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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling
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Since I nominated it I should probably get this started.Overall, I enjoyed returning to the world of Harry and Hogwarts and there were some very fun moments (particularly involving polyjuice). I didn't mind the play format too much but I felt it had two major drawbacks
1 - Dialog was sometimes a little stilted, maybe it works better with a live actor filling in the required emotion.
2 - I really, really missed all the details a full novel would be able to put in. Three years of Hogwarts zipped by with barely a mention. I wanted details, what was it like in Hogwarts (view spoiler), how did the students interact with each other, or with the teachers, some of which were ex-students. Would have been fun to see them take some classes. Novels are full of little unnecessary bits but they just come together to build the world and make the characters seem more real.
Some questions I ask to everyone who have finished reading it:1. If there is a petition of fans asking this not to be included as canon, will you sign it?
2. Do you think this is really the last HP story like JKR said? Remember she said the same thing after Deathly Hallows came out.
3. If there will be another HP book/play/9th story, what story would you rather have?
1 - While I had some issues with the book, I'm not sure I'd go so far as to sign a petition such that it isn't considered canon.2 - Hehehe...yeah, no. If there's enough money, and if inspiration strikes, there will be more. Anne Rice said the same thing about the Vampire Chronicles and it came back. Usually the authors just want a break, and then they get nostalgic and come back.
3 - Not sure what you mean, do you mean would I prefer a book or a play? Definitely a book, reading a play felt like reading the outline of a book, there was no meat to it.
Oh I meant what kind of story would you have? More Albus dan Scorpius, or focus on Rose since she was barely in this book. or maybe a prequel like the Marauders era.
Ah, I'd be interested in maybe the founding of Hogwarts, go back and tell a story of Slytherin, Griffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw
Quite honestly, I was just glad of a new paperbound Potter book to read. It was so quick to read that I felt a bit cheated when I finished. I would have liked a bit more background as well; it kind of felt Potter-lite. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it very much, especially the amazing 2nd half. I just wish that some notes or background could have accompanied it as well. Maybe some production notes or something, with more stage directions? That would've been awesome. I'll believe this is the last Harry Potter when the series is no longer bankable, and I think that will be a long time coming, with a new generation of Potter fans coming out of the woodwork. We'll see how Fantastic Beasts does this winter as a test, but I think that will do very well.
More Potter is better by far than no more Potter at all! More Potter please! Background stories/legends, more textbooks/ library books, more Potter in print!
Scorpius is a wonderful character. And it had some wonderful moments, but I don't it held together.(view spoiler)
In my opinion the story was okay (though it would have been better to start an entirely new storyline, not reenact and work with an already defeated enemy). The problem was that there was too little details, both storywise (a lot of parts felt rushed or skipped which is a pity in my opinion), and HP world wise (we didn't get anything new here).I doubt this will be the last book, especially with all the pottermore materials on their webpage. Maybe it was like this when book 7 was finished, but seeing how the fad is still living I doubt they will let it die. Maybe this will be the last book with the Potters as the main characters, but that's fine because honestly I don't like forced continuation and there isn't much more to tell about Harry after the Voldemort saga.
I would like to read an entirely new story, played in another school (hopefully from a very different wizarding community) or maybe another time period (foundations of Hogwards or the "before time", maybe Voldemort's past would be an interesting dark story).
At least the Fantastic Beasts movies have a good chance of leaping away from the Voldemort stuff.
JKR announced there are going to be 5 of the Fantastic Beasts movies.
1. No. I personally don’t consider it canon because I felt they butchered all the old characters and ruined the new ones. The only characters I felt were written well at all were the Malfoys, who still had off moments.However, I don’t care if it’s ‘officially’ canon or not, this is just how I feel, and the story was written so long after I consider it almost another universe from Harry Potter altogether.
So while I don’t consider it canon compared to the first seven books or even Fantastic Beasts, I wouldn’t bother signing a petition. I’m capable of separating the timelines in my own mind so I’m happy and I see no reason to force anyone to ‘un-canon’ it when I can just ignore it and let the people who do enjoy it live in peace.
That’s basically what I’ve been doing with all the Pottermore announcements, so I guess I have practice.
2. No, I don’t think this is the last Harry Potter. Kind of like Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books, so long as they keep coming up with ideas, someone will keep buying them and so they’ll keep writing them.
This doesn’t mean future works will all be bad, but I can’t imagine them having the quality of Harry Potter.
3. Books, because if nothing else her writing style is enjoyable and books are my favorite form of media. I usually enjoy reading plays but Cursed Child still stunk, and movies are all right but I prefer books.
(2016)