Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne

8 reviews

proza's review

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Child abuse, Grief, Child death, Murder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Torture, Bullying, and Chronic illness

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Dementia, Adult/minor relationship, and Infertility

bookerbride's review

adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I liked - not loved - it and it made me want to start reading the series again. I agree with some of the criticism others mention. Some characters are not well-written. I was especially bothered by how Ron was just a funny, dumb presence who had nothing to contribute. Overall, I felt entertained. I enjoy stories including time travel, attempts to set things right, seeing the consequences, exploring how characters turn out different under changed circumstances. For me, it was ok for the story to focus on Albus and have his siblings be less present. This is his story.
Regarding format: I'm used to reading plays, so it was "interesting" to also have them explain feelings, thoughts and memories - and not just the visible part.
Finally, I felt the target audience of this book/play must have been younger than for the last books. The themes seem less mature and as someone else put it "unnecessary [teenage] drama" about identity and family relationships. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Violence, Death, and Torture

daisy1_f's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Bullying, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infertility, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, Child death, and Death of parent

annapox's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

It reads like mediocre fanfiction and blatantly contradicts the canon of the novels in terms of the magic system, characters' personalities, and even some dialogue. It was interesting enough to keep me from abandoning it, though.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Car accident, Cursing, Death of parent, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Ableism, Child death, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Grief, Racial slurs, Violence, War, Child abuse, Bullying, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Murder, Terminal illness, and Hate crime

jenna_justi2004's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Child death, Bullying, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

sauvageloup's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

firstly, fuck J.K.
but the play wasn't bad at all, I did like Scorpius and Albus a lot and the story and characters carries you over some awkward writing 

pros:
- by virtue of it being a script, it's quick to read, punchy and gripping. the plot whisks along. 
- it went darker than I expected and I liked that, it wasn't afraid to shy away from the dark stuff explored in the OG canon, and even go darker with the world that could've been
- I've read scorpius and Albus fanfic for a while so it was cool to see where aspects of fanon had come from

- delphi made a great villain and was unexpected but interesting

cons:
- the impact on Albus of being Harry's son still wasn't entirely explored and could've been more addressed. their relationship was better, but there was still real pain for Albus in being different 
- i liked Harry and draco's new friendship but it was a bit of a fast turnaround
- Harry was just generally dislikable tbh and ginny was unremarkable, as she was in the books imo. the kids definitely stole the show. 
- there could've been more of Harry still healing from the trauma, but what was there was pretty good. 

overall, i did like it a lot. shame (one of) the author(s) is a pile of shit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Abandonment

themes of being rejected by your parent are strong

izzettl's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Stalking, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Homophobia, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Bullying, and Adult/minor relationship

alisazhup's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Death, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, and Stalking

The author of this book is openly transphobic on social media