Tome Thursday: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Hello everyone!

Right off the bat, I would like to warn anyone reading this blog that it's not going to be a positive entry, nor is it going to be lavish with praise or filled with the kind of commentary I've seen people gush out when it comes to the book I'm about to describe. This is, plain and simple, going to be a negative review, so if you feel like you disagree with me or if you don't want to read that kind of thing, stop now while you're ahead and come back next week when I'll be doing another, different book.

That now out of the way, allow me to say that, despite the fact that I haven't been one of Harry Potter's avid fans (I don't think I ever was), I do tend to go back to the books every once in a while, especially the first three, which remain ranked at the top of the list of the whole series.

This means that, when news broke there would be a continuation in the form of a play, and then that play was going to be published in an actual book version, I was as excited as the rest of the world to see what was about to happen.

After all, fans around the globe had banded together before to form roleplay forums, discuss ideas and questions, and come up with their own alternate storylines, among other things.

So obviously, when it came to the Cursed Child, expectations ran high.

Maybe that was the problem, though.

Maybe, just like with the Hobbit movies, I set myself up for a hard, bone-breaking landing in reality once I got my hands on a copy of this particular book. I remember, with the Hobbit, that I had made the mistake of re-reading the book prior to going to the cinema, and of course that ended in disaster.

Here, I think I just felt like a disappointed child on Christmas morning.

Because of the fact that this was penned under Rowling's name, and marketed as based on a new short story she had written specifically so the play could then be produced, I thought to myself 'Well, she did it right before, she's going to do it again, obviously'.

So wrong.

What I expected was an original continuation of a very unique and original enough series (let's not go into details and what the internet spews out about it at the moment).

What I got was a compilation of fan fiction that I've read before, or noticed before, and this was done in a way that made me think a ten year old might have written it.

Which in itself wouldn't have been that much of a criticism if it had SOME appeal to the reader. Rick Riordan's Pery Jackson books are also geared towards a rather young audience, but I actually enjoy reading them. Rowling's writing may not have won her the Pulitzer prize, but it's entertaining to read and learn about the magical world of The Boy Who Lived. Heck, at this point, I believe even Stephenie Meyer got a better job done, so you know what time it is.

End of the line: this was supposed to be the fan fiction of all fan fictions, apparently, but for me it fell woefully short of the mark.

Let's review what we have in the story:

- Albus gets sorted into Slytherin house despite the fact his father promised him the Hat would take his wishes into account (said Hat apparently didn't get that memo)

- Albus becomes best friends with Scorpius Malfoy

- Scorpius has a crush on Rose Weasley

- Albus has daddy issues

- Harry and the rest go through lobotomies because their characters change so much from the actual HP series

- parenting issues

- trying to go back in time to save Cedric Diggory and pretty much not succeeding

- alternate timelines, one of which has Cedric as a Death Eater, Voldemort rules the world, and Harry's dead

- Harry and Draco overcome their differences and become friends

- Dumbledore waxes poetic, as per usual

- McGonagall and the Marauder's Map (THAT was too brief)

- Voldemort has a child

Come on, you didn't see that last one coming? After I figured out this wasn't anything original, I was just waiting to see whether these people would have the audacity to say ALBUS was somehow the cursed child of Voldemort.

Sadly, that idea went down the drain (could have been good, too), as well as my initial thought that Albus and Scorpius were totally crushing on one another. If they'd ended up dating, I might have even cheered.

As it happened, the only actually good bits of the book were the ones taken from Rowling's previous work, because of course we had to relive the deaths of Lily and James Potter yet again. Why not tug on the heartstrings some more, hm??

Long story short, I didn't like this. I've read better fan fiction in my time and I've actually been a part of a roleplaying forum with a much more original idea regarding how to mesh the future and the past together. My friend Maegan can certainly attest to the forum's success back in the day!

This was an over-glorified Harry Potter fiction that didn't strike me as good or as worth seeing in theatres. Mostly, it just made me facepalm a lot and demand of myself why I was still reading.

Alas, my OCD nature prevented me from not finishing the play.

My conclusion: unless an ACTUAL continuation pops up (I refuse to take this as such) I think I'm done with Harry Potter for a while. After all, even Tolkien decided eventually that a masterpiece doesn't need continuation.

It's a masterpiece precisely because it's finished.

xx

*image not mine