Book Review: "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two" by J.K. Rowling, John

Hello everyone! It's Kristen and I'm finally back with another book review! I haven't had much time to write a book review this summer, and I also haven't read many books, but I am back with Book 8 of the Harry Potter series!

Due to the fact that I do not live anywhere in the UK, I was not/am not able to see the play. However, I did manage to get my hands on the script book, and that is what I will be reviewing today.

Prior to the release of this script book, I had indeed read the entire Harry Potter series and thoroughly enjoyed all 7 books. I was elated and so excited when I found out that J.K. Rowling was releasing another book. I pretty much looked like this:

Anyway, without further ado, I give to you my book review of the eighth Harry Potter book! I will include an introduction to all the characters, I will talk about the setting, a brief synopsis, and I will give you my personal rating out of 5 stars. And for those who have read the book, and only exclusively for those who have read the book (otherwise I would be spoiling everything for those who haven't read the book) I will be writing about some questions I had after reading the book and I will include some of the thoughts I had about some of the events in the book.

**Warning: May contain minor spoilers as well as spoilers from the original seven Harry Potter books. I will mark the areas with spoilers brackets. There is little I can say without spoiling too much. Proceed with caution.**

Characters:

Main Characters:

• Albus Severus Potter

He is the story's protagonist and the story mostly takes place during his third year at Hogwarts. He is also the second son of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. Things take an unexpected turn as he befriends Scorpius Malfoy, son of Draco and Astoria Malfoy.

• Scorpius Malfoy

He is another very important character in this story and his importance to the story's plot increases and the book goes on. Once again, his father was Draco Malfoy, arch-nemesis of Harry Potter and son of Lucius Malfoy. He and Albus go on the once-in-a-lifetime adventure through the depths of time and space in this eighth and final installment of the Harry Potter series.

Supporting Characters:

• Amos Diggory

He is Cedric Diggory's father, and comes up to Harry Potter to request that he go back in time and prevent Cedric from being killed by Lord Voldemort. He is a rather minor character that only makes between 2-4 appearances in the entire 308 pages of the book that contain the script.

• Delphini Diggory

She is the cousin of Cedric Diggory and the niece of Amos Diggory, and works at St. Oswald's Home for Old Witches and Wizards as Amos's caretaker. She is also a minor character, just like Amos, but has a very important role in the book.

**Note: There is little I can say about Amos and Delphini without giving away too much, so that is all I will tell you.**

• Harry Potter

He was once the Chosen One, but now he is wizard working at the Ministry of Magic and a father of three. His scar hasn't hurt in many years, not since Voldemort disappeared forever. He often has trouble communicating with Albus and being an understanding father due to the fact that he lost his own father at a very young age and is a bit lost when it comes to parenting. He also has trouble understanding the pressure put on Albus by a lot of Albus's classmates, just because Albus is a Potter and Potters have to be good at everything.

• Ron Weasley

After years of being friends with Harry and having these amazing adventures, Ron is now the owner of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, and father of Rose and Hugo. Though he is no longer a main character in this installment, he does have a small role in the overall plot and is still (in a way) the humorous boy that he once was.

• Hermione Granger

After being a top student at Hogwarts, Hermione is now the Minister of Magic and her daughter Rose has inherited many of her personality traits. Harry works with her in the Ministry of Magic as Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Like Ron, she has a rather minor but somewhat important role in the plot.

• Ginny Weasley

After being shy as a young girl, she is now a mother of three and editor of the Daily Prophet's sports pages. She cares a lot about her own children and is very understanding when Harry fails to communicate with their children, which is a cause of some of the events that happen in this story. She is also more of a minor character— but Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco Malfoy and her all have significant roles of less importance than the main characters (you will understand if you read the book).

• Rose Granger-Weasley

She is the daughter of Hermione and Ron, and was once Albus's friend. However, in Albus's first year, Albus decides to sit with Scorpius Malfoy, causing Rose to storm off. From there, they pretty much hate each other. Scorpius also seems to have a crush on her, even though she absolutely despises him.

• James Sirius Potter

He is the eldest son of Harry and Ginny, and is constantly teasing Albus. He is a rather minor character in the novel and doesn't do much in the story. Harry ends up handing down his invisibility cloak to him.

• Lily Luna Potter

She is the youngest among her siblings, and Harry Potter and Ginny Potter's third child. Like her brother James, she isn't a major character in the story but is still there to keep the plot moving along. She seems to be young little girl without much of a care in the world, or at least we can assume that, from her reaction after her father got her fairy wings.

• Professor McGonagall (now headmistress of Hogwarts)

Professor McGonagall was once the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts, but ever since Dumbledore's tragic passing in the Half-Blood Prince and the Battle of Hogwarts, she has been bearing the weight of headmistress. She now knows Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Draco very well and is often there at the Ministry of Magic meetings held by Hermione. She is also an Animagus.

Very Minor Characters:

• The classmates of Albus and Scorpius: Polly Chapman, Karl Jenkins, Craig Bowker Jr., Yann Fredericks

They have very minor speaking roles in the script book and play, and are of even less importance than James and Lily. They are there to move the story along, and make many comments about what the main characters do.

