Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two: The Official Playscript of the Original West End Production

As a big Harry Potter fan I was overexcited about this book to come out, or should I rather say script?! ;) I was very sad when I finished book seven and started writing my own Harry Potter fanfictions, because I love the story and the characters so much. Now, here we are years later and the script of the play is made into a book. Both times tickets for the play went up for sale, I had no chance, so I’m very happy I at least get to enjoy the book (for now). A lot of people have been put off by the fact that this is a script, but I had no problem with it at all, I loved it! I mean it’s a play and it’s great to read about stage directions and then seeing the dialogues. Yes, I might be a bit biased, because I love the theatre world, but anyway. I saw this whole play in my head, while reading. The actions, the scenes, the characters, everything and that’s what reading is about for me. I loved catching up with all the characters, especially Harry, Ron and Hermione of course. What has become of them, what are they doing now?! Some things are a bit surprising, but that’s great actually. I was also very excited to read about their children and as it is, the story actually follows Albus Severus. He becomes best friends with Scorpius Malfoy and we get to follow their adventure, which is full of excitement and magic of course. A lot of things happen, but it’s all very entertaining and thrilling. I couldn’t put the book down. It’s awesome to finally get a glimpse of the “next” generation, but still getting enough of the “old” squad. Both Harry and Albus go through a lot in this story and it was interesting to see them change. Relationships between father and son, but also husband and wife, friends etc. play a very important role in this story and I adored reading about them all. Scorpius Malfoy is a great character, I really liked him. I would have loved reading about some other characters as well, sadly that wasn’t the case, but it’s understandable, I guess the play would have been to full otherwise. I have to get back to the script fact now. We all know that I think it’s amazing! First of all it’s different and second of all I think that the emotions came across even better, it also kind of leaves more space for your own imagination. This script is full of twists and turns and even some surprises. I read this in one go and was actually sad when it all stopped again. The Harry Potter world is so fascinating and I don’t ever want it to stop. AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME!!!

Reviews on here are very mixed and I for one try not to be biased with my opinion but it is my opinion. I am a huge fan of the original Harry Potter book series and was sceptical reading the cursed child knowing is dialogue reading without much background description JKR is famously known for. So when I started the journey of our beloved best friends in their 40’s meeting at Kings Cross pushing their trolleys through the wall 9 3/4 with their children for another train departure to Hogwarts I was delighted and immediately transported back to my first ever experience reading the philosophers stone. The dialogue and banter between Ron and Hermione was always my highlight and I still love them now. Harry and Ginny are parents to the new edition of children who will steal your heart and I was excited for Draco appearing pretty soon and his son Scorpios was becoming my favourite new kid pretty much instantly. It’s witty, funny, adventurous and full of magic spells. Yes, Hogwarts classes aren’t mentioned enough nor don’t we witness one quidditch game (weird I know) but we get to see Albus (Harry‘s and Ginny‘s son) making friends with an unlikely Malfoy boy and becoming rather unpopular, trying to make wrongs right and getting in so much mess we only known from our fab 3 over 20 years ago. Certain characters we missed are back for some time while others we wished long gone, come back. All in all I enjoyed it a lot. ‚Draco looks up at Harry, and for the first time - at the bottom of this dreadful pit - they look at each other as friends‘ Give yourself a nudge and give the book a chance. All I need now is for Radcliffe and Co wanting to make this play into a movie adaption!!! ;-) Get on it already :-D

