How has it been over a month since Harry Potter and the Cursed Child came out? I literally don’t know where time goes. Rather predictably, I planned on going to at least one of the super fun-looking midnight release parties held July 31 and bookstores across the city but then fell asleep at 9pm instead. Also rather predictably, I woke up Sunday morning, downloaded the book (play?), and read through the story in one sitting.
I have a hard time know what to say when people ask me about this book.
There are things I liked about it, for sure. Scorpius Malfoy will forever be one of my favorite characters in the Hogwarts world. I love that Draco’s son is like a perfect mix of Ron and Hermione. Poetic justice, for everyone. I also really loved Albus Severus as a character and found the plot very clever. It was a really fun diving back into the world of Hogwarts for a day.
Still, both the book and the experience of reading it felt like the poor man’s version of the last seven. I think I’d like the story more if it was written in Rowling’s detailed prose, rather than a script. I might like it better if it didn’t exist. All was well. A lot of people criticized that ending, but I loved it. That’s exactly the kind of closure I want at the end of story, especially a series. I don’t love seeing Harry’s parenting regrets or Hermione and Ron’s struggling marriage.
More than any of that, I missed the magic of being a teenager and being ridiculously excited about each new Harry Potter book. I missed my entire family reading the books in the same day and talking about them with my friends.
So yeah, I don’t know. I liked the child characters and thought the story was good, but for me the original seven books are what counts. Cursed Child feels like fanfiction, even though Rowling had a say in it.
Have you read the story? Are you planning to? What are your thoughts?
I’m so unsure about my own thoughts that I’m VERY curious!
Alison Doherty 
Still haven’t read it, though I plan to. I kind of plan to just keep it in a separate non-canon part of my head and heart. If that’s possible.
Yeah. That’s kind of how I view it. I enjoyed it more while I was reading it than I do in reflection, which is kind of weird.
I am excited to hear your thoughts on it when you do read Cursed Child.
I found that looking at this book as part of JKR’s world left me disappointed. It just wasn’t up to par with the last 7 and nothing really felt right. But if I looked at it as its own thing and didn’t compare the rest of the books to this one, it was fun to go back to the world again.
Definitely agree. This is a great way of looking at Cursed Child.