A review by cody_crumley
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

“Love blinds. We have both tried to give our sons, not what they needed, but what we needed. We’ve been so busy trying to rewrite our own pasts, we’ve blighted their present.

The foundation that the play adaptation sets starts solid, with expanding on the famous epilogue of the Deathly Hallows, it cracks and budges underneath the weight of the original series and hamstrung by the limitations of the medium that this story is told in 

I think the characters have an interesting setup, especially with Albus and Scorpius. Showing Albus being put in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor, and Scorpius being much more timid and booksmart then his father all presents interesting options that I wish were given another book series, even if it was just a one-off book. Showing how Harry and the others handle being parents, becoming the age of the people that they looked up to and having the power to try and correct the mistakes that happened to them is great but just not given the detail or length needed to properly explore those themes. 

I do think the overarching time turner plot is kinda hokey, as is the “Voldemort had a child” thread. Especially with them saying he had it with Bellatrix, which seems completely out of character for Voldemort, who through the book series never showed any interest in love or relationships that were not master/servant level. It just seemed like a convenient way to have an antagonist without having to put in a lot of work to establish new characters. 

Overall, while I think this story would be great to see in play form, listening to the audiobook and reading the script book leaves a lot to be desired and makes me wish for more.