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is something I have done my waiting for (9 years of it! IN AZKABAN!) and I can say, when the new edition to the series (Sirius?) was announced I was overjoyed but worried. History has shown that when you take something that is perfect (or as close too perfect as can be) and add to it you negate what was there originally (look at the Star Wars prequels). I have heard a lot of people complain that the Cursed Child does this to the Harry Potter series. I decided to write this review to explain why I think this is not the case, before I do, I will give a brief, spoiler free synopsis of the story: Set two decades after the Deathly Hallows, The Cursed Child follows Harry and his son Albus (many other characters such as Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Draco and Professor McGonagle – amongst others – make an appearance). When we begin Albus has just started at Hogwarts and soon becomes friends with Draco Malfoys son Scorpius (who in my opinion was one of the best characters in the play but more on that later). Albus has a difficult relationship with Harry and the pair can’t seem to get along the way he does with his other children – Lily and James – and so Albus feels isolated from his family because of this. Soon into the story it is revealed that, contrary to the belief set in the original books that all time turners were destroyed in the battle of the department of Mysteries in the Order of the Phoenix, that there is a time turner still in existence. After some time Albus and Scorpius manage to steal the time turner and they travel back to 1994 to try and save Cedric Diggory (their logic is that if he loses the first tri-wizard task he will not be able to tie for the cup in the third task) however, this blows up in their faces and the story is set when they have to try and repair the damage they have done by meddling with time. I understand the fact that it angers people that a time turner exists because we were told they were destroyed and even more so I understand why they are annoyed that it can travel back over twenty years when it was made clear they can only travel back around five hours (this is explained when Hermione comments that it is an entirely different kind of time turner than the one she had). However, while I don’t love this, I still think it makes for fun reading. Another complaint is that, because Rowling wrote this in the form of a play and with outside help – she usually writes solo, that it reads at times like a fanfiction. I get this, at some points during dialogue I see myself thinking that a character would never say that, however, we must remember they are over twenty years older in this story. No one is the same when they are around forty as they were when they were a teenager. This is most evident with Ron who now seems to be there purely because the plot dictates that he returns as he is part of the golden trio. I found myself thinking he was acting like a bit of a comedic idiot throughout, however, this is not a bad thing through and through as it is understandable. What I’m trying to articulate is that I can see how he got to this point in his life (I mean he has been running a joke shop with George – his brother – for years so you can see why he likes to crack a joke here and there). I can’t lie and say this is my favourite entry in the series – that honour goes to the Prisoner of Azkaban – but I can say that I’m glad it exists and I’m not really sure why it is receiving so much heavy criticism. As an avid Harry Potter fan who has read and re-read the series more times than I care to remember I find happiness in a new edition in which I will be able to do this with. While I respect that some people simply don’t enjoy the story I think it is childish for them to deny it as canon, Rowling has said this is canon and so it is. My one major quarrel which really infuriates me is a part of the story I thought to be outright crazy was ***SPOILER – SPOILER – SPOILER!!!*** Voldemort having a child. Without revealing who he or she is I have to say that this made me madder than a hatter, it was established that Voldemort couldn’t feel love and was inhuman and while love isn’t needed to conceive a child I just cannot believe that he would bump uglies with ***SPOILER – SPOILER – SPOILER!!!*** Bellatrix Lestrange. Other than this I enjoyed the Cursed Child. I did and as I mentioned earlier I really liked Scorpius. When I heard he would be a major character I felt quite, I don’t know, cautious. Even his name kind of annoyed me (I knew it beforehand because of the epilogue of Deathly Hallows, pottemore and whatnot but it still didn’t sit right with me) however I thought he was, in a word, fantastic. It is established early on that he is Albus’ best (and only) friend and that they are outcasts at Hogwarts but he was still, despite this, a funny and kind character unlike his father at that age. He says many things throughout which gave me a giggle and even the way he spoke when he fumbled over his words and said exactly what he was thinking as he was thinking it (not in an entitled way more of a silly way) made me think he was a great character but he was by no means dumb and he had his own set of family problems to rival Albus’. More on the Malfoys, I have never been a fan of Dramione (don’t worry Draco and Hermione have no romantic interests in the story) fanfics and was never able to understand why people obsessed over Draco – I guess it was the “bad boy” aspect – as I thought he was an ass when he was at Hogwarts and while in the end he never followed Voldemort I think he was a pretty s***ty person and as he raised Scorpius he was able to instil him with better values and it’s apparent as he is a far friendlier person – though this may be down to his mother, Astoria, however, I think this story shows that Draco is not a bad person when it comes down to it. He is by no means an amazing guy though he shows in the Cursed Child that he cares deeply for his son and eventually even comes to see Harry, Ron and Hermione as pretty great people. The scene that made me come around to Draco was when he said that he always envied Harry because he had real friends while he had Crabbe and Goyle who were never really his friends, they were to him, even in school, just like lackeys who only followed him because of who he was. I realise I have rambled in writing this and I hope, if you’ve read this far, that you have enjoyed what I’ve had to say. Yes, the Cursed Child has flaws (bringing up and changing past rules with time, returning characters who may not have been necessary – I never touched on this but read and make up your own mind on the subject – amongst other things that people don’t like) but it also a nice addition to the Harry Potter franchise. I would have, honestly, preferred it in book form because most of the story is set during Albus’ third year and so it kind of jumps to that and I think it might have been good to have a sort of next generation series, something I have never been a fan of until now, however, I can see why this wouldn’t have worked as it seems the first two might be a bit of a bore. I’m giving it four stars because I think there were a few flaws but overall I really did enjoy the story and I will be adding it to my next re-read of the series. I think the characters were great, if a bit off at time, I think the story, while a bit flawed, made for a fun read (and likely many re-reads) and I think that it was overall a nice new addition, and hey, if you don’t like it we always have Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in November. I would recommend it to any Harry Potter fan but I’d do so with caution because it is clear that some people don’t like it, however, if you’re on the fence just go for it. I enjoyed it and I think, if you like the originals you might too, sure it might make you shout at the page a couple of times like I did but in the end it was worth it and I would like to see more of these characters (both old and new). As for the live stage play, well I’m yet to see it, however, I hear it is just wonderful.

