Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – JK Rowling with John Tiffany and Jack Thorne

Release date: 31 July 2016
Rating: ★★★ – 3/10
Goodreads link
Book Depository link

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Harry Potter #8) blurb:

The eighth story. Nineteen years later…

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted.  As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

WARNING: contains spoilers

I want to preface this review by saying that I am absolutely a Harry Potter fan girl.  I have a Pottermore account, I’ve been sorted into the houses (Ravenclaw and Thunderbird), I have a patronus (Mink) and a wand (vine wood, unicorn hair, 10″, hard flexibility), I’ve got crap-tonnes (metric measurement) of HP paraphernalia, a blu-ray limited edition set of the movies, and I have all of the original stories printed in England (including three first editions in hardback).

HPatCC, to me, felt like an interesting fanfic take on what the 8th story would have been.  And I would know this, having read much HP fanfic (Backwards With Purpose is still my favourite).

Now I am absolutely not focusing on that it was a play or script or however you want to describe it.  I am purely talking about the storyline.

I mean, logically, when would Voldy have had time to impregnate Bellatrix in the stories?  She escaped Azkaban halfway through book five; at the end of five she’s killing Sirius; at the start of six she’s making an unbreakable vow between Narcissa and Severus; then she’s lording over Harry, Ron, Hermione when they’re kidnapped and killing Dobby with a knife; and next you know she’s at the Battle of Hogwarts duelling with Molly Weasley (and dying).

I mean, I know, realistically, that there is time for this to happen.  But no where in the books is she maternal, fuller-bodied, emotional, or anything else that you may associate with someone who gives birth to their idol’s child – whether they are a sociopath or not.  It just doesn’t make sense to me.

And then you go through the Albus and Scorpius stealing the time-turner AND going back in time with the help of Delphini, but not with her help…  It all just seems to strange.  And not ‘magical’ strange, but ‘someone got high and had a weird dream’ strange.  The more I think about this story, the more I dislike it.

What I do love about this story is the return of characters that we all love, the continuation of a story that we have all been waiting for years for, and that Harry and Albus sort out their problems and accept each other (I am a sucker for a happy ending).

So, in the spirit of acknowledging that this rating is purely based on nostalgia…