stress enough how underdeveloped some plots were. Sometimes, I had no idea what was going on because things weren’t explained well enough. And that causes plot holes.
I’m so thankful they didn’t use the Time Turner often in the Harry Potter series. I can already imagine how how things would have ended otherwise: Harry would have gone back in time and kill Voldemort and save James and Lily. Whenever a universe has the ability to time travel, that’s the kind of things that happen. It’s predictable. Yet that’s exactly what Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is about. They go back in time over FOUR TIMES just to go back to how things were at the beginning of the play. It’s such a waste of time. I can think of so many plots that would have been more interesting. Imagine there’s ever going to be a F.R.I.E.N.D.S movie and it turns out Monica has left Chandler and never wants to see her children again. That wouldn’t make any sense at all. But that is how Cursed Child feels like to me.
Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favourite books an films, so I obviously have no problems with time travelling. But this was just too much.
As I’ve mentioned before, I really missed the magic. And of course the characters, because Cursed Child completely butchered them. Think of how much better this would be if it was about one school year at Hogwarts, without Voldemort trying to kill everyone. Just one year of the adventures Scorpius and Albus encounter. There didn’t need to be this much family drama. Honestly, I’m pretty sure this was the script of a Days of Our Lives or The Bold and the Beautiful episode instead! Just think how they could have explored the other houses, besides Gryffindor! But no, in Cursed Child, everyone is still prejudiced towards Slytherins and they pretend Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff don’t even exist!
This is only about three hundred pages long, yet it was so repetitive. Scorpius and Albus do something stupid; Draco, Harry and Ginny run after them and need Hermione because “their children are missing!” AGAIN!
I also had some problems with the writing itself:
Voldemort Day? ‘Oh Potter’ instead of ‘Oh Shit’? Mudbloods in the dungeons? The Blood Ball? WE GET IT, VOLDEMORT IS BACK!
“A Malfoy who may be a Voldemort” Euhm, that’s just awful writing. ‘Voldemort’ isn’t a last name; it’s not as if ‘Lord’ was his first name. It should have been ‘Riddle’ instead.
‘Thank Dumbledore’ instead of ‘Thank God’ is not only cheesy, it is also incredibly arrogant. I’m not the most religious person but to say that Dumbledore is a God…
It’s so sexist that at the Triwizard Tournament, every school got a lot of cheers besides Beauxbatons! I know boys also attend it, but it’s still more ‘feminine’ than Durmstrang or Hogwarts.
Almost everyone who has read this, can’t deny there is something going on between Albus and Scorpius. They are so gay! But of course, this book is heteronormative to the max! I can already hear J.K. Rowling in a couple of years: “Actually, they were dating, but it wasn’t important to the story”. Please don’t give this woman any praise when it comes to diversity, she doesn’t deserve it. The Cursed Child could have meant a great deal more if they weren’t so afraid to include characters who aren’t straight for a change. And don’t even get me started on Albus’ crush on Delphi. He’s like fourteen and she was twenty? That’s disgusting.
Which brings me to Delphi, the daughter of Voldemort and Bellatrix. Do you really expect me to believe that Voldemort was capable of love and lust? Why do they feel the need to establish that every character is ‘oh so straight’?! Supposedly, Bellatrix gave birth to Delphi before the Battle of Hogwarts in Malfoy Manor. WHAT?! In Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows, we actually see her there! Don’t you think anyone would have noticed? DRACO ACTUALLY LIVED THERE! How oblivious is he supposed to be then? This doesn’t make any sense!
I could go on, but I think I’ve made my point. There were so many things that bothered me and I don’t ever want to read this again. I regret paying this much money for it. I refuse to accept this as canon. I will pretend this doesn’t exist.
August 16, 2016
After Reading:
1,5 stars
Nope, that's definitely not what I hoped this book'd have been.
Recensione in Italiano:
La prima parte della storia non è nemmeno male, poi però tutto inizia ad essere confusonario e, diciamocelo, praticamente senza senso.
Nel complesso comunque sarebbe una storia nella media, una storia da 3 stelline, diciamo.
Poi uno si rende conto che è di Harry Potter che stiamo parlando e allora mani nei capelli: ma cos’è sta roba?!?
Questo libro non ha decisamente nulla a che fare con Harry Potter!
L’unica cosa che, più o meno, questa storia ha in comune con i libri è l’inizio: infatti si inizia esattamente dove l’epilogo dell’ultimo libro ci aveva lasciati, ovvero quando Albus Severus Potter arriva al binario 9 e ¾ per prendere per la prima volta il treno per Hogwarts.