First of all, let me state that this is the script of the play and not a new Harry Potter book - as has been previously stated by JK Rowling on numerous occasions!!! Now that we have that issue out of the way, let's move onto the review. I am admittedly a huge HP fan so while I was excited about ordering this script, I was also somewhat nervous - could a play live up to the writings of Rowling and how well could they interpret our favourite characters? Of course, the writing is not the same - (i) Rowling is not writing the story and (ii) over 19 years have passed since the tremendous (2nd) Battle of Hogwarts. For many readers these two issues have proved to be absolute dealbreakers and have lead to low ratings for the script. Personally, well, while it took me a few pages to settle into the style, I quickly adapted and enjoyed reading the stage directions as the simple instructions allowed by own imagination to take over and design the scene. Now for the characters. .. of all the characters, I was disappointed by the writing of Ron - it seemed to fit more with the movie version rather than the book version of Ron. In otherwords, a secondary character that supports Harry & Hermoine and serves mainly to provide comic relief. It's such a pity to see Ron described in this way as there is far more to his character and this really is an injustice to him. Though he did make me smile with his constant support for his friends and esp his declaration of support in front of the angry council. Otherwise the characters are fairly well written and while they are not drawn in the same depth as usual, this is of course a play and not a 300+ page book. Of course, several decades have passed since our last adventure with the trio so it's no surprise if their attitudes have changed somewhat - after all they are no longer teenagers etc. Without a doubt my favourite of the "new" characters is Scorpius Malfoy - the son of Draco and Astoria. He reminds me of the trio in many ways - he is will to support his friend to the end/brave when it counts/sassy/intelligent and enjoys reading about the history of Hogwarts. The character of Delhi and her storyline could indeed have been fleshed out in greater depth and this would help to eliminate the plot holes but all in all the story is enjoyable. In short, yes the story is different to the stories we know and love but it is a wonderful addition to the Potterverse and a fitting "end" to the HP saga ..... maybe Rowling can continue with some Albus/Scorpius/Rose stories???

My 7-year-old boy loves this book. I went to see the stage play and loved it, as my son is a Harry Potter fan, I thought he would like it. Honestly, we read through the book so quickly as he was captivated by the storyline, he is now reading it himself and sleeping with it. He even learned a new word, discombobulated, which has quickly become his favourite word and even knows how to spell it. Definitely a great read for the Potter fans.

