Book Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2 by John Tiffany
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

spoiler alert

I am a big fan of the original seven Harry Potter books, so I was eager to read this. As a member of my local community theater, I wasn't put off by the fact that it was a script either. However, in the end, the story felt disjointed, and I didn't have a chance to connect with the characters because it moved so fast from time to time and place to place.

The authors didn't take time to let readers/viewers get to know the new characters (in the form of Albus and Scorpio especially) or to get to know what changes old, familiar characters might have undergone since the last book. For example, Albus's disconnect from his father had no clear motivation, and this weakened the whole tale. He just seems a bit whiny because his dad is Harry Potter.

I found the stage direction with respect to the setting (and written more like description in a novel with swirling trees and time speeding up and slowing down) likely impossible for any theater other than a large, high-budget one. That was distracting in itself.

The relationship between Albus and Scorpio was intense enough that they felt like more than friends, which would have been fine, but because Rowling did not seem to intend that, it felt fake.

Much of the story seemed a contrived tale on "how can we bring Voldemort back and defeat him (and Harry's dreams) once again."

In all honesty, I wish I had left it where it was (at the end of Deathly Hallows) because this story didn't add to or enrich my enjoyment of the Harry Potter universe.

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