E lì finiscono le somiglianze con i libri precedenti.
E anche con quello che la Rowling ha sempre affermato sui social, ma questo non importa…
Per quel che riguarda i personaggi… si salvi chi può!
L’unico che si salva è Scorpius: lui è di una specie rara e dev’essere protetto.
Albus, il protagonista… Mamma mia che nervoso! Seriamente, qualcuno avrebbe dovuto prenderlo a calci, un sacco di calci in culo un sacco di volte, magari si sarebbe fatto più furbo.
Per quel che riguarda Harry… No, io mi rifiuto di anche solo pensare che questo sia Harry. Quest’uomo non ha nulla a che fare con il ragazzo di cui tutti, diciamocelo, ci siamo innamorati ad un certo punto. E non si può nemmeno giustificare con “è diventato un uomo adulto” perché qua si passa dal giorno alla notte, davvero.
Nel complesso, comunque, un libro molto deludente, un libro che avremmo proprio potuto evitare di leggere.
Spero davvero che la Rowling abbia solo messo il nome, senza nemmeno leggere il libro (anche se pure in quel caso ammetto mi dispiacerebbe sapere come ha venduto la sua creazione), perché non voglio crederci che lei abbia letto e accettato questa “roba”.
Before Reading:
I've been waiting for this book for something like 10 years.
or even better: for my whole life.
1,5 stars
Nope, that's definitely not what I hoped this book'd have been.
Recensione in Italiano:
La prima parte della storia non è nemmeno male, poi però tutto inizia ad essere confusonario e, diciamocelo, praticamente senza senso.
Nel complesso comunque sarebbe una storia nella media, una storia da 3 stelline, diciamo.
Poi uno si rende conto che è di Harry Potter che stiamo parlando e allora mani nei capelli: ma cos’è sta roba?!?
Questo libro non ha decisamente nulla a che fare con Harry Potter!
L’unica cosa che, più o meno, questa storia ha in comune con i libri è l’inizio: infatti si inizia esattamente dove l’epilogo dell’ultimo libro ci aveva lasciati, ovvero quando Albus Severus Potter arriva al binario 9 e ¾ per prendere per la prima volta il treno per Hogwarts.
E lì finiscono le somiglianze con i libri precedenti.
E anche con quello che la Rowling ha sempre affermato sui social, ma questo non importa…
Per quel che riguarda i personaggi… si salvi chi può!
L’unico che si salva è Scorpius: lui è di una specie rara e dev’essere protetto.
Albus, il protagonista… Mamma mia che nervoso! Seriamente, qualcuno avrebbe dovuto prenderlo a calci, un sacco di calci in culo un sacco di volte, magari si sarebbe fatto più furbo.
Per quel che riguarda Harry… No, io mi rifiuto di anche solo pensare che questo sia Harry. Quest’uomo non ha nulla a che fare con il ragazzo di cui tutti, diciamocelo, ci siamo innamorati ad un certo punto. E non si può nemmeno giustificare con “è diventato un uomo adulto” perché qua si passa dal giorno alla notte, davvero.
Nel complesso, comunque, un libro molto deludente, un libro che avremmo proprio potuto evitare di leggere.
Spero davvero che la Rowling abbia solo messo il nome, senza nemmeno leggere il libro (anche se pure in quel caso ammetto mi dispiacerebbe sapere come ha venduto la sua creazione), perché non voglio crederci che lei abbia letto e accettato questa “roba”.
Before Reading:
I've been waiting for this book for something like 10 years.
or even better: for my whole life.
September 7, 2016
Spoiler free review!
This review can also be found on my blog, Dana and the Books.
I never thought I'd get to count down the days to another Harry Potter release.
I was understandably hesitant about a sequel, but I'm relieved after having read it. It was everything I could have hoped for and not at all what I was expecting - seriously, not at all - but it was perfect. It was the type of story I play within my head when I have too much time on my hands. I was super lucky to be able to go into the story completely spoiler free and it definitely enhanced the twists and just everything.
I'm not going to comment on the plot or characters. I want others who wish to go in blind like I did to have that chance, and I don't want to be the one who spoils it for them.
Instead, I'm going to talk about feelings.
I remember the sinking sensation I had right after finishing Deathly Hallows for the first time - though that was enhanced by a combination of no sleep (midnight release party) and also being an eighteen-year-old-girl who just had her emotions ripped out and then torn apart by the lovely Ms Rowling. It lasted for days. It was a unique experience to have grown up with Harry and be just a year older than him during the Battle of Hogwarts. The end of Deathly Hallows essentially marked the end of my childhood.
