On July 31st the Potterverse celebrated the births of Harry Potter and author J.K. Rowling with the release of a new book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! The highly anticipated read provided an opportunity to return to the magical world one more time…

Cursed Child is not in the same format as the previous seven installments, because it is based upon a story by Rowling which was turned into a play by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne.  Instead of reading like a traditional book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is in play format and reads like a script.

The story follows the tale laid out so beautifully in the first seven books and picks up 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts. The new book starts up after the King’s Cross scene from the Deathly Hallows epilogue and then moves forward to show us the struggles Potter’s son faces in his new year at Hogwarts.

Fans get a chance to revisit Harry Potter’s life, but the new novel is more about his son, Albus Severus.  The middle Potter child starts Hogwarts expecting great things to happen and finds himself disappointed with proceedings until he makes a new friend. That friend is Scorpius Malfoy, the nefarious Draco Malfoy’s son. Yes readers, that is a strange turn of events, but it was also a great way for the story to come full circle.

After we meet the boys and Ron and Hermione’s daughter, Rose, we begin the adventure that is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  The story plays out magically and revisits many great elements from the original Harry Potter books to deliver a slice of nostalgia and an excellent new story. 

We don’t want to go into anymore details, because it would really give the magic away and spoil the story if you haven’t read it yet. Instead, we’ll urge you to run out and pick up a copy and get to reading!  You can not read this story without reading the rest of the Potter books, because it relies so heavily on the mythology of Rowling’s universe so you may be confused if you try.

We loved this book and believe that it was a great follow up to the series, which we believed to be over.  Some aren’t as satisfied and say it reads like bad fan fiction, but we don’t agree.  Yes, the story is much like fan fiction in that Thorne took a story Rowling wrote and made it his own; however, she supervised and made sure it was worth bearing the Harry Potter name. To us that is the greatest seal of approval. 

Check it out and let us know what you thought of the book in the comments below. In the meantime we are about to start our third reread.