“Do you know there is a new Harry Potter book
out?” I have been asked this countless
times over the past couple of months. I
did know there was a new Harry Potter tale out, but I knew it was a play that
was opening in London and the script was being published as a hardcover – not
as a narrative book. I also know that
J.K. Rowling said that the Harry Potter series stopped by book seven and I felt
unwilling to move on from what had been promised. Then I kept hearing snippets of all sorts of
intriguing things happening in the Harry Potter world and I could not resist
anymore and ordered the book.
I first fell in love with Harry Potter in my
undergraduate years at Michigan Tech in the late 1990’s. The first two books had been published and I
heard great things about them. I
received them for a Christmas present and soon found myself engrossed in the
tale. Friends would laugh to find me in
cubbyholes between engineering classes reading furiously. I preordered each of the following novels and
loved the entire series. Was I ready to
see what happened to Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger 19 years
later? Yes.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child starts off right
where book seven ended – with Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione dropping their
kids off to take the Hogwarts Express to school. Harry’s middle son, Albus, worries that he
will be sorted into Syltherin and his worst fear is realized. He also befriends Draco Malfoy’s young son,
Scorpius. Harry and Albus struggle with
their father and son relationship, especially when Harry tries to ban the
friendship between Albus and Scorpius.
Albus feels adrift and decides to correct what he feels was his father’s
greatest error by stealing a Time-Tuner with Scorpius and a new friend, Delphi. They travel back to the Triwizard Tournament
that was held in Book 4: The Goblet of
Fire. Things don’t go exactly as planned
and time goes amuck. I thought of this
as Back to the Future 2 after Biff goes back in time and screws up the future. Will Albus and Scorpius be able to remain
friends? Will time go back to what it
was or will dark forces be unleased?
I really enjoyed this play, and it really made me want
to see it on the stage. I hope it comes
to the United States one day and/or gets turned into a fantastic movie. It was a very engaging story. I missed the great detail that is found in a
Rowling novel and wished that she could turn this story into a full-fledged
novel. As it was a play, it was a very
quick read. This was welcome as my
oldest son (10-year old Kile) started the Harry Potter series at the end of
July and just finished book six today. I
realized I better get this review up as he will be reading this play before I
know it!
My favorite quotes:
“Meet the once-great Harry Potter, now a stone-cold
Ministry man. I will leave you in peace,
sir. If peace is the right word for it.”
– Mr. Diggory
“The truth is a beautiful and terrible thing and should
therefore be treated with great caution.
Dumbledore.” – Harry Potter
“I don’t care what you did or who you saved, but you
are a constant curse on my family, Harry Potter.” – Draco Malfoy
Do you enjoy reading plays? What is the play you’ve enjoyed the most?
Are you a fan of Harry Potter? Have you read The Cursed Child? If so, what did you think?
Overall, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was a great
story. I would have loved the detail
that a novel would have contained, but the storyline was intriguing. I also
loved the growth and different three dimensional view the storyline gave many
of the characters, in particular, Draco Malfoy.
Book Source:
Amazon.com