NO SPOILERS Okay, starting with the book itself, it's bigger than expected which I was disappointed with as it sticks out like a sore thumb next to the rest of my Potter books, I know it isn't a J K book like the others but it is being marketed as "the eighth book" so I wish they'd made it shorter and wider like the other 7. The dust cover is lovely, really nice feel to it, almost like a silky rubber if that makes sense? And the actual book covers are nice, a blue material with gold metallic print, they look really good. The book is well put together, I don't expect any pages to ever come loose. Some of the pages haven't been printed straight although nothing major, just the odd page that's slightly slanted. The most annoying thing for me is the marks on the pages, again it nothing major, but almost all of the pages have tiny grey or brown specks on them. I stopped noticing them as I was reading but I do still wish they weren't there. Now for the script. The thing that makes me angrest is the way they've worded the authors page, they are deliberately trying to make it look as if is was written by J K Rowling. Let me emphasise this as much as I can. IT IS NOT WRITTEN BY J K ROWLING. I knew upon buying the book that it wasn't, but it makes me angry that they are trying to make people believe it was. I have seen so many negative reviews based on the fact that the writing style wasn't correct, and this is of course due to the fact that this script was written by a new author, there is no correct or incorrect as its his own interpretation of the story, but many fans believing this to be a J K book are confused with her sudden change or style. The big thing to remember when reading is that The Cursed Child is essentially fan fiction, so it is very likely not going to feel like a Harry Potter book, but I honestly believe fans are well within their rights to be upset by this purely because the script has been marketed as if it's a new J K Rowling Harry Potter book, and it's not. It's a fan written script and should be marketed as such. They deliberately tried to trick their target audience so they would buy it, but they needn't have. Fans would still have bought it, they just would have been more prepared to be reading fan fiction than confused and upset as to why it doesn't feel anything like J Ks stories. With that in mind. I did like the narrative, to begin with anyway. Part one I really enjoyed, I loved seeing where the original characters had ended up, their jobs, families etc. I loved the extra pieces of information such as what we learn about the Hogwarts Express trolley woman. Part one really had me turning pages as quickly as I could, it gave me a huge range of emotions and overall I was happy with it. Part two however fell rather flat for me. The story seemed to get more and more far fetched and harder to believe. There are some really questionable pieces and overall part two felt very obviously fan fiction. It turned into the kind of story I imagine a bunch of excited 12 year olds coming up with together in a playground after finishing J Ks books. There is definitely passion and imagination in it, but overall part two seemed to feel more amateur fan fiction than professional writer. Overall, I'd say it's still worth the buy. It completes the collection and was mostly enjoyable. As long as you keep reminding yourself that this is not a J K Rowling book and that it IS a fan made story, and you take some of the part two narrative with a pitch of salt, I think you should enjoy it.

Wow. Just wow. I'd heard readers are divided as to whether they love or loathe this final installment in the Harry Potter series, but I hadn't read any reviews so came to this book unbiased. I knew it was a play script, and not exactly written by JK Rowling, so I wasn't expecting what I've since read that readers were disappointed by the lack of description. Any hesitation over that issue vanished after page 2-I was drawn into the play as easily as Hermione finds exams. Yes, the character had changed a bit, but that's part of becoming older, so unlike some readers the realism didn't phase me. In fact I liked seeing character flaws exposed because it made them more true to life. Being an adult doesn't mean being right all the time and never making mistakes. Quite the opposite, as Harry finds out with Albus. Sometimes doing the wrong thing helps is the only way for things to work out for the best. I loved the dynamic of Ron and Hermione, and sincerely wish Rose and Lily could have their own series: they are fun to be around as children of Ron/Hermioone & Harry/Ginny. I love how familiar elements of previous books are woven in seamlessly, including thr Hogwarts express and sorting hat. A lot of emotions are explored through both the parent and the children's eyes. I loved the alternate possibilities of what may have happened if certain events had been different, which included a very scary world with Voldemort tormenting muggles. I absolutely hate the freaky cover, but please don't be put off as you will be returning home to familiar characters as well as new ones. I can't watch the films as they are too dark for me, so I know the play would be even if I could get tickets, so I'm thrilled the script got printed. This will definitely be reread once I make my way through the Harry Potter series-got the French versiom as that's the one which introduced me to Harry. I received a copy from Sainsbury Entertainment in exchange for an honest review on my blog Nayu's Reading Corner [...]

