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J**N
Rave Review
Originally posted on my blog at https://rantandraveaboutbooks.com/2016/08/26/rave-review-of-harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child/I pre-ordered this book a few weeks before its release date and held on to it for the past few weeks until the hype died down. I read very few reviews for this book, knowing only a few basic facts before I went into it. I didn’t even read the synopsis when I ordered it on Amazon because I didn’t want to risk any spoilers.Luckily, the synopsis didn’t give away the story. I’ve read some mixed reviews about this book, and I can honestly say that the hardcore Harry Potter fans will have issues with how time travel is handled. I went into this as a new adventure, happy to have another Harry Potter story. That’s it. I didn’t analyze every book in the series or make too many comparisons because I wanted to enjoy this story as if it were the lost novel J.K. Rowling stashed away in some drawer. I don’t care about the loopholes or the inconsistencies or the fact certain characters are missing from the story. Okay, I care a little bit, but I did not let it disrupt my enjoyment of this book.If you’re expecting this book to be a continuation of Harry Potter, you will be disappointed. But if you’re like me and you’re thrilled just to get another glimpse into this world, then you’ll probably rave over it. Another thing to consider is that this is a play adapted to a script book. With plays, the time is limited, and they had to cram a fair amount of information into a short time frame. There are almost always some minor inconsistencies in plays. It’s just how it is and it’s something I’ve come to accept after over twenty years of going to the theater. If you’ve never seen a live production and you’re expecting a full length book with all the questions answered, again you will be disappointed.What I Love About This Book…I forgot how much I missed Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione. I think I missed Ron most of all. I loved him from the second I read about him in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. He’s such a goofball and it was really nice to see him again. He had a few lines that made me laugh and go aww, Ron, I love you.Harry is still Harry just older and sort of grouchy. Even though the books were about Harry, I was more of a fan of the secondary characters. My opinion didn’t change after reading this book, and I was glad the focus of this book is on Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy.I really like the dynamic between Albus and Scorpius. From the start, everyone is hating on Scorpius and he was my favorite character from this book. Each scene with him only made me like him more. He could’ve chosen to be the bad guy at certain parts but the underlying story, just like the original books, comes down to friendship. That’s what I always liked about this series and that part remained intact.We get to see Snape again!!! I forgot how much I missed him, too. He was down to help the kiddies and I loved that he was willing to take one for the team once more.We see a little bit of Dumbledore, and there’s a really cute exchange between Harry and him where they discuss their relationship. Harry is very annoying in this book, which is why I was glad he wasn’t the focus. But I liked how his conversation with Dumbledore’s painting helped him to see what was wrong in his relationship with Albus. They constantly butt heads because they think they’re so different but it’s because they’re so much alike.My favorite book in the series is Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, and for that reason, I was really happy with the plot of this book. I loved being able to revisit parts of my favorite book with the help of a Time-Turner. And without going into detail, that also means you get to see some of the characters from back then, which was really exciting.I have always liked Draco Malfoy, and I guess if I had to choose a house I would’ve been sorted into Slytherin. I never gave much thought to this, mostly because I always thought with my personality this would make sense. I love characters like Snape and Draco. Who cares what house they’re in, right? That’s my thinking.I also liked the development of Harry and Draco’s characters as family men, and even though they’re not going to hug it out and have a sleepover, I did like that they had come to sort of understanding by the end of the book. There’s a secret about Draco that humanizes him a bit by the end, which I think had a lot to do with Harry’s change of heart.The Parts That Made My Heart Hurt…Although Hagrid was not a character in this book, we did see him through Harry’s dreams. For me, Hagrid was the reason I was sucked into the first book in the series. Well, that and the fact the Dursleys were child abusers and I was so angry about it that I kept reading to make sure Harry got away from them. Sorry for the short rant but I really hate the Dursleys. Anyway, hands-down Hagrid is one of my favorite characters in any book. There is a serious tear-jerker moment where we get to see the past, and when Hagrid sees baby Harry, oh my God, my heart melted. It reminded me why I love Hagrid so much. He’s such a sweetie. I just wanted to hug him.There are a few scenes at Godric’s Hollow, and if you’ve read the books, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I don’t want to get into the specifics, but my heart literally hurt for Harry. I was hating on him most of the book until this one particular moment.Harry and Albus’ relationship was painful at times, but I was really happy with their overall character development. Some of the exchanges between them made it feel like they were strangers and not father and son. It was sort of depressing to see Albus feel somewhat like Harry did as a kid when he had a father right there. I thought it made sense to some extent, considering Harry did not grow up with a father. It was also very sad to read about.There wasn’t much I disliked about the book, which is why I gave it 5 Stars on Goodreads. I think I was just too excited to have another Harry Potter book that I was willing to overlook some minor issues with things that J.K. Rowling attempted to fix throughout the series, only for them to reappear in this book. Just writing this review made me miss it even more so I decided to start watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I own all the movies through Amazon, so I couldn’t resist throwing it on just so I could see some of my favorite characters on-screen. And now I need to do a reread of this series, most likely some time closer to winter.I really tried to limit this review to character development, and I didn’t give any spoilers, not unless you count who made a reappearance, even though I didn’t mention all of them, but other than that, I didn’t reveal any of the plot. You’re in for hopefully a pleasant surprise if you haven’t read the book yet.