Now, I'm a twenty-seven-year-old and those feelings have been ripped to shreds yet again.
Post Potter Depression.
But it's worth it.
Harry Potter has always been the most important book series to me since I first read them in 1999 - I reread the books every year, sometimes more because of reasons - so I'll gladly take the punches Rowling continues to throw at me.
Worth it.
(Book Depository / Amazon US / Amazon Canada / Amazon UK)
This review can also be found on my blog, Dana and the Books.
I never thought I'd get to count down the days to another Harry Potter release.
I was understandably hesitant about a sequel, but I'm relieved after having read it. It was everything I could have hoped for and not at all what I was expecting - seriously, not at all - but it was perfect. It was the type of story I play within my head when I have too much time on my hands. I was super lucky to be able to go into the story completely spoiler free and it definitely enhanced the twists and just everything.
I'm not going to comment on the plot or characters. I want others who wish to go in blind like I did to have that chance, and I don't want to be the one who spoils it for them.
Instead, I'm going to talk about feelings.
I remember the sinking sensation I had right after finishing Deathly Hallows for the first time - though that was enhanced by a combination of no sleep (midnight release party) and also being an eighteen-year-old-girl who just had her emotions ripped out and then torn apart by the lovely Ms Rowling. It lasted for days. It was a unique experience to have grown up with Harry and be just a year older than him during the Battle of Hogwarts. The end of Deathly Hallows essentially marked the end of my childhood.
Now, I'm a twenty-seven-year-old and those feelings have been ripped to shreds yet again.
Post Potter Depression.
But it's worth it.
Harry Potter has always been the most important book series to me since I first read them in 1999 - I reread the books every year, sometimes more because of reasons - so I'll gladly take the punches Rowling continues to throw at me.
Worth it.
(Book Depository / Amazon US / Amazon Canada / Amazon UK)
August 19, 2022
مهما كنت حذرا"سيصفعك الزمن في غفلة منك
فالأبناء أقوياء حقا..و صفعاتهم مؤلمة..فهم كنز الآباء و خيبتهم
و مع تأرجح اصغر آلة سحرية للزمن..ستتارجح أسئلة..من هو الطفل الملعون..حقا؟؟
بعد سبع ملاحم منحت للامومة و الصداقة مجدا غير مسبوق... كان على رولينج ان تقدم ملحمة اخيرة عن الابوة
فلنطرح في البداية سؤال..ما الذي يجعل سيدة في عمري تتعلق بالسلسلة الى هذا الحد؟
هل انت ساحرة؟هل انت مراهقة؟هل انت يتيمة؟
لا ،و لكن دائما كان صمود هاري الطفل اليتيم الفقير يخجلني..تحمله لعبء لا يطاق كان دائما ملهما"لي ..الهمني خوض بعض المعارك بدلا"من الهروب منها
دفعني للاستمرار مهما كانت الخسائر. .لقد واجه شرا يسري حوله و في دمائه رغما عنه..و انتصر بنبل
و هذا كل ما نبغاه من الادب: الهام يمنحنا العزم
اجمل و اسوأ ما في الزمن ،انه يمر بسرعة⏳
باسلوب مختلف و حبكة أثارت غيظ البعض.. مع نفس الاجواء المعتادة لهوجوارتس و تحت اسقفها وجوه حبيبة ..قديمة و جديدة و في احداث تدور بين 2016 الى 2020نواجه مع هاري اقسى معاركه..مع ابن متطلب صعب المراس...سحر مختلف ..زمن لا يرحم و..ماضي يأبى الزوال
ا"كم مرة اكتشفت يا هاري ان الوقت كان ضدك؟🕒
صعد الى اعلى المراتب و كذلك هيرميون و معهم رون..و لكن ها هو ابنه الاوسط الباس سيفروس بوتر" و يا له من عبء ثقيل يلقيه عليك الاسم يا بني!!. .بينما انت تجسيد حي لمقولة "الولد لخاله"نعم :رون
تتذكرون غيرة رون و ثورته على هاري في الجزء الرابع والسابع..
حسنا
عندما وجد الباس نفسه خارج جريفندور....
