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The 8th Harry Potter (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by John Tiffany, Jack Thorne and J.K. Rowlin


So for this review I'm testing out a new review format. I'll start with a description of the book from Goodreads then each of my paragraphs are labeled with a level of spoilers I feel that paragraph contains so feel free to stop at whatever level you are comfortable with and skip to the last paragraph for my concluding thoughts. please let me know how this is compared to my previous formats in comments!!

Goodreads book description: Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016.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.

 

<< not very spoilery>> As many of you may or may not know I am a major Harry Potter fan so naturally I have been going crazy waiting to get my hands on the 8th book in this amazing series and I have to say I was not disappointed! It took me a while to get in to the writing style as it was pretty much all dialogue but once I got use to the fact I was reading a script instead of a novel, the story felt no different than reading any of the other Harry Potter novels. The other thing that was a little weird for me was having Harry as a secondary character, after reading the original 7 books it can be difficult to get use to reading a different perspective and the original trio being so much older made it feel like I was almost reading about different characters but the inside jokes and character traits always reminded me that it was the same characters I had fallen in love with as a kid.

<< a little more spoilery>> The next generation characters were really interesting and the friendship between Albus and Scorpius while a little out of place at first was easy to get behind and ended up being an example of what true friendship should be. I did wish we had seen a little more of Rose, Hugo, James, and Lilly but because it was originally a play I understand there were a lot of things that couldn't be expanded on as much as a true Harry Potter novel would have. There were also a few of the original characters I wish we had either seen more of or seen at all! I would have loved to know where Luna ended up or hear more about Nevil.

<<much more spoilery>> I found Albus ending up in Slytherin to be a very interesting twist and although I found it a little strange at first it really helped to show Slytherin as less of the evil house people seemed to think it was reading the original series. I do think the idea of Scorpius being related to Voldemort to be a little overdone but it helps move the story along making both Scorpius and Albus outcasts and bringing them closer together. I really really loved the scene with Snape as I have always wanted to see how he would react knowing Harry named one of his children after him and I liked seeing the various alternate realities. I also loved how it showed what a monumental effect Nevil had on the war and how important he was all along, they showed how important he was in the Battle of Hogwarts during Deathly Hallows but this just reinforced that even more and gave Nevil the appreciation he deserved, as I said earlier though I do wish we'd seen more of him in the actual story though and not just the effects he had.

<<almost no spoilers>> all in all, for what it is I found this story amazing and wish it could have been infinitely longer but it contained the majority of details I needed to be entirely happy with an 8th Harry Potter book and I loved the new story and characters while also loving where the original characters ended up! WELCOME BACK HARRY POTTER!!!

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