Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

[charlottemichael1401]

My copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child should be arriving any day in the mail. I haven't been this excited for a book to come out since James Patterson's last Maximum Ride story. I remember being young when the first Harry Potter book hit the market, I also remember curling up in my bedroom and reading the entire book in one day. Now that i'm an adult and mom I cannot curl up and read a book in one day... sigh... However, my daughter has to my absolute pleasure been turned into a Harry Potter fan herself. So my hope is to read the Cursed Child with her. However, the preview of the book I bought seems to be in an odd format... like a play. This does not deter my wish to read the book but i'm hoping the format does not take away from the Harry Potter story. I cannot wait to review this book and I am hoping it is with a fantastic positive review... otherwise this excitement is going to lead to a major letdown... the first in my Harry Potter history.

[taylorjordan429]

I'm reading the Cursed Child as we speak. It is actually the special edition rehearsal script of the play, not a novel in the sense we think about. It's basically like reading a screenplay, which I find interesting. Definitely different from the usual HP experience, but so far, I'm enjoying it!

[erica_bvs]

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child has just been released and it is a script and not a novel. I love the entire Harry Potter series and was wondering if the eighth edition was as good as the others. I would love to hear your thoughts, but please no spoilers!

[acn11]

I enjoyed the book, but more for the nostalgia than anything. The sarcasm comes through 10x stronger than the books since its all dialogue. Before I had a chance to read it some articles had said that it read kind of like fanfiction and I can agree with that partially. It was predictable, and sometimes the characters seemed a little out of canon. But I don't know if that could be attributed to having 3 writers, being in script format, or that its been 9 years since the final book. Fans have had nearly a decade to theorize about what happens 19 years later so a lot of the events in this book seemed familiar and overdone. It was still worth it to dive into the potter world again.

[gaporter]

I enjoyed the book, but more for the nostalgia than anything. The sarcasm comes through 10x stronger than the books since its all dialogue. Before I had a chance to read it some articles had said that it read kind of like fanfiction and I can agree with that partially. It was predictable, and sometimes the characters seemed a little out of canon. But I don't know if that could be attributed to having 3 writers, being in script format, or that its been 9 years since the final book. Fans have had nearly a decade to theorize about what happens 19 years later so a lot of the events in this book seemed familiar and overdone. It was still worth it to dive into the potter world again.

I agree with the feeling like a fanfiction. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but that's exactly it. It was good, and I enjoyed it and it's fantastic to have more of the Harry Potter universe. But this story didn't add too much more to the universe than seeing what the characters were like as grown ups.

[j jagelovicz]

I was so excited to get this book in the mail and start reading it! Unfortunately, I was left disappointed. I knew it wasn't a novel, but rather a rehearsal script. I thought, however, since J.K. Rowling was a part of the writing team it would be up to her standard, but it read like a bad fan fiction to me. I don't feel like it accurately portrayed the characters, especially Harry, Ron, and Hermione. There were several instances while reading it that I just thought "Harry/Ron/Hermione would not say/act/do this." I also did not agree with the portrayal of Albus' character. It seemed to me that they turned him into a sullen, unhappy child (similar to the child version of Professor Snape) and I just don't find that believable. These characters were so original and inspiring and inherently good in the first seven books, and in this script, the only thing I felt they had in common with the original characters were their names. I think I'll just set this book back on a shelf and hope that Rowling writes another installment for the series sometime in the future instead of just contributing ideas to a script for a play.

[mratdegraff91]

I have been meaning to purchase and read this book myself but the way you all describe it being written has me hesitant now. I don't normally enjoy reading books written as such but I might try it out and see any way. I know what to be prepared for now.

[j jagelovicz]

I have been meaning to purchase and read this book myself but the way you all describe it being written has me hesitant now. I don't normally enjoy reading books written as such but I might try it out and see any way. I know what to be prepared for now.

It isn't deplorable, I just had certain expectations for the book since it was a part of the Harry Potter world. I don't think the book measures up to the same standards she set for the original 7 installments of the series. However, in a way that's to be expected considering she didn't fully write this script. She just offered contributions and a few ideas so that it still felt connected somewhat to the rest of the series.

[mratdegraff91]

I have been meaning to purchase and read this book myself but the way you all describe it being written has me hesitant now. I don't normally enjoy reading books written as such but I might try it out and see any way. I know what to be prepared for now.

It isn't deplorable, I just had certain expectations for the book since it was a part of the Harry Potter world. I don't think the book measures up to the same standards she set for the original 7 installments of the series. However, in a way that's to be expected considering she didn't fully write this script. She just offered contributions and a few ideas so that it still felt connected somewhat to the rest of the series.

I will most likely end up reading it. It will drive me crazy I think if I don't. Thank you for your input.