و اختار بقلبه صديقا ذكيا منبوذا من الجميع" سكوربيوس دراكو مالفوي " عندما اعتقد انه قد يكون عبئا على والده..او قد يخجله
..هنا خطرت على ذهنه هذه الجملة القاتلة"اذا عاد بي الزمن الى الوراء لفعلت و فعلت"و تبدأ الحماقات..و تتعدد الافتراضات السوداوية..و التي منحت المسرحية تشويقا خاصا
الزمن قنديل فتيله الانجاز.. و السحر هنا لا يفعل المعجزات↗
ا"هاري كنت دائما اكثر من سعيد للتضحية بنفسك لاجل العالم باكمله.. لكن الباس يريد حبا مخصوصا"تهمس جيني
حسنا يا الباس بوتر..توترت منك كثيرا.. فقد شاءت ظروفك معي ان اكون في موقعك و موقع والدك ايضا
لقد نشات في ظل اب عبقري في مجاله مشغول دائما بجلائل الاعمال..لا يمنحني وقتا طويلا او فهما كثيرا ..و كذلك امي!!اهل ظللت انتحب؟ هل تملكتني الغيرة انني لست عبقرية؟ ابدا..مثلي مثل جيمس و ليلي بوتر
قنعت بما يمنحه لي من ميزات..
و مثل هاري تماماً..صار لدى مراهقين فحاولت منحهم كل ما حرمت منه ..و لكن هل هذا ما ينقصهم حقا؟
ماذا يعني ان تكون هاري بوتر؟ اهي نعمة ام "لعنة"؟سؤال حاولت رولينج و من معها الاجابة عنه بعد سنوات
..ان تقوم حرب كاملة بسببك..قدرك جعلك النبوءة
منذ مقتل والدك.. و انت تخسر كل من حاول ان يكون لك ابا" سيريوس..دمبلدور ...سناب..لوبين..رحلوا لتعيش
ا"هل لاحظتم ان الكل يموت قتلا في هذه الملحمة ..لا يوجد موت طبيعي او مرض ..فقط لعنات و تعاويذ قاتلة "ا
الحب يعمينا..صدقت دمبلدور..اعمى حب هاري لابنه بصيرته احيانا..ابنه لم يرث منه الا اندفاعه..اخبره هاري: ا
ا"لقد فُرضت على المغامرات..و لم اسعى اليها"و لكن ظل الباس راكضا باصرار وراء ما فرضته عليه الاقدار
"من خلال رحلات الباس و سكوربيوس و كنت اتمني حقا لو صحبتهم روز ابنة هرميون..اجابت رولينج على عدة اسئلة معلقة
..اعادت لنا دمبلدور كما لم يظهر من قبل..
سناب هل سيختار الخير ..دائما؟.. سيدريك ديجوري :ماذا لو عاش؟
دراكو مالفوى !!!اجبرته الوحدة على اختيار طريق الشر و لكنه هنا فاجأني كثيرا
منذ البداية صنعت لنا رولينج رجل احلامها و منحته لنا جميعا..
عبر سنوات صباه رايناه كيف تحول للبطل الاكثر كمالا في الادب الحديث حتى لو أكدت رولينج ان "المثالية بعيدة كل البعد عن ايدي البشر و بعيدة عن السحر ايضا"ا
البعض يرى ان العودة انقصت من قدر هاري ومن معه👀
..و لكن لا
كان لابد ان يصل هاري للاربعين لتكتمل شخصيته..لنرى ما خلف الانتصارات من هزائم خفية و مرارات دائمة..و ضمائر مؤرقة
ا"لم يكن علي ان ابقى لقد كان قدري ان اموت.. و رغم كل شيء عشت! و كل هؤلاء رحلوا"ا
و انا معك..فحياة بهذه القسوة لا تستحق بطل مثلك
فالأبناء أقوياء حقا..و صفعاتهم مؤلمة..فهم كنز الآباء و خيبتهم
و مع تأرجح اصغر آلة سحرية للزمن..ستتارجح أسئلة..من هو الطفل الملعون..حقا؟؟
بعد سبع ملاحم منحت للامومة و الصداقة مجدا غير مسبوق... كان على رولينج ان تقدم ملحمة اخيرة عن الابوة
فلنطرح في البداية سؤال..ما الذي يجعل سيدة في عمري تتعلق بالسلسلة الى هذا الحد؟
هل انت ساحرة؟هل انت مراهقة؟هل انت يتيمة؟
لا ،و لكن دائما كان صمود هاري الطفل اليتيم الفقير يخجلني..تحمله لعبء لا يطاق كان دائما ملهما"لي ..الهمني خوض بعض المعارك بدلا"من الهروب منها
دفعني للاستمرار مهما كانت الخسائر. .لقد واجه شرا يسري حوله و في دمائه رغما عنه..و انتصر بنبل
و هذا كل ما نبغاه من الادب: الهام يمنحنا العزم
اجمل و اسوأ ما في الزمن ،انه يمر بسرعة⏳
باسلوب مختلف و حبكة أثارت غيظ البعض.. مع نفس الاجواء المعتادة لهوجوارتس و تحت اسقفها وجوه حبيبة ..قديمة و جديدة و في احداث تدور بين 2016 الى 2020نواجه مع هاري اقسى معاركه..مع ابن متطلب صعب المراس...سحر مختلف ..زمن لا يرحم و..ماضي يأبى الزوال
ا"كم مرة اكتشفت يا هاري ان الوقت كان ضدك؟🕒
صعد الى اعلى المراتب و كذلك هيرميون و معهم رون..و لكن ها هو ابنه الاوسط الباس سيفروس بوتر" و يا له من عبء ثقيل يلقيه عليك الاسم يا بني!!. .بينما انت تجسيد حي لمقولة "الولد لخاله"نعم :رون
تتذكرون غيرة رون و ثورته على هاري في الجزء الرابع والسابع..
