Książki opisujące przygody Harry Pottera mają u mnie szczególne miejsce na półce i w sercu. Więc było wiadomo, że sięgnę również i po tą pozycje.
"Harry Potter i przeklęte dziecko" to historia, która dzieje się dziewiętnaście lat później. Jak wiemy Harry jest bohaterem, pokonał Czarnego Pana, wygrał razem z Gwardią Dumbledora bitwę o Hogwart. Gdy kończy się splendor i sława, zaczyna się zwyczajne życie. Na początku Harry właśnie czegoś takiego chciał...normalności. Zero czarnej magii, zero niebezpiecznych przygód, zero osób do uratowania. Jednak gdy od 11 roku życia regularnie co rok spotykają cię jakieś przygody, normalność w końcu zaczyna nudzić. Dodatkowy problem stanowi krnąbrny syn Albus, który jakby na to nie patrzeć robi wszystko by nie być podobny do sławnego ojca. Jednak jak nosi się nazwisko Potter nie jest to takie proste. Wszyscy uważają go za innego, w dodatku zamiast do Gryffindoru Tiara przydziela go do Slytherinu. A jego najlepszym przyjacielem staje się Scorpius Malfoy. Dla Harrego to powód do zmartwień, ponieważ za chłopcem Malfoyów ciągną się nieprzyjemne plotki.
To sztuka, a więc nie ma rozbudowanych opisów czy przejść z jednej sceny do drugiej. "Przeklęte dziecko" nie wprowadza żadnej nowej wielkiej historii, nawet jeśli kilkakrotnie dodaje coś nowego - zaskakującego bądź kontrowersyjnego - do kanonu. Bardziej można ją potraktować jak dodatek do serii, dzięki któremu możemy spędzić trochę czasu z bohaterami.
Niestety, po zakończeniu czytania nadal mam wrażenie jakbym przeczytała fanfiction. Grubymi nićmi szyta opowieść jest czasami nawet zaskakująca i poruszająca. Ta część jak wszystkie inne przypomina nam jak ważną magią jest czysta miłość i nie trzeba mieć różdżek do wykonania tego czaru. Brakuje tu zawiłości i książkowej logiki, którą tak lubię. Na przykład ucieczka Albusa i Scorpiusa z pociągu...ja nadal zastanawiam się jak oni to zrobili i jak dotarli później w dalsze miejsca...
Przyjemne wydanie, fajnie i szybko się czyta książkę w takiej formie. Jednak fabuła taka sobie. Przeczytałam z ciekawości i sentymentu w ciągu dwóch dni, ale bez szału. 

By now, it's canon that the Sorting Hat takes into account the desires of the student -- to an extent -- along with other factors. That's why there are some really glaring mis-matches in the Potterverse.

Hermione: Totally a Ravenclaw. 

Snape: Could easily have been Gryffindor.

Clearly, family history also plays into the equation. There's no way Hufflepuff-like Ron Weasley nor Huffle-claw (or Raven-puff) Neville Longbottom should be in Gryffindor, except for family legacy. 

Which brings us to the wonderful Scorpius Malfoy. Is there any character in the Potterverse who so nicely embodies qualities of all four houses? He is the clever scholar of Ravenclaw. He is the quiet, hard-working Hufflepuff. He is as brave as any Gryffindor. And he values his family connection to Slytherin. 

I know that "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is supposed to be Albus Severus' and Harry's story, with Scorpius and Draco merely their "doubles," but I must say, Scorpius is the best character. Without him, Albus would be insufferable, and I would not have enjoyed reading the play nearly so much. 

-cg

Let's start with positive - I liked Scorpius and Draco Malfoy really surprised me pleasantly. That's it. 

Now, let the rant begin.

If I could separate it from Harry Potter books, it might be a rather good play but because it needs knowledge about Harry Potter characters I can't do this and it turns the whole book into a disappointment.
I was prepared to read a play and submerge into Harry Potter world but this wasn't the eighth book. This was like really bad fan fiction. One of my favourite characters was turned into a pathetic joke. Rose's role was so tiny it was almost non-existent. There was no social interaction between James and Albus and it was just weird. They were brothers and I thought at least Harry and Ginny taught their kids how to stick together but apparently they didn't. The way school didn't do anything before the 4th school year was just stupid and made me angry. Where were the teachers when the problems started on day one? Those are only few of the things that popped into my mind while reading this book. 
I have to admit that I would like to see the play because while reading I also asked several times how they would do things, like did they drop the temperature while dementors were on stage.

Better than I thought it would be.
In my mind I definitely wasn't giving this one a fair chance. I don't like reading in playwright format, but I flew through this one. It's not even J.K. Rowling... but that didn't matter either. These two guys that wrote this one did her stories justice.
Was I blown away to give it a perfect rating? No.
Did I like it? Overall, yes.
I liked how it picked up where the films and the last book leave off. You are left wondering what happens with Harry's family, since you get that glimpse. This story gives you everything you want and more.
What I didn't care for was the bopping around to different scenes. I get it's a play so it's different, but some were to cut and dry for me. Especially coming from such huge books from Rowling. This was like a tidbit.
Still good though, and fans of the series should read it.


3.5/5

 Tasks for Festivus: Post your personal list of 3 Festivus Miracles –OR– post a picture of your Festivus pole (NOTHING pornographic, please!), –OR– Perform the Airing of Grievances:  name 5 books you’ve read this year that have disappointed you - tell us in tongue-lashing detail why and how they failed to live up to expectations.

2017 has brought a great many books and thankfully most of them were good or entertaining or at least ok. However, there have also been some real stinkers*, and of those the following tomes have taken the proverbial Christmas cookie:

(* I have only considered books that I read in full. If I had considered DNF's, this list would be much longer.)

1. The Spy Who Loved Me - Ian Fleming

I thought I had already read the worst that Fleming could dream up when I tried to suppress to throw up all the way through From Russia With Love but this was nothing compared to the sick-fest that was The Spy Who Loved Me. I seriously would have liked to hit Bond and his creator with a shovel, repeatedly, hard, when reading that book. Even thinking about the book still brings up feelings of rage and nausea. 

2. The Unexpected Guest - Charles Osborne

I refuse to cite Agatha Christie as the author of this. She may have written the original play, but Osborne managed to destroy the original work as only Osborne can - with gusto and beyond any hope of repair. Even if Dame Agatha's works are sometimes a bit twisted, Osborne managed to turn this one into a farcical hot mess. Again. Like the other Christie books he turned his hand to.

3. The Courts of Babylon - Peter Bodo

Boy, oh boy, oh boy. This was the book that tried to set a new record of how many dumbass comments one author can cram into a book. I have no motivation to find out whether Bodo really did set a record here, and I am sorely disappointed that not only Bodo represented sports and sports reporting to thousands of viewers, readers, listeners who have over the years been subjected to his self-congratulatory, patronising, imperialist, sexist, and bigoted comments, but also that I actually finished reading this book.

4. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - John Tiffany & Jack Thorne

Well, this will be brief: the author's got pretty much all of the HP characters wrong and their plot had some serious holes. This was fan-fiction at best, which is an insult to fan-fiction because this was really bad fan-fiction. No, seriously, just give it a miss and enjoy a re-read of the original HP books. 

5. Two Serious Ladies - Jane Bowles

I don't even know what this book was. I'm still more puzzled that this book apparently made Jane Bowles into some sort of adored writer. I don't get it. At all. This was one of the most boring, underwhelming, inconsequential books about drama-lama main characters who were so wrapped up in their first-world not-even-close-to-real-problems that ...

Nah, I can't even be bothered to waste energy airing my grievances about this one.