Growing up with the books, movies and novelties of the wizarding world J.K.Rowling created, I find it hard to dislike anything involving Harry Potter. I mean, who wouldn’t want to live in a world of wizardry and magic, casting spells and having endless adventures. Unless you live under a rock, you may have heard the news about the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child too. Personally, it seemed as if it was already the end of the series. What more finality could anyone expect than Harry and his counterparts growing up and having children of their own? To my surprise and joy, J.K. Rowling had more in store for Harry Potter fanatics, or “Potterheads,” like me.

  The eighth publication in the legendary J.K. Rowling phenomenon, Cursed Child had big shoes to fill as the other Harry Potter books have all been ranked as top sellers on all the reputable book lists.

  Rowling told BBC, “Potter attracted a lot of madness, and a lot of hype, and going back into that place, I realized how anxious that had made me. Because I knew how much expectation there would be and I didn’t want to let fans down.”

  Thankfully, J.K. Rowling continued to provide writings to draw us in and take us to those magical worlds.While expectations for the story were high, the story itself is not really even a book, but instead a script for a play, The Cursed Child.

  The Cursed Child play which had its official premiere in late July, opens with an introduction to Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione’s new families along with the beginning of their children’s journeys to Hogwarts. Albus Potter serves as a leading role throughout the play and proves that he is much different from Harry. Albus has challenges to make friends, and keep his family friends, along with resisting his temptations to save certain characters from the dead. The story had my emotions running high with suspense and love for the series. The climatic ending of the play, which is the opposite of Harry’s beginnings, leads to a tension-filled story that keeps you hooked.

  While the tension throughout the play is written beautifully, the format of a script rather than a traditional Rowling book was not my favorite. The emotions I felt were not as enhanced as those from the original seven books. Although the stylistic approach of a script did not enhance my emotions like the prior books, I am still wishing there was another part to this series. For The Cursed Child being a play, J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne did a fantastic job continuing the legend of the Harry Potter series.

  James Kidd of Post Magazine added, “Rowling has done nothing to hurt her reputation – and will doubtless pursue the fresh directions in new adventures – but nor has she enhanced her magical universe spectacularly.”

  And I couldn’t agree more.

Brooke Prichard, Social Media Editor