حسنا
عندما وجد الباس نفسه خارج جريفندور....
و اختار بقلبه صديقا ذكيا منبوذا من الجميع" سكوربيوس دراكو مالفوي " عندما اعتقد انه قد يكون عبئا على والده..او قد يخجله
..هنا خطرت على ذهنه هذه الجملة القاتلة"اذا عاد بي الزمن الى الوراء لفعلت و فعلت"و تبدأ الحماقات..و تتعدد الافتراضات السوداوية..و التي منحت المسرحية تشويقا خاصا
الزمن قنديل فتيله الانجاز.. و السحر هنا لا يفعل المعجزات↗
ا"هاري كنت دائما اكثر من سعيد للتضحية بنفسك لاجل العالم باكمله.. لكن الباس يريد حبا مخصوصا"تهمس جيني
حسنا يا الباس بوتر..توترت منك كثيرا.. فقد شاءت ظروفك معي ان اكون في موقعك و موقع والدك ايضا
لقد نشات في ظل اب عبقري في مجاله مشغول دائما بجلائل الاعمال..لا يمنحني وقتا طويلا او فهما كثيرا ..و كذلك امي!!اهل ظللت انتحب؟ هل تملكتني الغيرة انني لست عبقرية؟ ابدا..مثلي مثل جيمس و ليلي بوتر
قنعت بما يمنحه لي من ميزات..
و مثل هاري تماماً..صار لدى مراهقين فحاولت منحهم كل ما حرمت منه ..و لكن هل هذا ما ينقصهم حقا؟
ماذا يعني ان تكون هاري بوتر؟ اهي نعمة ام "لعنة"؟سؤال حاولت رولينج و من معها الاجابة عنه بعد سنوات
..ان تقوم حرب كاملة بسببك..قدرك جعلك النبوءة
منذ مقتل والدك.. و انت تخسر كل من حاول ان يكون لك ابا" سيريوس..دمبلدور ...سناب..لوبين..رحلوا لتعيش
ا"هل لاحظتم ان الكل يموت قتلا في هذه الملحمة ..لا يوجد موت طبيعي او مرض ..فقط لعنات و تعاويذ قاتلة "ا
الحب يعمينا..صدقت دمبلدور..اعمى حب هاري لابنه بصيرته احيانا..ابنه لم يرث منه الا اندفاعه..اخبره هاري: ا
ا"لقد فُرضت على المغامرات..و لم اسعى اليها"و لكن ظل الباس راكضا باصرار وراء ما فرضته عليه الاقدار
"من خلال رحلات الباس و سكوربيوس و كنت اتمني حقا لو صحبتهم روز ابنة هرميون..اجابت رولينج على عدة اسئلة معلقة
..اعادت لنا دمبلدور كما لم يظهر من قبل..
سناب هل سيختار الخير ..دائما؟.. سيدريك ديجوري :ماذا لو عاش؟
دراكو مالفوى !!!اجبرته الوحدة على اختيار طريق الشر و لكنه هنا فاجأني كثيرا
منذ البداية صنعت لنا رولينج رجل احلامها و منحته لنا جميعا..
