HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD (PARTS ONE AND TWO) (Chinese Edition) by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany

This wasn't as bad as I feared. I can actually get behind the story, at least mostly.

Harry is a grown-up now and struggles with his teenage son Albus. Who in turn struggles with being put into Slytherin and not being like his dad at all.

I'm not entirely sure how Albus got so isolated from his family, I'm certain Hermione would have raised Rose better than this, and I didn't really get Harry and Albus' initial conflict. I'm also not sure why Scorpius was put in Slytherin, he's a Ravenpuff if I've ever seen one.

Overall I liked the story and the whole time travelling aspect despite these minor flaws. I would have liked some more background on a few details, like how Bellatrix hid the pregnancy when she had Hermione in her power and why Albus could see the Potter's home when there was a Fidelius-Charm definitely still in place at that time and how on earth did they get hold of the baby blanket and why would Lily even leave the house when she was threatened by the most dangerous wizard alive? Like come on, she wasn't stupid.

Sometimes costs are made to be borne.

Continuing Harry Potter is a double edged sword. Nothing could compare to the original series, but there is so much world left to explore that it is almost wrong not to continue writing. I imagine Rowling considered heavily the consequences of carrying on with the story, and right or wrong, the story now has eight books so let's move on.

I haven't read a script before but that didn't detract from how I read the story. After a few Scenes you are comfortable with who is talking and the minimal stage directions help convey any emotions or facial expressions of the characters. Otherwise everything is dialogue driven and each character has their unique voice, even if I felt like they were caricatures of their former self. Seeing this performed in a play would be interesting, especially with the numerous locations that appear.

I like that the Cursed Child can apply to a few characters, and that the darkness referenced in the story can be interpreted a few ways too. The story has more family focus, and that's a good choice, but I felt that the magic was important to the story but a little under developed. I see why this could be considered strong fan fiction because while it's a good story it is missing the charm of the original series.

Regarding the characters in the book...It felt like fan favorites were brought back as fan service. I expected a "McGonagall enters the room...pauses for applause" with how some favorites were rolled out. They served no purpose other than to show the connection to the original series. Perhaps it is easier to bring back known characters instead of building new ones, but seeing as this is part of the Harry Potter series maybe it's justified. It will be interested to see how Fantastic Beasts plays out because there are no familiar characters to leverage.

Regarding a significant plot device in the story...seriously, a Time-Turner? Cherry picking on characters is one thing, but to go back and revisit events from previous books felt shallow and too similar to what happened in Prisoner of Azkaban. I'm grateful nothing was severely impacted from Goblet of Fire because of the actions in Cursed Child but the fact they were even messing around with the original story line put me off. Seeing alternate realities was nice but this made the story felt unoriginal and appear more fan fiction instead of it being canon.

While reading Cursed Child I would have flashbacks to moments from the original seven and get an urge to start another re-read of the series, but I won't include Cursed Child in that re-read. In the end I'd consider this more of an appendix, there is some history after Deathly Hallows but it's not essential reading for the Harry Potter universe.

Ok, let me tell you what most annoyed me about this book: it says it's canon, but it reads like a fanfiction with a LOT of plot holes and bad plot devices, including bad characterization. And I'm not saying fanfiction is bad. In fact, I've literally read better fanfiction wih the same storyline -- going back in time to stop Voldemort (or to stop Harry) and, Jesus Christ, Voldermot's daughter. There are better Voldemort's daughters in FF.net, look it up.

There's fifty shades of wrong in this play, and I'm sure that to watch the play is far different than reading it, but from a strictly point of narrative... This is pretty bad.

I have a LOT to say about this one, from the plot to the characters (especially them). Stay tuned.

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Updated 08/15.

I must start by saying I had no expectations whatsover about this script - I wasn’t even thinking about reading it. I’m unfamiliar with Jack Thorne's works, I’m one of those people who do not care about the next generation and I absolutely refuse to conform to the HP epilogue (quoting a tumblr post that would be virtually impossible for me to find right now).

The only thing I new about the play was black!Hermione, and that’s about it. No spoilers, no idea what the plot was, no anything.

I’ll try to keep this post simple, so I’ll list the points that stand out for me about the play. Beware huge spoilers ahead.

The writing:

It’s a simple play. Nothing amazing about it. It basically delivers the story and gets its job done. I guess we couldn’t expect a master piece from it. To me, it’s too simplistic, even. (And yes, I know it was a script and not a gothic novel, my criticism comes from the fact that I've read better plays in my life). I'm sure the life experience of watching it onstage must be breathtaking, and probably would mask some issues in the writing, but my point here is the narrative, not smoke and mirrors and teary-eyed actors.

The plot:

Are you kidding? Fanfic-esque through and through. I don’t know if JKR gets around the internet reading fanfics, but god help me if Jack Thorne and John TIffany didn’t sniff around FF.net and AO3. The stuff sweats fanfic from its every pore. And I mean it in a good and a bad way - because just from this point we can discuss fanfiction and writing in standard media and the influence of fandom at length. There’s a lot to this topic that I won’t discuss further here.

We could also discuss an incredible lack of imagination, you know.

Let’s face it: the plot has been done hundreds, if not thousands of times before. It’s not my favorite storyline, so I’ve never read lots of it, but as far as constructing the plot and the characters in it, I’d say that Jack Thorne is passable, and I know he had guidance from JKR. The first 1/3 of the story was interesting enough for me, but as it went on, it felt like it was constantly losing its magic and going for the most obvious choices.

The characters:

And talking about characters, let me just say this: they spoke louder than the whole plot that, by itself, is not very interesting, but the characters were engaging enough for me to keep reading - Albus and Scorpius are just too lovable. I wasn’t very invested in the plot, and was quite skeptical about it to be honest, but the characters kept me going, and that is saying something.

What we have here is a bunch of (mostly) good, well-rounded characters, in a deflating storyline.

JKR says there won’t be any new HP stories, but I wouldn’t bet my money on that (although after reading this play I really wish she'd just stick to Pottermore).

On the overall, the plot is disappointing and full of predictable clichés. It was nice seeing the trio again, but it was even better seeing Draco Malfoy under this new light, and even though I have my reserves about the Next Generation, Albus and Scorpius and even Rose, who barely appeared and in the end was merely used as a non-sense love interest, were very captivating. Scorpius is an absolute dork and I love him to bits.

I was very disappointed that they didn’t develop the relationship of the boys in a more romantic way, because jfc, it was there from scene one. Again, traditional media letting us down; what else is new?

I've prepared a separate review about the characters that can be found on my Tumblr (diffindo.co.vu/post/148366059278/), because the characters were the thing that kept me going, not the plot (that is cringe-worthy). So if you wanna hear me ramble about how much I loved Scorpius and Albus and Draco, and how much I despised Ron's characterization, go ahead and click it.

it was shorter and more condensed and obviously a different medium than the other Harry Potter books, but this was so much better than I hoped!

I was worried that the play style would get in the way of the readability, but the stage directions are so great (and sometimes funny) that it wasn't much different from reading a novel for me. Sure it's shorter, and there are elements in it that are surely better on stage than on the page, but I loved this book. I loved the new taste of the Wizarding world, a peek into the Trio's lives years down the line, and the look at some of the original gang's children.

It's a condensed nostalgia hit with substance of its own, and I'm so happy JK allowed us to visit that world again. I'd love to see the stage production, and I also can't wait for even more in Fantastic Beasts!