[image error]Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has been the book to talk about for the past few weeks. Harry Potter was a series that I grew up with, eagerly awaiting the next installment, but this was honestly not something I was looking forward to. In many ways I expected the magic to be gone, all of those nostalgic moments from my teenage years as I devoured yet another volume to be erased by a new story. Because change is inevitable and I was not looking forward to the changes that would be made to the characters and world that I have loved so much for so long.

When this was first announced I was not planning to read it. Then every reader I know (well, almost), started reading and talking about this and I decided that I had to check it out just to form an opinion for myself. Because there were a lot of mixed feelings about this. And so, I read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Mind set is everything when you go into a book. For this I went in with very low expectations and I think that improved my experience with while reading. Had I expected the eighth Harry Potter, I would have been sorely disappointed. As it is, this is actually quite a lot of fun.

The world created by Rowling still felt the same to me, for the most part. Many of the returning characters had many of the same characteristics we are all so familiar with from the Harry Potter series, although somewhat changed. And the new characters were actually quite enjoyable. Scorpius Malfoy is a character that I could probably read an entire series of novels, or plays, or anything about. He was definitely the highlight of this entire book. And I imagine if I am ever able to see the play he will shine just as much on the stage. (Assuming the actor gets him right.)

So going into this expecting book eight will likely leave many people disappointed.  For one it’s the script for a play, not a novel. It also follows a new set of characters as they struggle with their place among the characters we all know. The plot was a little shaky for me, although interesting.

The main thing that disappointed me in this was that you don’t find anything out about many of the characters from the novels. Sure Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Draco appear, but so many others are not even mentioned. The rest of the Weasley family gets barely a sentence, Luna and Neville are nonexistent, and well, you can see where I’m going. For what it is it was fun, but a few sentences, a little dialogue, explaining anything about these characters would have been nice.

Overall it’s a fun read, but not something that I will forever group with the rest of the Harry Potter cannon.