عبر سنوات صباه رايناه كيف تحول للبطل الاكثر كمالا في الادب الحديث حتى لو أكدت رولينج ان "المثالية بعيدة كل البعد عن ايدي البشر و بعيدة عن السحر ايضا"ا
البعض يرى ان العودة انقصت من قدر هاري ومن معه👀
..و لكن لا
كان لابد ان يصل هاري للاربعين لتكتمل شخصيته..لنرى ما خلف الانتصارات من هزائم خفية و مرارات دائمة..و ضمائر مؤرقة
ا"لم يكن علي ان ابقى لقد كان قدري ان اموت.. و رغم كل شيء عشت! و كل هؤلاء رحلوا"ا
و انا معك..فحياة بهذه القسوة لا تستحق بطل مثلك
Want to read
February 10, 2016I need to accio! this book immediately.
Sidenote: can time turners go forward into the future?
Sidenote: can time turners go forward into the future?
September 5, 2016
Wow!
What an experience this was. I loved going back and visiting Hogwarts again.
Very enjoyable read. Thank you JK!
What an experience this was. I loved going back and visiting Hogwarts again.
Very enjoyable read. Thank you JK!
November 11, 2017
As you can see on my pre-review, I'm beyond excited for this script book and relive the magic at Hogwarts. It's automatically one of my most anticipated books of 2016 but due to the mixed reviews circulated, I decided to hold it off to clear my mind from expectations and wait for the hype to go down. Until now I'm still hesitant to read but screw it. I'm gonna dive in and let's see if I'm going to enjoy it.
Here's what I thought when I finished this book:
My fear just got real. This book is truly disappointing. The plot is ridiculous and the characters feels so...strange. They're not acting like themselves. I'm questioning Harry Potter's behavior. He turned into an insensitive and arrogant guy. Regardless he's a father, this is not the Harry Potter I knew from books 1-7. He matured a lot from those books and learned from many people in his life including Albus Dumbledore, Hagrid, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin etc... I don't like Albus Severus. He's a reckless, ungrateful, stupid idiot. Most of the time I want to crucio his butt for acting impulsively without THINKING TWICE .
The craziest part I've ever read was about Voldemort WHAT. KIND. OF. SORCERY. IS THIS?!
Despite of my rants, it still feels nostalgic and I surprisingly love the Malfoys. Scorpius Malfoy is freaking adorable and props to Draco talking more sense than Harry does. The change of heart feels weird but it's truly nice to see him. As for Scorpius and Rose -- they're like the Dramione (Draco-Hermione) we never had. Therefore; I'm giving it two stars instead of one star.
-----------------------------------
Pre-review: 2016
The Eighth Story.
Nineteen Years Later.
Merlin's Beard. To publish on July 31st 2016.
It's going to be real. AT LAST. MORE MAGIC.
ACCIO THIS SCRIPT BOOK!
I am a happy Potterhead!
Here's what I thought when I finished this book:
My fear just got real. This book is truly disappointing. The plot is ridiculous and the characters feels so...strange. They're not acting like themselves. I'm questioning Harry Potter's behavior. He turned into an insensitive and arrogant guy. Regardless he's a father, this is not the Harry Potter I knew from books 1-7. He matured a lot from those books and learned from many people in his life including Albus Dumbledore, Hagrid, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin etc... I don't like Albus Severus. He's a reckless, ungrateful, stupid idiot. Most of the time I want to crucio his butt for acting impulsively without THINKING TWICE .
The craziest part I've ever read was about Voldemort WHAT. KIND. OF. SORCERY. IS THIS?!
Despite of my rants, it still feels nostalgic and I surprisingly love the Malfoys. Scorpius Malfoy is freaking adorable and props to Draco talking more sense than Harry does. The change of heart feels weird but it's truly nice to see him. As for Scorpius and Rose -- they're like the Dramione (Draco-Hermione) we never had. Therefore; I'm giving it two stars instead of one star.
-----------------------------------
Pre-review: 2016
The Eighth Story.
Nineteen Years Later.
Merlin's Beard. To publish on July 31st 2016.
It's going to be real. AT LAST. MORE MAGIC.
ACCIO THIS SCRIPT BOOK!
I am a happy Potterhead!
January 11, 2021
"How many people have died for the Boy Who Lived?”
Cynical Natalie: Beware ye who enter. Here there be spoilers the size of Aragog.
Nice Natalie: What are you, narrating a movie? Don't scare them. All major spoilers are hidden, but really, we recommend going into The Cursed Child blind. Drop by after you finish!
Cynical Natalie: Alright, let's get down to it. What the flip did we just read?
