"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child"

Whiny teenager gets mad at dad and decides to help psychopathic woman get her serial killer father back for revenge.

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

"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 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."

WHAT DID I JUST READ?!

No, no, NO! Did I just really read that?

I actually hated "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child". Considering the fact that it's Harry Potter, I expected better, regardless of whether it was written by J.K. Rowling or not. There should have been a good plot, good characters, a magical story - but no! Here's why I DID NOT like this book:

The Writing Style

I know that this is the script for the play, but still. I hated how it just skipped from one day to the other, one point of view to the other, one school year to the other - in just a few pages! Albus just got sorted into Slytherin, and then it just skips to his second year. Sometimes, it goes from what Albus is doing at Hogwarts, to what Harry's doing back at home. I thought about it, and I guess it does work better if everything was performed. I would have preferred this book being about Albus's first year at Hogwarts and what happened during that year. So, heads up: this is written in script form, and it's more annoying than you expect.

The plot

Most of the plot revolves around getting Cedric back, but that wasn't really what was important! It was that Delphi is apparently Voldemort's daughter and that she wants to change history and bring him back. But this isn't revealed until 3/4 into the book, and during that 3/4, I was scratching my head and wondering why everyone is so obsessed with bringing Cedric back. Couldn't there have been a better way to introduce the "we're trying to bring Voldemort back" thing? And why Cedric? Other people, so many other people, fought and died for justice. 99% of the plot didn't have to revolve around Cedric, and I'm annoyed that it did. Not very interesting.

Personality changes

I just feel like a lot of the character's personalities have changed. Hermione and Ron's definitely have, but what annoys me the most is Harry's. I understand that Harry is older now, and his personality might have developed and shifted a little, but here's what I don't believe: Harry being a total jerk of a father. Harry isn't the best father to Albus, and here's his excuse: he didn't have a father himself. Really?! James died trying to save him, which is something that can't be cast aside without attention. How about Sirius, Dumbledore, and Lupin? Harry had so many fatherly figures throughout his story. I believe that Harry would have been a better father, and I think that he was the worst kind of father to Albus. Also, when Albus and Scoripius tries to change history, Cedric ended up being humiliated and becomes a death-eater. Do you really think that Cedric would have done that, even if he was humiliated. I don't.

Over-use of timeturners

99% of the story had to do with Albus and Scorpious messing around with time and trying to bring Cedric back. Things obviously didn't work out very well, because "dangerous things happen to people who mess with time", and we had to go through several alternative universes and, in the end, undo the entire mess that Albus and Scorpious created. In short: timeturners don't make a good story-line. I'm glad they weren't used so much in the books. Moving on...

Albus

Albus is such a whiny character. He had a crush on Delphi, who was way older than him. She manipulated him and used him to find the time turner, and bring her father back. In short: whiny teenager gets mad at father and helps psychopathic woman get her serial killer father back. Roughly something like that. On the other hand, the things that Harry said to him...ouch.

Harry speaks Parseltongue again

Harry lost his ability to speak parseltongue after Voldemort died, and the horcrux inside him died. Harry's scar also hurts, and he can hear Voldemort. But how? Voldemort isn't actually back yet: Delphi's just planning on bringing him back. These are the reasons that Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Ginny are on high alert and suspicious in the first place. Plot-hole alert...

So, all-in-all: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK

I suggest that you get this from a library or find a digital version if you really want to read it. Do NOT waste your money on this. Honestly, I don't think this is worth your time or effort. The writing is still annoying, and I suppose that watching the play might be more worthwhile or "better". If you truly love Harry Potter, then don't read this at all. It butchers all the character's personalities, it doesn't have the same magic laced into the plot...

The only thing I liked about this book are the interactions between Albus and Scorpious. They're really good "friends", and I loved them together. Albus is still very annoying though... DO NOT READ!!!

Bonus time: Do you ship Scorose (please, no), or Scorbus (yes!!!). Why?

That is my recommendation! Thank you for reading this review! I hope you found it helpful. Don't forget to comment, like, and subscribe!

Until Next Time

~ WritingLightning