Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Book Review

Book Review One:

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

The first part is spoiler free and discusses the book as a whole and the writers. The next section does contain spoilers and I discuss the plot and story line with my opinions included in some parts. The third part of this blog is essentially my overall review on the book and does not contain much spoilers other than a few mild spoilers of what characters are in or not in the story so if you want to see my thoughts on the story but don’t want to know the actually story since you haven’t read it, skip to the end.

Spoiler Free Part:

I purchased the book Harry Potter and the Cursed Child the week that it was released but I didn’t actually pick it up and read it until this month. This book is actually the professional rehearsal script of the actual play. If you are a person who is picking it up and expecting an actual book, unfortunately this is not that. It is a script. It reads like a script. I actually have not read many books that are in this format other than Shakespeare and I honestly LOVE his writing so I knew that I wouldn’t mind how The Cursed Child is written.

One main thing that has confused people with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is that it is not actually written by J.K. Rowling. The script itself is written by Jack Thorne. Don’t let J.K. Rowling’s name in large, bold print fool you, she didn’t write it. She did help come up with the story and the script was a collaboration with several people. These people include J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany. Essentially, Rowling entrusted Jack Thorne and John Tiffany with the universe of Harry Potter so that they could write the script for Cursed Child.

I went into this book with my knowledge of the Harry Potter books and movies and therefore wasn’t truly sure what to expect. I didn’t hold the idea of a Harry Potter book not written by J.K. Rowling too highly. I also didn’t dive headfirst into this book. It took me awhile to jump into the story and when I first bought the book, I actually didn’t want to read it but I knew that I was going to force myself to read it to see what the story would be about.

The book is separated into two parts. The two parts are both split into two acts so that entire book is a total of four acts. I read it in the way that the play would have went meaning that I read the first act, took a break, read the second act, and then took another small break. I did this same thing for the second part.

Now, to start actually discussing the story!

Contains Spoilers!

The play started out exactly where the epilogue of Deathly Hallows ended which pleasantly surprised me. I liked that it started out somewhere familiar and this actually caused me to want to continue reading. The main character the story focuses on is Albus Severus Potter who is Harry and Ginny’s son. We are then soon introduced to one of my favourite characters in this play and this is Scorpius Malfoy. As many of my friends know, Draco Malfoy was my favourite character in the Harry Potter series so I think it’s only natural that I ended up adoring his son. I really liked the way that Scorpius shows growth throughout the play.

Scorpius and Albus quickly become friends on the train ride to Hogwarts for their first year. We discover that both boys are sorted into Slytherin, which personally is the best house. Albus believes that this is the reason that him and Harry develop a disconnect with each other.

The script switches points of view quite a bit and so we see how situations are happening throughout the entire universe of the magical characters that we have all grown to love.This is how we discover later on in the first act that Amos Diggory comes to Harry and asks him to go back in time and save Cedric from dying from the events that occurred in Goblet of Fire. Harry refuses and we learn that all of the time turners have been destroyed by the ministry of magic.This is where the main plotline develops. Albus overhears the conversation between Harry and Amos and, convinced by Amos’ niece Delphi, he decides to find a time turner that Hermione has kept hidden with Scorpius and Delphi by his side.

We begin act two with Harry having a dream which is a consistent things that happens throughout the script. These dreams have been causing his scar to hurt and Voldemort’s voice is often heard saying his name. This leads Harry to believe that the Dark Lord is back and that something bad is going to happen in the near future. Hermione, the current Minister of Magic, is trying to help Harry figure out what is going on.

Albus and Scorpius end up having the time turner now and they go back in time to the Triwizard Tournament that occurred during Goblet of Fire. They try to stop Cedric during the first task. Later on, they also try to stop him during the second task because the first time didn’t work. This is where I started having large issues with the plot line. After the two boys stop Cedric from finishing the second task, he ends up getting so upset that, in the alternate timeline Albus had now created, Cedric becomes a Deatheater. Now, if you are anything like me you know that Cedric, the sweet and kind Hufflepuff is a truly good guy. He would NEVER become a Deatheater! What is this junk??

This is also where the alternate timeline starts being so messed up that I almost threw the book across the room but I love books too much and also I wouldn’t want to ruin the binding of course.

The end of act two finished up with Scorpius being thrown into a world where Umbridge is Hogwarts Headmaster and the current day is Voldemort Day. First off, what the hell? I’m sorry but where is this going? Also, Voldemort Day? Come on! Out of all the creative names someone could come up with for a holiday for wizards these people came up with the name Voldemort Day. Also, I hate Umbridge so I will just keep my mouth shut from spewing out any obscenities about my thoughts on this scene in the script.

Part Two: Act Three begins in an alternate universe where Voldemort killed Harry in the Battle of Hogwarts and Cedric the Deatheater killed Neville so Nagini was never killed which was why Voldemort was able to kill Harry. I have a lot of issues with this act and if you’d like to discuss them please confront me because writing them all out would be way too much reading for any one person to do, especially if you haven’t read the book. Although I have to say that I love that in this alternate timeline, Snape in alive and he is still a good guy! But then he dies again. So yeah, that was soul crushing for me to encounter a second death of Snape. Also, Scorpius tells Snape that Harry ended up naming one of his children after him and I absolutely adore the scene where that happens. Snape is so proud and it makes my heart hurt because then he dies. Scorpius ends up getting to the proper timeline again within act three and is then reunited with Albus.

Towards the end of act three we then discover that Delphi is evil and is actually the daughter of Bellatrix and Voldemort which in my opinion is nasty af. Who in their right mind would want to produce a child with Voldemort? The act ends with Delphi going back in time to bring Voldemort back.

The fourth act, in my opinion was hard to start because, for me, I didn’t like what was happening with the story line. That is why I will just summarize that Delphi went back to the day that Voldemort killed Harry’s parents to warn Voldemort of what will happen to him and how he won’t kill Harry. Harry and the rest of the gang end up getting a second hidden time turner from Draco Malfoy and they end up going back in time to the same timeline Delphi is in due to Albus telling them where Delphi is. They end up hiding out and then trapping Delphi where Harry has to then watch Voldemort kill his parents because it had to happen to stay in the proper timeline.

They go back to the future/proper timeline and all is well now. Yay.

Review Time:

Now on my opinion of this book. For me, all the time jumping was somewhat confusing to follow and some of the characters didn’t live up to the characters of the original series. If you are looking for a book to satisfy your want to experience another adventure with Harry Potter and friends, this may be the book for you to read. Some of the plot line kind of fell through but overall it was an enjoyable, entertaining read. It was also fairly quick to read which was nice. I finished it within two days and probably could have read through it in one sitting if I hadn’t of taken breaks.

One major issue I had in the fact that Teddy Lupin was not included in this book. I really wanted him to be a character within the script and play because Harry is his godfather and he goes to Hogwarts with all the other kids. Another issue I have is the whole Cedric plotline which bothered me quite a bit. This story is essentially a rehash of events that occur in Goblet of Fire mixed in with current timeline which somewhat bothers me also. Also, Harry Potter would not say or do some of the things in this story ever! Especially some of the things that he says to his son Albus.

Now, yes, I am a fairly opinionated reader because I love the Harry Potter series but I am also willing to read different things which is why I decided to finally read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

With love,

Kaelyn Spencer

If you’ve read the book please share your opinions with me!