Nice Natalie: A lovely story about family and threads we didn't know needed to be tied up, but made perfect sense when we read it. I always thought Harry was a little too caviler after the Battle of Hogwarts finished. We finally get to see the guilt-ridden PTSD part.
Cynical Natalie: Stop dancing around the question like One Direction asked about Zayn's departure. You know what I'm talking about. The brainchild of fanfiction writers.
Nice Natalie: I admit it was a weak plot element, but I liked the parallel. The Cursed Child is ultimately about family and Harry connecting with his son.
Cynical Natalie: Hooray for literature class. But that element is so full of plot holes, logic runs clean through.
Nice Natalie: Can't you focus on the good for once? What about the trick Albus and Scorpius used to send for help? That's old-school Rowling at her best, disguising useful plot objects as the mundane in the beginning and then whipping them out like a boss further down the line.
Cynical Natalie: Because there's too much bad to focus on the good! Like why is Albus such a fucking idiot? (Those who want to go in the Cursed Child completely blind might want to avert your eyes) Why would he attempt to go back in time and save Cedric? Screwing with time is a bad idea, especially during a period so entwined with Voldemort's existence.
Nice Natalie: I've had a lot of time to think about that. Remember that interview with Rowling? She said she deliberately smashed all the Time-Turners in Order of the Phoenix, so characters couldn't go back and mess with her plotlines. At the same time, she had Hermione drill into Harry and Ron—and by extension, us—that fiddling with the past was a bad idea.
Albus missed that lesson. He doesn't know the dangers of playing with time. When he made that decision, he was extremely angry with his dad and got a bit reckless. Like father, like son. Harry used to do reckless stuff when he was mad too, like diving into Snape's thoughts or going off to find Marvolo's ring.
I think if it were in book format, we would've gotten a deeper insight into Albus's thought process and rationalized his behavior, like we always did with Harry's.
Cynical Natalie: You're so far up Harry's ass, you can't even see straight.
The Cursed Child kinda makes me hate Harry. He abused his authority and position. Teenager Harry would've hated him.
Nice Natalie: He never claimed to be perfect. And that moment you're talking about was after Albus and Scorpius went dickering around in the past. It had to have caused ripples in his personality.
Cynical Natalie: While we're talking about the first altered timeline, I can't believe my intelligent, level-headed Hermione turned into a bitter spinster just because she and Ron didn't get married.
Nice Natalie: I didn't read it like that. I read it as a Ron/Hermione moment. She needs Ron's humor to balance out her stuffy side and Ron needs someone who will understand him on Hermione's level.
Cynical Natalie: Oh, I didn't realize Ron mattered anymore. Because he's clearly been downgraded to the comic relief character.
One of the main themes of the original series was to show Ron was more than a sidekick. He was his own person, brave and loyal, and deserves to stand in the light instead of the shadows of his friends.
Nice Natalie: Again, I read it as far more positive. Ron isn't the insecure teenager he was anymore. He has nothing to prove, not to himself, not to anyone else. He's comfortable on the sidelines. After all, according to Rowling, this is the guy who resigned from his job as an Auror to run a joke shop.
His role during the climax was beautiful.
Cynical Natalie: There are still a lot of inconsistencies. Why is McGonagall the headmaster? Rowling said she "getting on a bit" in an interview and Hogwarts got a new headmaster after the Battle.
Nice Natalie: She probably didn't want so many new characters. That's partially why Luna, Teddy Lupin, and most of the Weasleys didn't show up. Let it go, will you? It's a tiny thing.
Cynical Natalie: Fine. What about—to quote the fine folks over on Twitter—the gay panic with Albus and Scorpius?
We're not the kind of people read homoerotic subtext in everything. We didn't see it with Naruto/Sasuke and we don't see it with Dean and Castiel from Supernatural. It's not until others pointed it out that we saw potential signs. But the sexual tension between Albus and Scorpius was off the charts. I was shipping them from day one. And the shit Rowling has them say... My God.
Snape's famous declaration and "They belong together"—Right, absolutely platonic.
Nice Natalie: Rowling probably wanted to go for a Lily/James parallel with Rose and Scorpius. You can't please all the shippers.
Beside, like you can hate anything that has to do with Harry Potter.
Cynical Natalie: ...
Nice Natalie: Right?
Cynical Natalie: ...I hate you.
Nice Natalie: But you don't hate Harry.
Cynical Natalie: This is a sentimental rating, not a logical one.
Nice Natalie: We read on emotion, darling.
Cynical Natalie: Fuck off.