• Trolley Witch

She is the witch that rolls around the trolley on the train to Hogwarts. She is the one that offers the sweets to all the students. She only appears once in the entire play and has only a few lines. She makes a particular event in the story a tiny bit more interesting, but I will not explain what that event is due to the fact that I could be giving away major spoilers.

• Hagrid, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, Dudley, Voldemort, Lily Potter Sr., James Potter Sr.

These characters appear in many flashbacks that Harry ends up having throughout the book. Though they do not physically appear in the plot (other than in the play, when there would obviously have to be actors/actresses that plays their characters), but do have an impact on the events of the story. I will not explain why Harry gets these flashbacks. However, based on the characters' names who I have listed, you can sort of guess why he is getting these flashbacks. I will not say anything else about them, however, because I could be spoiling too much.

• Madam Hooch

She is still the teacher who teaches you how to ride a broomstick at Hogwarts, and appears once in the entire book. She only has a few lines and is there to move the story along.

Setting:

The plot is mainly set when Albus is in his third year at Hogwarts, however the book first starts off with Albus boarding the Hogwarts Express in his first year. The book briefly mentions Albus's first and second years at Hogwarts, but most of the events happen when Albus is in his third year at Hogwarts. The various places where the events of the script book/play occur include Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic (in both Harry's office and Hermione's office), Harry and Ginny's house, and the Forbidden Forest. There are other places where the events in the book take place, but I will not include those places due to spoilers, once again.

Plot/Brief Synopsis:

Albus Potter often struggles in school and a lot of pressure is put on him just because he is the younger son of the famous Harry Potter. Some of this is just too much to handle sometimes and he wishes he were the son of someone else.

Harry, on the other hand, has to bear the weight of working for the Ministry of Magic and being a father of three. He often has trouble communicating with his children, especially Albus, because he had lost his father at such a young age and didn't know how to be a good one.

However, darkness returns and the world they once knew, as well as everything in it, quickly unravels as they travel through time itself.

The last installment in the best-selling Harry Potter franchise is sure to have readers sitting on the edges of their seats, waiting for what will happen next.

Rating and Recommendation:

Though some may argue that this book wasn't as nearly as interesting or detailed as the original series, I think that this was a fantastic continuation of the original series, and I would rate it 4.5 stars. Maybe it was just because I was so eager to learn about what had become of Harry Potter that I enjoyed it thoroughly, I don't know. However, the plot was not excessively detailed, because this is a play, and in plays, the characters act out things more than they explain them. I had known this ahead of time, and this was not at all surprised when I got my copy of it on Amazon. I was actually able to visualize this in my head, and that's how I ended up enjoying it. Even though some may argue that the dialogue is not the best, I treated it more like a book, and not a play, thus making it more enjoyable. Albus also seemed to complain a lot about the pressure he faced about being Harry's son, and though his attitude is not the best and he may seem bitter, I still enjoyed the story regardless. The only part I didn't get was all the time-traveling (which you will find out more about later, if you haven't already read the book), and it was actually quite confusing. Anyway, all in all, I think that this book is definitely worth a read if you have already read the previous seven Harry Potter books. Once again, it's not as good as the others, but still worth a shot. It seems like most people either liked it or hated it.

**WARNING: MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD. ONLY PROCEED IF YOU HAVE READ THE BOOK. UNLESS YOU WANT ME TO SPOIL IT ALL, JUST STOP RIGHT HERE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

For those who HAVE read the book:

My Thoughts About the Fact That...

• Albus is a Slytherin.

I was not expecting this, and I have to admit that I was a bit surprised. Albus seemed like a shy 11 year old before he was sent off to Hogwarts, someone who was timid and shy. But in some places in the book, I can see why he was sorted into Slytherin. But most of the time, I only see him as wizard who will one day do great things. Maybe it's just because of his parentage that I'm assuming such great things, but he doesn't seem like much of a dark wizard. Still, there could be a small chance that he turns into a dark wizard but he doesn't seem like the type...

• Delphi is real...

I mean, how was this even possible? I mean, Voldemort had a child?! Wow! I just have no words...

• Delphi was not mentioned at all or discovered before...

I would have expected to find out about Delphi earlier, and I thought she might have been hunted down by the authorities... but then again, she was an undocumented witch that no one knew about and she probably kept it that way because it is very dangerous to be Voldemort's daughter. And one more thing— how did she learn about Dark Magic and how did she find out about all these things if both her parents were dead?

2 major questions I have after reading the book:

1. Who is the cursed child?

Is it Delphi, because her father is Voldemort? She probably isn't actually cursed because she is the Voldemort's daughter, but I definitely wouldn't consider myself "lucky" to be the daughter of the One-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Would it be Albus, who is cursed because his father is Harry Potter? Or is it another character that seems unlikely to be cursed?

2. Once again, how on earth did Voldemort have a child?

This seems a bit impossible. Just how? First of all, he is the dark lord, so I don't know how he has time to have a child when he is busy trying to destroy and defeat Harry Potter. Second of all, I just can't imagine the dark lord having a child. I mean, he would probably be one of the worst parents the wizarding world has ever seen. He is the dark lord, after all, and his heart seems to be non-existent because he is so cold and brutal.

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this book review and come back next week for more!

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