5 reviews for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
by J K Rowling
Description:
The Eighth Tale in the Harry Potter Saga:
Being labelled as ‘the boy who lived’ for his whole life has not been easy for Harry Potter. In the official eighth instalment of the Harry Potter series penned in the form of a two-part stage production play, J. K. Rowling weaves yet another thrilling and magical yarn featuring the life of Harry Potter nineteen years later in the post-Voldemort wizarding world.
A glimpse into the epic tale:
Harry Potter plays the role of a man finally living out the quiet, conventional lifestyle he always wanted to live as a Minister of Magic employee, who is a doting husband and father of three. Yet, he struggles to escape the haunting past, the demons of which continue to consume him. The play also features a grown up Albus Severus Potter following the footsteps of his legendary father and labouring to carry the burden of a family bequest and fortune he hadn’t expected. As the past meets the present, the legendary father and son duo strive to come in terms with the darkness that lies within and overcome their inner demons.
The Play:
The ‘Harry Potter And The Cursed Child: The Play’ airs for the first time at the London Palace Theatre on July 30th, 2016. The play is based on the book written by Jack Thorne in collaboration with J. K. Rowling and the book is scheduled to release on July 31st, 2016. On 10th February, 2016, it was declared that the scripts of both the parts of the play would be released in both digital and print formats.
J. K. Rowling promises to take fans deeper into the recesses of Harry Potter’s mind as the play showcases the life of Potter when he was an unwanted orphan.
About The Author
Joanne “Jo” Rowling, OBE, FRSL ( born 31 July 1965), pen names J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, is a British novelist, screenwriter and film producer best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. The books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, and sold more than 400 million copies. They have become the best-selling book series in history and been the basis for a series of films over which Rowling had overall approval on the scripts and maintained creative control by serving as a producer on the final instalment.
Born in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series while on a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990. The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband and relative poverty until she finished the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, in 1997.
There were six sequels, the last, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in 2007. Since then, Rowling has written four books for adult readers, The Casual Vacancy (2012) andunder the pseudonym Robert Galbraiththe crime fiction novels The Cuckoo’s Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014) and Career of Evil (2015). Rowling has lived a “rags to riches” life story, in which she progressed from living on state benefits to multi-millionaire status within five years. She is the United Kingdom’s best-selling living author, with sales in excess of £238M.The 2016 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling’s fortune at £600 million, ranking her as the joint 197th richest person in the UK. Timemagazine named her as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fans. In October 2010, Rowling was named the “Most Influential Woman in Britain” by leading magazine editors. She has supported charities including Comic Relief, One Parent Families, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and Lumos(formerly the Children’s High Level Group).
Skryf Review
“Excellent Reading”
Anmol
This is a script book to a play! In ‘simple’ words, it means the dialogues and story delivery won’t be similar to the traditional HP novels. You’re just plainly given what the characters say beside their names (with minimal expression description). BUT, the read was still very very fun for me. The writing is not at all stale (as some people claimed a script book might turn out to be). Infact, it’ll keep you glued once you’re immersed in it.The book gives you what was promised! A dive into the old HP world once again, with events from the old books frequently coming into play and a glimpse into the life of our now ‘older characters’. At some places (in act two), you might feel like you’re going through the old (already much published) concepts of the movies like ‘Back to the future’ and ‘alternate realities’ in a magical world. Though, the book does a nice come back (act three,four) and it gets better thereafter.Overall, after reading this, I believe the play must have been epic!! Its sad that many of us couldn’t watch it, though I’d like to in the future. The script book was a good read and there is no way that HP fans should miss this story even over a thousand bad reviews! So, just get your copy and enjoy.
Helly
The book is written completely in play-script format. The print is large and it’s a premium quality book, but the story itself is very short compared to the shortest Harry Potter novel (Philosopher’s Stone IIRC). And it hasn’t been written by JKR in it’s entirety. So while the characters are the same, the story has a different, slightly rushed and hashed feeling to it.If you’re a fan though, you might enjoy the read. Just make sure you temper your expectations.
Jasmine
I enjoyed this, but it also felt very unnecessary. Barely anything was gained by the end of the story due to all the (view spoiler) but whatever. I would KILL to see the play because I cannot comprehend how all of that would work on a stage, and I’m glad I read this, but it’s definitely borderline fanfiction in my mind. It was like watching A Very Potter Musical, but not quite as fun.
Ira
I had been eagerly awaiting Harry Potter and the Cursed Child when I found out that the play would be released in book form. There was a time when I got a new Potter book on my hands and would stay up all night reading. Now let us fast forward 19 years, or in my case, nine years later. Three of my four kids read Harry Potter books, two of them have completed the series twice and the third is currently on book four. No longer can I get Harry Potter from the library and be guaranteed of being the first to read it. That being said, I was determined to read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child before my kids got their hands on it; I easily finished in a few hours When all is said and done, this play is fan fiction. I might not have loved it as much as the original books, but I am guessing that the kids of Albus’ and Scorpius’ generation will enjoy it just the same. A fun read for a summer’s day but I would still prefer to stay up late with a copy of the original books.