Fabulous reads – New Harry Potter is a different kind of magical

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts 1 and 2, JK Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany, Jonathan Ball Publishers, ISBN: 9780751565355

THE air was alive with excitement at the recent book launch for the latest venture into JK Rowling’s wizarding world with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Hundreds stood patiently in the queue at Gateway in wait for the midnight launch, all eager to grab their copy of the eighth story of the boy – now full grown man – wizard. I remember standing in line, clutching my pre-ordered copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when a woman came up behind me and asked to have a peek at the ending. Innocently I handed her my copy and she deftly tore her way through to the final pages and exclaimed: “Harry lives!” then trotted out of the store, blissfully unaware of what she had just done. So no, there will be no spoilers in this review.

The book is the rehearsal edition of the script for the play currently showing in London. Once you’ve wrapped your head around that tongue twister, you will be thoroughly surprised by what Rowling has in store for readers. The story begins where the final book left off with Harry, Ron and Hermione standing on platform 9 3/4 bidding their farewells to their children. Two of whom are about to begin their own adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Albus Severus Potter strikes up an unlikely friendship with Scorpius Malfoy, the son of his father’s school-day nemesis, Draco. Things get darker for the son of the Chosen One when he is sorted into Slytherin, a house famed for producing a slew of dark witches and wizards. He can’t cast the most basic of spells and is unable to command his broom. Both he and Scorpius become outcasts and this only serves to strengthen the bonds of their friendship. It is only when Albus learns of a Time-Turner that can travel back years that he hatches a plan to travel back to undo a wrong in his father’s past.

The story line is both nail-biting and nerve-racking and begs the question, how could JK Rowling even think of tampering with the fundamentals of the original Harry Potter saga? The trip is worth the damage to your nails and it is completely possible to tear through the novel in a single sitting. If you go into the book expecting the same depth you would expect to find in the Potter series, you will be sorely disappointed. There is a paragraph that sets each scene and then the dialogue begins and has brief descriptions of what each character may be feeling at certain points. It makes the novel feel cold and simplistic and a few people took to Twitter noting that it felt like fan fiction. As a play, which is what it is, it is glorious.

For me, it was more about the journey back into the Harry Potter universe – a world where magic exists, Hogwarts stands firm and a variety of lovable characters make a triumphant return. If you are one of the lucky ones with enough bank to afford to see the play live, you are in for a treat. For the rest, there are always the short stories on Pottermore and the Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them movie spin-off to look forward to.