Fans have been given very little in the almost ten years since the conclusion of the Harry Potter series. That is, up until last year, with the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and more importantly Harry Potter and Cursed Child. The latter has been marketed as “the eighth story” and “based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling”. It’s also the first to debut in play form. Rowling isn’t the only name credited with this new story, as Jack Thorne and John Tiffany also helped develop this tale. A lot of time has passed since the last official Harry Potter novel, and this is the first time Rowling was assisted by two additional writers. The fact that this story comes in the form of a screenplay also gives rise to skepticism. Despite all of this, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child still serves as a worthy addition to one of the most beloved stories of our time.
I went back and forth on whether to include spoilers in this review, but I have decided that I will. You have been warned.
The story moves at an almost uncomfortably odd pace at the beginning, as time continually jumps forward year after year, before eventually settling on a more focused time frame. This book primarily follows the children of Harry, Ron, Hermoine, Ginny, and Draco. It’s not all about the kids, as their parents do play significant roles, but the heart of the story is about the younger generation of wizards who have to follow in their parents’ footsteps. The authors also surprisingly bring back characters who you wouldn’t expect to see, yet were integral in the previous books, such as Dumbledore and Snape. The reasons we see these characters again are sound and don’t break the established lore. It’s also obviously great to see new interactions with them. However, this book has a problem with retreading familiar ground, resulting in a feeling of fan fiction. Loads of previously dealt-with events are brought back to the forefront, especially things that happened in the fourth book. In fact, each task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament is gone through again, which feels nostalgic yet too familiar. What makes this (and seeing familiar faces again who have died) possible is the time-turner similar to the one used in book three. Whenever time travel is introduced into a story, things get very complicated and confusing, and that’s absolutely the case here.
Occasionally we get glimpses of the past through Harry’s dreams, but what’s more interesting is when we see scenes that were never shown to us before. This is what I wish The Cursed Child had more of, but unfortunately it’s much more concerned with retreading the past that any fan already knows about extensively. New snippets learned along the way are few and far between and this is really the story’s greatest fault. Where it had the opportunity to expand the wizarding world through the eyes of a new generation, it instead uses those young eyes to tug a little too hard on your heart’s nostalgia strings.
I have mixed opinions about some of the new principal characters. The story primarily focuses on Harry’s son Albus and Draco’s son Scorpius. Surprisingly, Scorpius was much more likeable than Albus, who has some serious daddy issues. Thankfully we see growth in Albus by the end of the story, as the relationship he has with his dad develops into something much stronger than it is at the outset. It’s interesting to see Harry, savior of the wizarding world, struggle with being a parent. Scorpius, on the other hand, is very likeable. Even Draco is more likeable in this book than he ever was in previous installments, and it was fun to see how he gets along with the others now that they are all adults. He still has an attitude, so his character doesn’t feel off, but again we see how he’s grown and changed as a person.
Much like previous books, relationships are at the heart of this story. The importance of friendships was always focused on before, but now we have the addition of the parent/child relationship. This being at the core of the story helps it to feel like it belongs in the canon, and it is done well.
The fact that this is presented as a screenplay shouldn’t detract any Harry Potter fan from checking it out. It’s a far quicker read than any of the other stories, but it’s one that is definitely worth your attention. It retreads old ground and plays it safe a little more than I would have liked, and the new things that it does present are few and far between, but it’s so much fun being back in this world and seeing these characters again so many years later. Thankfully everything is wrapped up nicely by the end, but I really hope that Rowling continues to dabble in the wizarding world. The only thing I could ask for is for her to take a few more risks next time, instead of offering too much of the familiar. We still would have felt the nostalgia with far less.