Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (the official 8th story) released today

[Blue3]

It's out now!

https://smile.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Cursed-Child-Production/dp/1338099132/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469998228&sr=8-1&keywords=harry+potter+and+the+cursed+child

I pre-ordered, but it won't be delivered until tomorrow.

Anyone else reading it?

[Blue3]

No thoughts yet?



Just finished a few hours ago....






















SPOILERS














I'll have more to say later, after I have time (lol) to digest it properly, and maybe re-read it again when I'm done with my re-read of the first 7 books (currently paused near the end of Book 3).

 I will say this:

 * It has FANTASTIC character moments and insights (of course Harry and Albus, but also Draco, Ginny... even Hermione from the first alternative timeline)...including into characters I didn't think we'd get more insight into, like Dumbledore and Snape, even a little new insight into McGonagall. Great character moments for the new characters too: Scorpius and Albus. Even the pathetic character of You-Know-Who... and not THAT You-Know-Who, the new one! It really does go deep in some places, but not in a preachy way, but in a "this is tough, life is tough, no one has all the answers, but I think I know this little nugget of truth at least" kind of way.

 *Cedric Diggory is remembered, and the Triwizard Tournament forming the core of the middle portion of the book/script was quite good. I agree that his off-screen evolution is surprising, but with the butterfly effect, I'm sure more went wrong for him than simply losing in that AU. Also really funny how Ron and Hermione's marriage depended on him NOT taking her out to the Yule Ball. AU Snape and Hermione bantering together was also surprising and funny (and it was great to see how Snape became even more heroic with time and even more tragedy). Ron was also great and funny in this throughout.

 *Poor whatever-his-name-was, Ron and Padma's son, though. Disappeared back into oblivion, a little unsettling.

 *I don't really understand all of Delphi's story. Why a tattoo? Why direct the movements of trolls and giants and werewolves? Who was paying her to be raised by that woman related to the Death Eater? Why did Theodore Nott keep the prototype hidden and unused? How did she get into Hogwarts? This will need a re-read... and possibly more stories. Not critical, but definitely some questions right now. Her end was pathetic, but fitting and humanizing, her true desire laid bare. She really reminded me of Azula at the end of ATLA.

 *More could have been done with Draco and Scorpius, or at least I was expecting more in the beginning, but they honestly had less issues. For what he was given, Draco turned out to be an outstanding father. And wow did he find the perfect match in Astoria. So loving and kind, from what we learned about her. Rest in Peace   And so glad to see Draco finally become friends with Harry.

 *Harry's and Albus's relationship... the crux of the story, wasn't sure where they were going with it at first, and it shocked by how "real"/human it was. And with Dumbledore and his issues thrown into the mix too. This needs some in-depth analysis, that I'm way too tired to get into right now. I like how real it was, though I'm sure many will complain about it, and I like the resolution.

 *McGonagall probably need to learn how to block her fireplace from the Potters and Granger-Weasleys

 *Scorpius was my favorite... the light in the darkness, truly.

 *the Trolley Witch!!!! I was literally LOLing when she revealed her true nature!

[MasterJedi]

I pre-ordered it, it's on the way, have other stuff to read in the meantime. Found out it's not written by Rowling, but oh well she gave all the input. Nice to have some else Potter related to read again.

[Blue3]

I pre-ordered it, it's on the way, have other stuff to read in the meantime. Found out it's not written by Rowling, but oh well she gave all the input. Nice to have some else Potter related to read again.

It's written by her, but then they had to turn it into a format for a play.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Based on the costumes I saw at the Barnes & Noble midnight release party that I went to (the first Harry Potter midnight release I've ever actually made it to, and unfortunately very possibly also the last), young girls seem to be really into Tonks and Bellatrix these days (in addition to the perennially beloved Hermione). Tonks says very good things about how these kids are being raised, Bellatrix not so much, unless it's just an ~aesthetic~ thing. Which it probably is.

There were some great Ron and Hermione moments in this, but I think Harry fell a little flat. I didn't appreciate the implication that Draco had problems with his parents--I've never been a huge fan of the Malfoys, but I always thought it was important to their characters that their love for one another was the only thing that redeemed them even slightly, and it's a real shame to lose that.

Blue3, I think Azula is actually a really good comparison to Delphi, especially since in the second alternate timeline Voldemort appears to have left her in charge of the day-to-day side of dictatorial oppression, much like Ozai tried to do with Azula in the A:TLA finale. Delphi's pathetic hang-dog adulation of her father when she thinks she's finally met him is also very Azula-ish. Although I don't think Azula, even at her lowest points, would hatch a plan revolving around her pretending to be friends with people almost a decade younger than her.

The main problem I have with the story is that there's this cloud of gelid, acidic adult cynicism hanging over it, even though it has a happy ending. I know good and well that this is what being a grown-up and having grown-up relationships with your family and friends is like, but I don't really need or want Harry Potter to remind me of that. I derived too much perverse comfort from the pie-in-the-sky original epilogue to want that. I finally finished reading The Sea of Fertility last week, and after I finished I read an online essay about that series that described the third book in it, The Temple of Dawn, as 'a novel of people who lived past the age of twenty', and not in a good way. That's sort of how reading The Cursed Child made me feel too.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Read it in one sitting. It read like a bad piece of fan fiction--an attempt to get all the favorite characters in the same place and interacting with each other, with no regard for whether it works. In the end, I was profoundly disappointed with it.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

This is totally off topic but something just occurred to me. Do you think that inside Trump's inner psyche his true self is like that curled-up crying fetus of Voldemort that Harry saw when he thought he was dead?