[fari30]

A lot of people are rating The Cursed Child to be really low and one thing that pops up a lot is that the book is not what they expected. I think that if you know about the format and how it's written and things like that, you are much more likely to enjoy the book. I have been warned to not expect the book to exactly be like Harry Potter because it is, after all, a play script and you can't get the same things through in a play as you could a novel.

[BrittanyShannon]

I have heard some negative press concerning the Cursed Child. Some people did not like the format (script) in which it was written. I haven't purchased my copy. Unsure still.

[livreads]

WARNING:This could be considered spoiler, as I tell a few characters that didn't make an appearance in the book. For me, the book was good but definitely didn't satisfy what I was hoping for. Maybe because it was a script, so there wasn't many details, but I also think it was because while I loved the old characters that they did bring back in the story, they didn't bring in my favorites like Neville or Luna or even Hagrid. Over all though, I think it was a beautiful story. I enjoyed the new characters that the writers introduced, and overall the aspects of the story were well thought out. You also have to keep in mind when reading it that it was meant to be watched as it is a play, and the missing details are suppose to be seen, not read.

[Raeleighlarson]

I read the cursed child in less than 36 hours. It was definitely a different version to read it. I had the special edition rehearsal script edition. You definitely had to keep track of who was talking. The connect to each harry potter book was a great way to relive the other books. It was a very interesting to twist the way it connected to one book in particular. The character development was great throughout the book. I haven't read a book as fast as I read that book. I simply could not put the book down. A great addition to my Harry Potter Collection. I so wish there were more books to come.

[Motoghibli]

Title: Harry Potter and The Cursed Child

Author: J. K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany

Genre: Fantasy Literature, Young Adult Fiction

Star rating: 3.5

Buy: No

Borrow: Maybe

Summary: Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is the 'canon' eighth story in the Harry Potter series, it tells the tale of the three protagonists and their children focusing on Harry and his second oldest child Albus Severus. After overhearing a conversation between Harry and Amos Diggory - father of Cedric Diggory, the 'spare' who was killed in the triwizard tournament in the fourth book, Albus decides he and his friend Scorpius shall be going to go back in time to prevent Cedric from being killed as an intention to cure Amos' ongoing grief. In doing so he causes more trouble than good and reveals something very interesting about You Know Who.

Review: Overall, this highly anticipated book was a let down for many reasons. To begin with, all characters are (obviously) nineteen years older in the script and, in my opinion, the 'behind the scenes' character development was a little (if not very) different to what I expected. Some characters whole personality had changed in a way that made the once lovable characters introduced to us in the first novel feel unfamiliar and distant. This changed the whole atmosphere of the script and made me, the reader, feel less absorbed in the story before the main plot had even been introduced.

Secondly, the far-fetch storyline seems weak and peculiar when compared to those of the previous seven books. Instead of learning new things about the wizarding world, features already wrote about where brought back up in a particularly bad way. The only 'never heard of before' feature in the story was a spell that would have been extremely convenient in one of the previous books. On top of all of that, the main feature of the script - time travelling - is dealt with tediously and I was especially annoyed when rules put in place by Rowling in he previous books about time travelling where completely ignored.

Although, despite the book collectively not being the best Harry Potter works, the way it was written was just as beautiful as the actual novels with the same use of adjectives and language.

In conclusion, no matter how hard I tried to like the book (and I did try) I couldn't bring myself to find any enjoyment with in its pages and on second read all I discovered where more mistakes. I would not recommend the book to anyone else and feel like it should not be linked with the seven amazing Harry Potter tales known as modern classics, it's a disappointment.


-- 17 Aug 2016, 08:45 --

WARNING:This could be considered spoiler, as I tell a few characters that didn't make an appearance in the book. For me, the book was good but definitely didn't satisfy what I was hoping for. Maybe because it was a script, so there wasn't many details, but I also think it was because while I loved the old characters that they did bring back in the story, they didn't bring in my favorites like Neville or Luna or even Hagrid. Over all though, I think it was a beautiful story. I enjoyed the new characters that the writers introduced, and overall the aspects of the story were well thought out. You also have to keep in mind when reading it that it was meant to be watched as it is a play, and the missing details are suppose to be seen, not read.

I completely relate to all said here and was too very much so suprised at hagrids absence in the book, the play format did differ it from the previous books which were well described and written just by J. K Rowling and not by a team of three writers.

[karenistah]

I'm on my halfway, reading Harry Potter And The Cursed Child as of this writing. AND I LIKE IT.
Maybe we just have to go out of our comfort zone. I know most of us here are used to read a novel, where a person is talking and his/her gestures are explained. Not this kind where it's like a play script. Maybe the difference is plot building, but if you already read the previous Harry Potter books, then reading this script is easy. It's an easy read actually. We just have to go out of our comfort zone.