Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2 in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jul 31, 2016 Serena.. Sery-ously? rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, eng-2016, pataccata-rara, aty-reading-challenge-2016

I'LL JUST PRETEND THIS BOOK NEVER EXISTED

I swear to my books I have never thought I could give 1* to J.Ro because come on it's J.Ro. we are talking about.. But I can't come to terms with this.. This deep betrayal from the woman I consider a goddess among writers. I have a shelf-shrine for her:

So this book was a complete disaster. She stabbed me in the back and it hurts so much I can't even.
I don't care if she wrote this, if she just said "That's ok, go ahead with this lame and stupid story" or ...more

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Jan 05, 2017 Francisca Viegas rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, plays, read-in-english, owned, young-adult, 2017

You can find this and other reviews on my blog Go away, I'm reading.

The reading experience of this book did not go as I expected it to. In fact, with the sole exception of one of the characters, I pretty much hated it.
I am an incredibly hardcore Harry Potter fan, and as I’m sure many fans have, I have been eagerly waiting for a continuation of some kind. As such, when this play was announced I was immediately excited to read it (although not as excited as I would have been with some Marauders co You can find this and other reviews on my blog Go away, I'm reading.

The reading experience of this book did not go as I expected it to. In fact, with the sole exception of one of the characters, I pretty much hated it.
I am an incredibly hardcore Harry Potter fan, and as I’m sure many fans have, I have been eagerly waiting for a continuation of some kind. As such, when this play was announced I was immediately excited to read it (although not as excited as I would have been with some Marauders content).
Anyway, I knew I had no hope of actually going to London to see the play, so I would have to make do with reading the script. And I have to say that although a lot of people complained about the format, it really didn’t make that much of a difference to me - we knew the world already, and we’d spent seven books following most of the characters so that we would automatically understand what would not be written. Or we would have, if the world’s rules hadn’t been overlooked for the sake of this (lack of) plot and the characters hadn’t been completely unrecognisable.
I truly believe that J. K. Rowling did not write this in order to squeeze the cash-cow, as she literally has no financial need for it. In fact, I do not, or better yet, I choose not to believe J. K. Rowling wrote this at all.
There are so many plotholes in this story that it is hard for me to believe this was even allowed by her to proceed to publishing and performing. And most worrying, everyone is out of character. I simply can’t imagine that J. K. Rowling would ever let her characters talk and behave as they did.

I have spent many hours of my life reading Harry Potter fanfiction, and I can with all certainty say that some of those fanfictions are much more believable than this script is. And trust me, this is hard for me to say. You have no idea how much I wanted to love this book. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Maybe I’m being too critical, or I’m looking at it through a magnifying lens and nitpicking, but that is my nature. You might actually find it entertaining. I just couldn’t overlook these flaws enough to actually appreciate the story’s entertainment value.
(view spoiler)[
I have so many issues with this book and its plot(holes) that I don't even know where to start.
I made a list while reading, as I got incredulously confused with the difference between what was written and what I had learned from reading the series. To be honest, I can't read half of what I wrote because I was so mad my handwriting looks like what I imagine Grawp's would. But if you can help me understand how this fits into the canon (yes, because honestly, in my mind, The Cursed Child is not canon), I'd be forever grateful.

- How exactly did they get their hands on Polyjuice Potion? I mean we had one entire book of the series dedicated to brewing this potion. It took weeks. And somehow no question arises when it just pops up?
- How does one climb into the sink? Did they go down to the Chamber of Secrets through the drain?
- HOW THE HELL DID THAT TIME TURNER WORK?? It makes no sense.
- How did they manage to get a hold of Harry's blanket without James or Lily noticing? And how did they put it back? Are you telling me James and Lily had stayed hidden from Death Eaters and Voldemort himself for months, but two little kids managed to outwit them?
- Since when does transfiguration wear off like Polyjuice Potion?
- Which version of Voldemort was Harry transfigured to look like, exactly? Because none of them know how he looked during the first war, and him looking like his freaky second war self would not be believable...
- I guess this now means Bellatrix was pregnant during Half Blood Prince, which is why she stayed behind when they attacked Hogwarts... But where was the child during Deathly Hallows? Shouldn't we have seen her at Malfoy Manor?
- The characters. Everything about them. Even Moaning Myrtle was out of character! McGonagall was so passive. The Minerva we know would never let anyone walk all over her like Harry did. Also, Ron was never my favourite character, but even I felt insulted with his portrayal... it was like he was mainly there for comic relief. Harry Potter was not Harry Potter. Harry Potter would never treat McGonagall like shit, he would never stay inactive if he heard the remarks about Scorpius and most of all, he would never be that disrespectful toward Albus. I mean, seriously, he makes Minerva follow him around with the map to control who he spends time with and he even says he wishes Albus wasn't his son.
- Finally, was I the only one to assume Voldemort being resurrected and ending up as a man-shaped blob had made him infertile?
- Also, I HATE QUEERBAITING.

The only good thing that came out of this mess was Scorpius. I love him dearly.
(hide spoiler)] ...more

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Jul 31, 2016 Ellie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Admission, I like Harry Potter but I don't love it. Back when they were first being published, I devoured the first four books but my interest waned a bit as the books got longer and longer, I seriously wondered if Voldemort had killed off Rowling's editor as well as some of my favourite characters. I ordered a copy of the Cursed Child mostly out of curiosity, but actually I appreciated its brevity and enjoyed it much more than The Deathly Hallows.

Seeing some of the responses to the script book ...more

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Aug 01, 2016 Sheryl rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own-this, make-believe, 2016, ya

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In my anticipation and excitement, I just had to finish this book the day I got it. I breezed through it in no time and indeed, this book has brought back such nostalgia that I wanted to re-read the entire series.

BUT...

Despite the thrill of a new book in the series, the "final" one at that. I just knew there something missing...

1. This was written as a play and although I could just imagine the magnificence this would be on stage, I knew that there was so much more lost with this not published ...more

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Aug 22, 2016 Shelly rated it liked it

Was thrilled to read a Harry Potter book again-- having said that, I thought the plot was a bit predictable.

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Feb 19, 2016 Katrina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Honest to God loved it. Not sure why but it was just a fun, thrilling read. I've always been a fan of those "little things can change everything" scenarios, Back to the Future, anyone? So to have that element with one of my favourites of all time, I just loved it from start to finish. ...more

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Sep 07, 2016 Cheri rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, plays, series

The next generation of wizards confronts the dark forces. It was a fun adventure and I enjoyed the play format. But the original crew (Harry, Ron, Hermione et al.) do not work well as adults, are terrible parents, and have ridiculous romantic relationships.

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