Other Nice Natalie/Cynical Natalie
The Fault in Our Stars
A Girl Like You
If I Stay
Dreams of Gods & Monsters
The Martian
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Catching Fire
All The Rage
An Ember In The Ashes
The Hammer of Thor
The Ship of the Dead
Caraval
Warcross
The Last Namsara
February 9, 2017
things Harry James Potter would never do:
- tell his son he wished he wasn’t his child
- insult/threaten Minerva McGonagall and invalidate her abilities and understanding of children because she doesn’t have any of her own
- incessantly stalk his child and threaten him, not caring how his child feels about it
- be prejudiced against his child for being in Slytherin after telling him he felt the opposite when seeing him off at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters (and really, having been able to observe what Sirius went through as the only Gryffindor in his family)
- tell his son he wished he wasn’t his child !!!!
- victorkrvm, tumblr
Harry could't be ANY more out of character, which is the thing that, amongst others, bothers me most about this script
!!!!!
- tell his son he wished he wasn’t his child
- insult/threaten Minerva McGonagall and invalidate her abilities and understanding of children because she doesn’t have any of her own
- incessantly stalk his child and threaten him, not caring how his child feels about it
- be prejudiced against his child for being in Slytherin after telling him he felt the opposite when seeing him off at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters (and really, having been able to observe what Sirius went through as the only Gryffindor in his family)
- tell his son he wished he wasn’t his child !!!!
- victorkrvm, tumblr
Harry could't be ANY more out of character, which is the thing that, amongst others, bothers me most about this script
!!!!!
August 31, 2016
For all my in depth thoughts, check out my video review on my channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTzd8...
1.5 Stars
1 star for Scorpius
1.5 Stars
1 star for Scorpius
August 4, 2016
J.K. Rowling could punch me in the face, and I'd still like it. The truth is, this isn't one of her stories, and it shows. For one, it's not even a book.
Regardless, the magic is here, and I like it just the same. The plot might be convoluted and crazy, but the world is magical enough for it to somehow work. It makes for all the thrills and mystery you come to expect from the Harry Potter universe.
Coming back to this series felt like returning to school after a long summer break. Although it takes place 19 years later, it seems to pick up right where the originals left off. Dumbledore returns as a moving painting, there's time-turners and polyjuice potion and sneaking around in invisibility cloaks and raids on the Ministry of Magic. It's silly yet serious, and filled with thrills and intrigue, and most of all fun.
But more than any of that, the Harry Potter universe is known for its characters, and in this installment, a couple more can now be mentioned with the best. Harry's son, Albus, is an outcast--everything Harry isn't, in a bad way, and the two struggle to relate until Albus becomes so isolated he starts falling down the same path that Voldemort did. And then there's Draco's son, always around, leading Albus down the wrong path, bringing up bad-blood from the past, and helping Albus make monstrous mistakes--all while having a personality that's sure to win you over.
Regardless, the magic is here, and I like it just the same. The plot might be convoluted and crazy, but the world is magical enough for it to somehow work. It makes for all the thrills and mystery you come to expect from the Harry Potter universe.
Coming back to this series felt like returning to school after a long summer break. Although it takes place 19 years later, it seems to pick up right where the originals left off. Dumbledore returns as a moving painting, there's time-turners and polyjuice potion and sneaking around in invisibility cloaks and raids on the Ministry of Magic. It's silly yet serious, and filled with thrills and intrigue, and most of all fun.
But more than any of that, the Harry Potter universe is known for its characters, and in this installment, a couple more can now be mentioned with the best. Harry's son, Albus, is an outcast--everything Harry isn't, in a bad way, and the two struggle to relate until Albus becomes so isolated he starts falling down the same path that Voldemort did. And then there's Draco's son, always around, leading Albus down the wrong path, bringing up bad-blood from the past, and helping Albus make monstrous mistakes--all while having a personality that's sure to win you over.
Read
August 2, 2016Lol.
October 16, 2019
what the actual fuck
July 3, 2019
1.) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ★★★★★
2.) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ★★★★★
3.) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ★★★★★
4.) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ★★★★★
5) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ★★★★★
6.) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince ★★★★★
7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ★★★★★
8.) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ★★
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I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS.
Here's my vlog of the launch party and my initial thoughts after reading! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqwyq...
2.) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ★★★★★
3.) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ★★★★★
4.) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ★★★★★
5) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ★★★★★
6.) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince ★★★★★
7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ★★★★★
8.) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ★★
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I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS.
Here's my vlog of the launch party and my initial thoughts after reading! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqwyq...
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