trintrin's review

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

0.25

So contradictory to the original series. Harry Potter is a mystery series (apart from the magical, fantasy side) NOT a time travelling one. Nearly everyone is out of character and weird plot devices are used throughout the book and it drives me bonkers.

SPOILERS!!
A huge rant warning

- Cedric Diggory would NEVER be a Death Eater. Even thinking that he would've turned into a dark wizard had he been alive, is an insult to Cedric's memory.
- Cedric killing Neville has nothing to do with Snape living. Vodemort would still go after the Elder Wand and kill Snape when the wand doesn't work as expected.
- Nagini living doesn't have anything to do with Harry being killed. Lily's protected would still live inside Voldemort and it would still save Harry from death.
- Delphi
- Harry -- who knows how it feels to live without parents -- would never tell his son "sometimes I wish you weren't my son".
- Hermione was never interested in politics and therefore, it doesn't make sense for her to be the Minister for Magic. Maybe movie!Hermione would've done that, but never book!Hermione.
- book!Ron was never an idiot who id the butt of the joke.
- Delphi.
- All the original Time Turners were smashed in the battle of the Department of Mysteries.
- The way these Time Turners work is contradictory to the original series. They should only be able to go back a few hours and then age into the future. This weird five minute rule never existed and going back several decades should be impossible since you would also are the amount of time you went back.
- There's also this one Time Turner which doesn't have the five minute rule so that Harry can watch his parents be killed again lmao how convenient.
- DELPHI
- Why on earth would Harry ever stop his son from being friends with someone?
- Hermione, the brightest witch of her age, would totally hide a highly dangerous and useful plot device in a place where two teens can go and get it.
- DELPHI DIGGORY HOW AND WHY DOES SHE EVEN EXIST? Bellatrix would've been very much pregnant at the Malfoy Manor scene in DH, and yet we never saw that??
- Harry shouting at Ginny 
- Harry shouting at Albus
- Harry giving an old blanket as a gift to a teen because that is totally something you would do mhmm
- Oh would you look at that! That insignificant old musty blanket turned out to be a plot device!!
- Ron giving a love potion as a gift even though he would've known how dangerous it is by now thorough personal experience. 
- The whole thing being written in play format is the cherry on top of all this nonsense. 


TL;DW, Albus Severus is an annoying prat and Harry is a jerk of a father. The only good things about this book are Scorbus, and Malfoy and Harry sucking it up and working together to save their sons, and Scorpius is also kinda likeable, I guess. Apart from that, this book is just a bad fanfiction and doesn’t do justice to the characters we knew and loved. 

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madeleine_wilks's review

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2.25

Okay so. I was expecting to hate that a lot more than I did.
Obviously, it doesn’t hold a candle to the actual series. The thought is laughable, and I’m sure if you were to ask the authors of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, they would agree wholeheartedly. The beginning of this was cringe-worthy and made me want to bang my head into a wall. Oftentimes they strayed very far from an original characters personality (Harry was absolutely nothing like the Harry we all know and love), the school was nothing like Hogwarts, everyone spoke similarly, and there were no diverse personalities. Everyone felt the same, even our well-loved cast. They missed a huge point that the original franchise is so revered for- unique and quirky characters. There was a lot of forced drama, a lot of poorly portrayed teenage angst, and quite a bit of making characters follow some very thin, very forced logic that made most decisions seem irrational and most situations very unlikely.
But all in all, it was eh.
That is the best word I have.
There were a few okay moments towards the end, to be honest. There were some moments that made me smile. If I hadn't known the true wonder of the first seven books, I would have said: "That was nice". So I'm just throwing it in the middle. It could have been worse. It is fanfiction, after all.

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alisazhup's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

SO. I agree that this read like fanfiction (who said that's a bad thing??? I love fanfiction), that the OG characters were somewhat unlike themselves, and that there were plot holes, but dang it. I, a huge Harry Potter fan, was immersed in the plot, came close to crying in multiple parts, and am happy to consider this canon.
I mean, the scene where Harry finally addresses the ways Dumbledore hurt him as a child? Snape getting to choose in advance between life and death, and still choosing sacrifice? I'm happy to know this information. It makes the original books more meaningful to me.


Objectively, was it bad? Pretty much. But if you treat this like a book that was written a long time after the ending of a series, then it has the potential to be enjoyed.

(Plus, I borrowed this book from the library so J.K. Rowling did not receive any of my money)

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melodyseestrees's review

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adventurous challenging fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0


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