Hello dear readers of mine! Today I'm doing a book review on "The Cursed Child", the latest (and the last) Harry Potter book. It has been on the market for a while and I finished reading it about a month ago, but I decided that it was the perfect book to do my first review.
Here's some general information:
Original title: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (parts one and two).
Author(s): JK Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Throne.
Number of pages: 330
Published: July 31st 2016
Genre: fantasy and fiction.
On the back cover...
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.
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 eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016.
Summary
The main characters of the book are Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy (Harry and Draco's sons). The two kids meet in Hogwards and they become best friends, something that bothers both parents. The relationship between Albus and his father isn't the best one as the kid has to live up to his father's expectation: he is the son of "the Boy Who Lived". One day Amos, Cedric Diggory's father, reaches out to Harry Potter, who's now the Head of the Departament of Magic Law Enfocement. He wants to bring his son back from the death because he has discovered that the Ministry of Magic holds a Time Turner, something unthinkable (and illegal) since all of them were distroyed after the Battle of Hogwards, nineteen years earlier. Somehow, Albus overhears this conversation and decides to tell Scorpius. From then on, the two guys start planning how to get their hands on the Time-Turner without their parents noticing it, and the adventure begins!
Personal opinion and thoughts
This book was a birthday present and I was very excited when I received it. I have always been a huge fan of the Harry Potter books (and movies) and I couldn't believe that there was an eight book coming out. Something that surprised me was the fact that it wasn't a novel, but a play. I'm not used to reading theatre plays and I realised that it was very fast to read, but nothing really happened. Being used to reading the enormous Harry Potter books, I felt as if it wasn't deep enough. The description of the actions was very superficial and there weren't any unexpected changes or turns.
I really appreciated that Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Draco and the other "original" characters had a relevant paper in the story, even though the most important ones were their children. I did have very high expectations for this book and I have to admit that I haven't been completely disappointed. The idea was original and it had the kind of vibe that the other books used to have. However, I think that it has lost the "essence" and now it's all about squeezing the juice out of the Harry Potter sensation. After almost ten years of publishing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows they release another book with the same concept as the previous seven but a bit watered-down, just to keep up with their fandom. I don't blame them, cause I was the first one to look forward for book, but I think that the Harry Potter myth should have ended with the last book in 2007.
Rating
Overall I give it a 7/10.