I know a lot of people loved The Cursed Child and a lot of people were disappointed by it and that's fascinating to me. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and it made me want to watch the play even more than I already did! It took a little while to get into the format. After all, I've never read a play for pleasure before. I wouldn't call it a challenge to read, it was more of a challenge for my imagination. But as usual, I relish challenges. It was a little bit bizarre not to have any description, and a lot of people felt like it lacked 'magic' because of it, but I'm a dialogue girl, so I got on with it really well. It was exciting to read something not quite like anything I've read before. I laughed more than I thought I would. Maybe more than I was supposed to. Not sure if that's a fault or not. It might just be me. Those Potters are still full of sass. It didn't take long for me to be speeding through the pages. I couldn't turn them fast enough. I was so desperate to know what was going to happen next. I got so into Act Two that I actually felt my body growing hotter and hotter. At one point I shouted at the book like an idiot. I was so invested that I kept gasping. I did it so much that I started to annoy my fiancé. I read all of Act Two and almost Act Three in one go. I would've read all of Act Three in one goo too if not for needing to eat and sleep and stuff. Stupid human necessities. Although I wanted to stop and savour it, for the life of me, I couldn't. I actually couldn't stop myself. And once I realised that I felt like an addict. I wanted to savour each page because I knew I could only have the experience of reading it for the fire time once, but nothing could stop me from devouring the pages. This book made me an addict. A regular reading junkie. However, for most of the book I wanted to follow round adult Harry, Ron, and Hermione and that really isn't the point. It took much longer than it should've for me to become invested in Albus, and that kinda made me think I was focusing on the wrong thing. Don't get me wrong, I loved Albus. Though Scorpius Malfoy was easily my favourite character, and I am not alone in that opinion! I did start getting jumbled at times, but at least I could stop and think about it. I'm glad I read the script first. This way I know I won't get confused! Just one final thing, I know a lot of people are criticising this book by saying it reads like fanfiction, and it does, they're not wrong, but really? It's been nine years since we've had any Potter, and it's set well after the Deathly Hallows, so I don't think there would've been any way to avoid it sounding this way. Whatever people think, I don't care. I loved every page. I'm a true Potterhead forever! First Blogged Here: [...]

Harry Potter çocuklarını konu alan bir eser, ingilizce olarak başarılı

Boa qualidade, capa dura com outra capa de papel em cima, folhas boas

Qu'il est plaisant de revenir à Poudlard (ou enfin presque). Bien que le format pièce de théâtre soit un peu plus compliqué à lire que les romans, on replonge avec plaisir dans l'univers créé par J.K.Rowling, 20 après nos première péripéties. Sans dévoiler quoi que ce soit, nous repartons exactement là où la lecture des précédents volets nous avait arrêté, puisque le début reprend presque au mot près l'épilogue du tome 7 des aventures du sorcier à lunette. Nous suivons ici les pérégrinations d'un de ses fils, en compagnie d'un autre élève de Poudlard. La lecture est agréable, l'anglais n'a rien de compliqué et même sans être parfaitement bilingue on peut se permettre de lire cette version originale. L'histoire est simple, mais nous remet immédiatement dans le bain, et nous montre à quel point on était en manque de cet univers simple et fantastique. Ce qui suit peut contenir d'éventuel spoilers, mais rien de méchant. Ce qui m'a peut-être un peu gêné, bien qu'on soit sur l'aventure du fils d'Harry Potter, et qu'on puisse légitimement se dire qu'on n'a pas besoin de la présence des anciens personnages, c'est l'absence marquée de Ron. Autant les autres sont bien dosés, autant j'ai trouvé son personnage assez éloigné de ce que j'avais en souvenir. Après, il faut bien percevoir qu'il s'agit d'une pièce, tout ce qu'on lit a pour vocation d'être joué, d'être interprété, c'est donc un choix volontaire que de faire de Ron une sorte d'amuseur public, mais c'est un peu dommage. Le fil conducteur autour du voyage temporel, bien que simpliste là aussi nous permet d'en apprendre cependant plus sur l'univers de la saga originale. Je ne m'avancerai par contre pas sur le twist final, car je ne veux rien dévoiler d'une part, et d'autre part j'ai trouvé ça un peu gros. Au final, bien que cette pièce verse plus du côté "œuvre enfantine" que ne l'était réellement la saga originale, ça reste un vrai plaisir de lecture. A conseiller à tout ceux qui aiment cet univers, même si l'approche sous format pièce de théâtre pourra en rebuter certains.

My son (aged 11) is a huge Harry Potter fan; he demolished the series within weeks. Until he mentioned it, we didn't realise this book existed, but as soon as we discovered it, we knew it would be a great birthday gift for him. He absolutely loved this book; it was a great way for him to understand what happened to the characters he loves after the ending of the previous books. Highly recommend this book for any fan of Harry Potter.

Got it as a gift for niece