Paige Pieper’s thoughts:

On July 31 J.K Rowling released her newest edition of the Harry Potter series with co-authors Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. This release was written in the form of a play instead of the novel form of the first seven books. Over the years millions of people have fallen in love with the original series. Which brings up the question; Did Harry Potter and the Cursed Child live up to the expectations set for Harry Potter?

I have read all the books and seen all the movies and I can tell anyone that I love Harry Potter. I was excited to read the Cursed Child when it came out and read the book the day I bought it. I can honestly say I was disappointed.

Reading the book is hard enough as it is since it is written as a play. Readers have to be able to imagine what it would look like on stage to fully understand the book. Even with this in mind a lot of readers had a problem with the story.

My main doubt has to do with the plot. Why was the time turner brought back? J.K. Rowling purposefully destroyed all time turners in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix so she could avoid too many plot holes involving them. So why bring them back in the new book?

I also believe the book jumped around too much. At time it was hard to follow what was happening or where the characters where in time. Most the time when reading I had to remind myself I was not reading a bad fanfiction.

Maybe I got my expectations too high, but I do not believe Harry Potter and the Cursed Child lived up to the standards set by the original books.

Setting my problems with the book aside, I loved the story if only for the fact I got to live in the Wizarding World one more time. The book allowed to see my favorite characters live their lives again.

I would recommend any Harry Potter fan reads the book just for the sentimental value in our favorite characters.

Claire Dettmer’s thoughts:

As you may have heard J.K Rowling collaborated with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany to make yet another book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Another book? This is crazy. I thought the story with Harry Potter was over. Personally I think Rowling made this new book just because she missed the characters just like the rest of us around the world.

When I first heard about it, I was overly excited because my favorite characters were coming back to life. Yes, I know most of them never died, but they left us when Rowling told us the Harry potter series was over. Yet, to our surprise they are back to give us another taste of what the magical world is like.

Most people who have read The Cursed Child tells me they didn’t like newest addition at all. But for me, it was wonderful. I loved the storyline and getting to see and connect to the new characters.

Before July 31, the release date I reread all of the books just to remember all the small important details. To me, I think doing this made the play seem less original.

One of the reasons that made The Cursed Child less interesting was it was written in play form. Which means it has less sensory details and the book was not in third person like the original books.

I honestly loved the plot. The fact that Albus wanted to change events in history just to save a few more innocent lives from the war was so touching. Albus was trying to save the spare. Save the spare, if only that was possible.

I loved how Albus was trying to be like his father without even noticing. To Albus, Amos Diggory, and Draco, Harry was not seen as a hero. They knew that Harry wasn’t a true hero because he could have saved more lives but did not. To me that was special because to them, Harry was just an average wizard.

I would recommend Harry Potter And The Cursed Child to any fan or non-fan of the original series. If you are a fan, I think you will really like getting to know the old character’s children and see the similarities and differences between them.

Now, if you aren’t a fan of the original series or haven’t read it at all I would highly recommend reading the original Harry Potter series. I hope you end up falling in love with the series and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as much as I did.