♥ Harry Potter & the Cursed Child - Book Review!
November 28, 2016
Photo credit: Google Images
Why, you may be wondering, has it taken me so long to write a review on the book. To be honest, I didn't really want to put down in words how I felt about the book, because I didn't really like it. For such a die hard Harry Potter fan, this really does hurt my heart. I love Harry Potter so much. It was the first book I ever read. I grew up with the books and films. Harry was my best friend when I felt like there was nobody else in the world that I could befriend. I used to queue outside my local bookstore on release day when the newest book was coming out, run home and stick my head in it for the following few days. I have read the whole series more times than I can remember. I know the films word by word. To be so dedicated to a series of books and films, to be truly invested in the characters and their lives for so many years and then for it all to end, I'm sure I went through a grieving period!
I was nervous when I heard that this play was going to be a follow on from the final 'Nineteen years later' chapter that we were left with at the end of Deathly Hallows. In the years since Harry Potter had ended, I'd come to terms with the fact that it was over and there was no new Harry story coming. I was even more concerned when I heard it was going to be a play. I knew this meant that there was no way that the original characters would be coming back and that made me sad. I can't imagine watching something and somebody telling me that some stranger is Harry. No, I'll not accept it. Daniel Radcliffe will always be Harry. After seeing his face grow up as Harry did, I think any Harry Potter fan would feel the same way. But as I'm such a serious fan, I have to have anything Harry Potter related, so I preordered the book.
I think I was about 10 pages in and I already knew I wasn't keen. Within the first few chapters, we'd jumped years. This was the point where I felt like the story was being pushed. Now, I realise that the play was probably wrote this way so that J K didn't feel like she was starting Harry all over again. If the play had consisted of Albus's first year at school, fans would have expected another play, and then another and another and before she would have known it she'd have another 7 part series.
I do like the story line. I think it's clever. The main story line of Harry Potter is obviously the relationship between himself and Voldemort, so how could J K write anything Harry Potter related and not work Voldemort into the story line. Obviously, Voldemort was cremated into smithereens in the Battle of Hogwarts so she couldn't bring him back from the dead and it also wouldn't make sense to do so. Voldemort's issue was with Harry, not his son. The only part of the story line that I don't think makes much sense, is where the explanation of how Delphi came to be. I like that she was the daughter of Voldemort and Bellatrix, as it was portrayed well in the Harry Potter series that they had a connection and she loved the bones of him. But I think it's a bit far fetched that they had time to make a baby seeing as though Voldemort was hell bent on taking over the wizarding world once and for all.
I like some of the characters. I really like Scorpio. I think his character really compliments the Malfoy family, because he's nothing like them. He's awkward and overthinks situations too much. I thought he would be just like Draco and I was surprised that he wasn't. I like how having Scorpio and losing Astoria makes Draco a little more human. I do think that J K could have given him some slack though. Draco went though enough during Harry Potter, did he really need to lose his wife as well? Even though this made him a little softer, it would have been nice to see Draco have that love relationship that we never saw him have before.
I wasn't keen on Albus's character. I think he came across as too much of a stroppy teenager. We literally jumped years and he was still in the same funk he was to begin with! I think his relationship with Harry shouldn't have been the way it was. I think Harry in Harry Potter would have made an amazing father, he already knew what it was like to act like a role model for people and kind of be a 'father figure' to others, so I don't understand why that would change when he had his own children. I also just want to throw in here that I've never been much of a Ginny fan, I like the concept of Harry being with Ginny, but I just think her character could have been stronger in Harry Potter and in Cursed Child. I mean, she is married to Harry Potter!
I love that Hermione and Ron ended up together in Harry Potter and I like their relationship in Cursed Child. I love that Hermione became Minister of Magic, I couldn't have picked a better character myself. Although I do feel like J K kind of made Ron appear to be hiding in Hermione's shadows, when he is a strong enough character to push through and still be a main character.
Overall, it's okay. It's not what I expected and I do think it was rushed and too much time passed in such a short space of time which gave J K a perfect opportunity to play with Albus and Scorpio a little, although a can understand why she maybe wouldn't want to do that. As pleased as I am to have a little more Harry in my life, I can't help but think that she should have just left it where it was. Yes, many fans all around the world, including myself, wanted more, but sometimes you just have what you have. I think if J K had left Harry Potter and just started on Fantastic Beasts, it would have filled that void that us Harry Potter fans had, without needing Cursed Child. Or, I wish she had wrote this as a book, a proper book and then turned it into a play.
I imagine that if I was to watch the play, that my opinion may change. Reading a script is so different to reading a book, there's no first hand emotion from the characters and there isn't much description of the surroundings to place you where the characters are, so I didn't get as invested as I would have done had this been a book or a film.
I will see the play one day, hopefully as it was so popular it may tour and some to a theater that's up north, or if my plans go ahead I may be down in London in early 2017 and maybe catch it down there.
But for now, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child gets a..
You can purchase the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child book here.
You can get Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play information here.
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**Disclaimer: All views, opinions and photos are my own unless stated otherwise.**
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