Author: J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne
ISBN: 978-0-7515-6535-5
RRP: $45
I went out on release day and bought the new Harry Potter book, I bought it knowing that it would be a while before I got to read it but needing to add it to my collection.
Yesterday, when I discovered a small window where I could pick up anything I chose, I chose Harry.
I know people who are a little hesitant about Harry Potter and The Cursed Child simply because it is a script and not a novel. I was a little unsure as well but had to complete my collection, and had to know what happened in the story. I would love to see the play on the stage in London but let’s be honest… that’s never going to happen. My only real choice was to read the script.
Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is a quick and easy read because unlike most of the play scripts I’ve read which are hundreds of years old, the language is modern and if you are familiar with Harry Potter you know the places and the dialect.
The story picks up 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts and brings back all of our much loved, and hated, characters. We have Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione and some of our favourite Hogwarts professors. We also have Draco Malfoy, because no Harry story would be complete without his nemesis.
The Harry Potter novels spanned one year each volume, the Cursed Child takes place over around half of a Hogwarts career. Albus Severus Potter is the son of Harry and Ginny, brother to James and Lily, and feeling the pressure of his names and his parenthood.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is Albus’s story; his struggle to fit in, his stress over the Sorting Hat and the possibility of not being a Griffyndor like the rest of his family and the friendship he finds with a Malfoy.
Reading the story was very simple, and it took hardly any time because the bulk of the book is dialogue. There are stage directions but they are short and not very detailed. For someone new to the Potterverse this may leave a little too much to the imagination but if you have read all the books and watched the movies you shouldn’t really lose anything. Most of the scenes in the play are set in places you would recognise, except for Harry and Ginny’s house.
The story fit perfectly with the Harry novels and added some interesting twists, it was a refreshing new addition to the franchise and it will be interesting to see how the definitive edition differs from the rehearsal edition.
Fans of Harry Potter should definitely give this a go, my Miss nearly 13 can’t wait to read it… but she has to finish the series first. Don’t let the fact that it is a script put you off because it really is about the story.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is available now through Hachette, Angus & Robertson Bookworld, Booktopia and where all good books are sold.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!