Potentially the most anticipated book / play of 2016 dropped on July 31st causing the entire world to go into meltdown. I am of course talking about Harry Potter And The Cursed Child AKA J. K. Rowling's script book of the brand new play that hit London's West End back in June. Now I'm a huge Harry Potter fan: I grew up on the stories, pre ordered the last couple of books and may or may not have shed tears when the series finally ended. To me, these books were so much more than words on a page, it was a storybook world that firstly made me fall not only head over heels in love with reading but with writing as well. I owe so much of who I am today to these books and how they shaped my personality so when I heard that the Eighth Book was going to be released as a script book, well, it was something I would be staying to midnight to get my hands on.
And true to form that's what I did. I bought it on Kindle so I could have it immediately and spend 3 and a half hours reading straight from cover to cover. I'm so unbelievably glad to have this in my life and to anyone who's umming or ahhing about reading it, just do it, you will regret nothing.
Is it on par with the original series? No, it's not. I had a few issues with characterisation and plot lines (don't get me started on the bloody Trolley Lady I was CRYING) however it made for a very enjoyable morning, and I will for sure be reading it again. If you've been living under a rock this past week I'll leave the blurb below but you seriously need to pick this up!!
In general I would rate this book / play 4 stars and an 80%.
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The Blurb
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.
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Okay so just a quick heads up, the next section will contain spoilers so if you haven't read it, I'd highly advice leaving now!
First things first I'm going to talk about the elephant in the room... The thing that has had Tumblr absolutely seething from the minute we all closed our copies with a unanimous "Are you kidding me?!' And that is the issue of Scorpius and Albus. This whole book was about relationships and people growing as they matured. Many hints were placed that Albus and Scorpius were the most important person in each other's lives and that there was something more than friendship there.
Quotes include: "[Scorpius] looks at his friend talking to a girl - and part of him likes it and part of him doesn't." and "'Whats this? I thought we decided we didn't hug?' 'I wasn't sure. Whether we should. In this new version of us I had in my head.'"
In fact I was shocked that neither of the boys sexuality was explored in regards to each other. Now I will put it out there: I'm totally guilty of shipping people who realistically won't end up in a relationship, so it's saying something that I honestly thought J. K. Rowling was setting up a romantic bond between them. In all honesty I imagine that initially they left the ending open to interpretation however someone (and I hope they burn in hell) decided to randomly throw in that scene with Scorpius asking out Rose Granger-Weasley (a girl I may add, literally treated him like trash for the entire novel) to make it heteronormative. It's an absolute joke. The writers missed an incredible opportunity to represent the LGBT community instead building it up to be something with hints and clues before smashing it down and destroying all hopes of actual representation. Like WTF I just don't get it. It would have been all too easy to just leave the ending open, to even hint that they may start a relationship instead of shoving ScorRose down our faces. Like no thanks, I would have thought he'd have had some standards at least.
Okay now I've gotten that slight rant over and done with I wanted to talk about some positives. Firstly I loved the characters of Scorpius and Albus. They were so funny and brilliantly written and it was great to see Slytherin represented by heroic and fantastic people. I feel like that house had so much bad press in the original HP series it's nice to see a different side to it. I also really loved the juxtaposition of Albus actually being unpopular and disliking Hogwarts because that's not a side we'd ever seen before. For Harry, Hogwarts was such an escape and he was so well liked etc it was almost like a idealised version. So it was really interesting to see it from the perspective of two boys who were, as Scorpius put it: "losers".
Right okay, let's talk plot-line: was I in love with the story? No. I think there were a lot of plot holes and parts that made me think WTF that doesn't feel real! And that was the beauty of the original HP series - it almost felt real. In my personal opinion, I think J. K. Rowling edged out some ideas and gave them to the other writers and then they wrote the script based on her ideas. Because some of the characterisation and lines people were saying just didn't feel authentic. IDK maybe it was just me. For example the idea that Cedric Diggory - a kind hearted, Hufflepuff (Hufflepuff represent here BTW!) would have become a Death Eater had he not won the Triwizard Tournament and been humiliated in the process?! I'm sorry that just wasn't plausible. I mean are we even talking about the same character here?! It just felt messy in places like things weren't tied up together or research wasn't done correctly.
Did I enjoy this book? Yes of course I did!! It was lighthearted, fun and super easy to read. Will I see the play? It's on my bucket list!! I tried to get tickets on Thursday but unfortunately I was unsuccessful. (I almost cried I'm not even joking) However when the next batch of tickets are released, hopefully soonish, then you can bet I'll be sat refreshing the website as soon as it turns 11. (Which was what I would have done today had I not been at work and left my dad in charge.)
Thank you so much for reading and let me know what you thought of the book in the comments! I'm really curious to hear everyones thoughts!
This is definitely on my reading list!
ReplyDeleteRenee | Life After Lux
You have go read it ASAP, it's so worth it!! Xx
DeleteOkay, now i need to start reading the Harry Porter Series! Yes I haven't read it and I am already very ashamed about that fact. After reading your review minus the spoiler part, I want to start reading it now!
ReplyDeletehttps://reetlonari.com
I can't believe you haven't read it! Oh my goshhh you have to, it's amazing! The original 7 books are just incredible! Xx
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