REVIEW : Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - J.K Rowling

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - J.K Rowling
Publisher : Little, Brown UK
Release Date : July 31st 2016
Genres : Fantasy
Pages : 327
Rating : ★★★☆☆

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.

 When I finally got the book in my hands I was very excited. Maybe too much. You know, the main reason why I love the Harry Potter serie is the magic. Hogwarts makes me dream and I felt like, with Harry, I experienced its magic. I loved the characters' personnality and their development. I laughed with them and got angry for them. I cared for them and I hoped this book could make me live those feelings again.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. I'm not going to say things like "J.K Rowling didn't write this" or on the contrary "She wrote this and it shows !" I'm not here to review the author. What I can say though, is that the main reason why I didn't like it much was the lack of the magical atmosphere I fell in love with in the first place.

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is about the father/son conflict between Harry and Albus. They don't understand each other. Albus feels trapped in his father's shadow and Harry doesn't understand him. The Hogwarts he loves so much has become a prison to his child and he doesn't know how to make it right. He wants to protect him from everything and everyone but like every parent he has to understand that he just can't even though it pains him.

Don't get me wrong, the book is not bad by any means. It's just not what I wanted.

First, I didn't recognize the characters. There were moments where I wanted to shake them. I feel like Harry's more wise in The Deathly Hallows than in The Cursed Child. Again, that's not necessarily a bad thing. The authors show how becoming a parent can change everything and sometime parents act stupidly because they don't know how to handle things. But I feel like I would have appreciated a heart-warming contemporary dealing with this topic rather than this. Maybe it's better when you actually see it played on stage, I don't know. But I think this book will disappoint a lot of Harry Potter fans.

Then there is the character everyone, including myself, loved : Scorpius. Even though, it didn't feel like a Harry Potter book, we're still talking about J.K Rowling. Friendship has always been one of Harry Potter's main themes and The Cursed Child isn't the exception to the rule.

We follow an unexpected relationship between too people way too prejudiced. I loved their friendship so so much. It broke my heart every time someone was against them. The other character I liked a lot (and nos surprise there) was Draco. We all remember how Draco was in the books and I feel like, on the contrary of the others, everything he did was like him. The way he grew really moved me and made me love him even more. #ProudToBeASlytherin.

Anyway, I think you can really love this book as long as you don't expect something similar to the Harry Potter books. Overall, I liked it and even though I didn't feel the magic, I still felt a lot of other Muggle-like feelings that satisfied me nontheless.