B**E
A Worthy Addition
*some spoilers to follow*If I’m being honest, I never originally intended on reading this story. I adore Harry Potter, I just felt that the story was better left as is after the epilogue of the Deathly Hallows. But then my book bestie morphed into the pushiest book pusher that ever pushed and suddenly I found myself having already finished and wondering how I ever thought I could not read this. Setting aside all the vast amounts of criticism this has received (i.e. this isn’t written by Rowling, it reads like fan-fic, it’s not even a book but a screenplay) it ended up being more than I could have ever hoped for.“Hogwarts will be the making of you, Albus. I promise you, there is nothing to be frightened of there.”Taking us right back to the epilogue of the Deathly Hallows, we get to see Albus getting on his first train to Hogwarts. And his discussion with Harry regarding the possibility of him being placed in Slytherin. We’re not given the detailed account of his time spent at Hogwarts, but rather the generalized impression that Hogwarts isn’t quite the sanctuary for him that it was for his father. The comprehensive details of the world are also missing from the screenplay but for those of us who have already read the first seven books, that world is emblazoned upon our minds and no rehashing of details are necessary for us to fully comprehend each and every scene.Cursed Child manages to smoothly connect many major plot points from the original novels: the infiltration of the Ministry of Magic by Harry, Ron, and Hermione (Deathly Hallows, book 7), the Tri-Wizard tournament and Cedric’s death (Goblet of Fire, book 4), time turners (Prisoner of Azkaban, book 3), the perpetual battle between good and evil, and the important father-son relationships that have been a focal point of this series from the beginning. It also makes a less than obvious point of showing how seemingly inconsequential deaths end up having a much larger impact in the grand scheme of things. With the help of a time turner, we’re shown snippets of how the world could have been with the simplest of changes. The variation of possibilities was both shocking and horrifying. What I most enjoyed was how this wasn’t simply a new set of adventures with a new set of characters but rather recognition of the fact that the actions of the past was not a given end to that story, but that they inevitably had an effect on the future of their own children.Harry: “How do I protect my son, Dumbledore?”Dumbledore: “You ask me, of all people, how to protect a boy in terrible danger? We cannot protect the young from harm. Pain must and will come.”While we do see the original characters and what they have become 19 years later, the focal point is on their children, primarily Albus and Scorpius who become immediate friends on the Hogwarts Express. Albus has a severely strained relationship with his father, Harry, and has difficulty living up to not just the enormous importance of his father, of the great men he was named after, and because of the fact that he was in fact placed in Slytherin rather than his father’s house, Gryffindor. It’s easy to see from the original stories how understandable it would be for Harry to not be the perfect father, considering his own lack of a permanent father figure. He does what he feels is best even when it is quite clearly not best, and the scenes between the two are often painful and heartbreaking. Scorpius, son of Draco Malfoy, also suffers from a poor relationship with his father due the actions of his past as well as Draco’s own relationship with his father, Lucius.In October of this year I decided to do an impromptu re-read of the Harry Potter series on audio. I have re-read books 1-3 numerous times but I tend to run out of steam and have never been able to re-read books 4-7. Well, I finally overcame my hangups and completed my first re-read of Goblet of Fire. Due to the majority of this story centering around the storyline from The Goblet of Fire I chose to do my second re-read of the year (ha) of Cursed Child since the storyline was still so fresh in my mind. It works extremely well if you treat it as a #4.5 book as well, granted, it’s vital to know the outcome of the series as a whole in order to fully appreciate how it ties everything together and illustrates the growth of these characters.“Perfection is beyond the reach of humankind, beyond the reach of magic. In every shining moment of happiness is that drop of poison: the knowledge that pain will come again. Be honest to those you love, show your pain. To suffer is as human as to breathe.”Yes, perfection is an impossibility, and while there were many things I would have personally changed, this still managed to hit all my Harry Potter feels as perfectly as possible. Cursed Child reinforced my love of both the original stories and characters by growing them in legitimate ways, it gave me new characters to love (primarily Scorpius <3), and it removed the stereotype associated with Slytherin house by showing that not all associated are necessarily evil. #slytherinpride
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