Harry Potter

[Banya]

Oh my goodness, Galli, I love that post so, so much. It hits so many notes, and it feels real reading about the Hogwarts kids I grew up with being almost exactly where I am in life, too.

[Hickory]

I prefer the timeless shenanigans of 3-5 year. All this gritty reality...

[alexandre]

Have you muggles read the new Harry Potter book, I hear that it is not so good 

[Jetthebinturong]

I think that it's important to note that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is not a book, it is a script for a play. They are two entirely different mediums with different requirements and execution.

That being said, what I've heard about it is either
A) Ravings of fans saying it was awesome.
B) Ravings of fans saying it was terrible.
C) Objective reviews saying it was alright.
or D) Objective reviews saying it was just bad.

If we are to discount the ravings of fans, it would appear that Cursed Child is nothing special, and may in fact be sub-par.

It's also worth baring in mind that I don't think Harry Potter itself is especially good.

[alexandre]

I think that it's important to note that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is not a book, it is a script for a play. They are two entirely different mediums with different requirements and execution.

That being said, what I've heard about it is either
A) Ravings of fans saying it was awesome.
B) Ravings of fans saying it was terrible.
C) Objective reviews saying it was alright.
or D) Objective reviews saying it was just bad.

If we are to discount the ravings of fans, it would appear that Cursed Child is nothing special, and may in fact be sub-par.

It's also worth baring in mind that I don't think Harry Potter itself is especially good.

really? you don't think Harry Potter is especially good? Why? It was my favorite book until I read Redwall.

[Cornflower MM]

Harry and his friends are extremely overpowered in my opinion, and that's why I, personally, don't like it. Plus, such a formula. Jet likely has different reasons, but those are mine. I'll pick up a HP book now and then, but around halfway through it gets annoying.

[Jetthebinturong]

My one glaring problem with the series is Voldemort.

He's a really boring villain.

His motivation is literally just that his muggle father abandoned his mother and that turned him completely irredeemably evil. He's fun to watch to see what awesome magic he pulls, but he's literally just pure evil incarnate, with lackluster motivation and very little character. He's a fairytale villain, which are fine in fairytales, but for an in depth series, you need something more interesting.

J. K. Rowling's writing style is also not particularly impressive, and the books themselves were incredibly formulaic.

Her world is quite interesting, but we don't get to see enough of it.

Plus the only characters I really cared about were Hagrid, Hermione, Dobby, Molly, Remus and Sirius. I really couldn't care less about any of the other characters and that's a bit of a problem, considering Harry isn't on that list.

I also have some major problems with the fandom, and specifically how they treat Snape and Dumbledore like good but misunderstood people, when both of them were terrible. (But that's a fandom issue, not a JKR issue).

[Firehawke]

I got the new book from the library...slowly making my way through it (it's called too much crafting and DVDs  )

[alexandre]

My one glaring problem with the series is Voldemort.

He's a really boring villain.

His motivation is literally just that his muggle father abandoned his mother and that turned him completely irredeemably evil. He's fun to watch to see what awesome magic he pulls, but he's literally just pure evil incarnate, with lackluster motivation and very little character. He's a fairytale villain, which are fine in fairytales, but for an in depth series, you need something more interesting.

J. K. Rowling's writing style is also not particularly impressive, and the books themselves were incredibly formulaic.

Her world is quite interesting, but we don't get to see enough of it.

Plus the only characters I really cared about were Hagrid, Hermione, Dobby, Molly, Remus and Sirius. I really couldn't care less about any of the other characters and that's a bit of a problem, considering Harry isn't on that list.

I also have some major problems with the fandom, and specifically how they treat Snape and Dumbledore like good but misunderstood people, when both of them were terrible. (But that's a fandom issue, not a JKR issue).

How were they terrible??
I thought they were great?

[Jetthebinturong]

Snape: Bullied Neville so much that he became his worst fear (and bear in mind, Neville's parents were tortured into insanity). Was the wizarding equivalent of a Nazi and only stopped because Voldemort killed the girl he creepily obsessed over for years even after he'd mocked her, called her a mudblood and generally been horrible to her. Took his frustrations with James out on Harry, an eleven year-old boy who could barely even remember his dad.

Dumbledore: Wizarding equivalent of a Nazi until his late teens. Only stopped when he contributed in killing his sister. Kept important secrets from the rest of the magical world, including Harry, whom they heavily concerned. Placed himself into Harry's life so that he could influence him to do what he deemed necessary. Was okay with Harry dying if it meant it killed Voldemort too and wasn't planning to let Harry make his own choice until the last possible second.

Don't get me wrong, they were both great characters, but horrible people.

[Fatch of Southsward]

I've read the new book! Here's my semi - objective - subjective review! 

If you don't like reading: It's not as good or in - depth as the books. BUT - it's not a book, its a play. This makes the difference in quality more of a given than a surprise. It's not as in depth and Rowling didn't write it, so some of the ideas and characters have changed.

Spoiler

It lacks a lot of the details and setups of the original series. This was something Rowling was an expert at. To give you perspective - in the first seven books, one school year passes within each book. In this new edition (a single book), I believe four school years pass. And it's not as though this book is four times longer - no - it's actually shorter than most of the other ones. Lots of characters are hardly developed or introduced. Some are completely ignored (Little James and Lily Potter!)

However, this is not a bad thing. Indeed, if it was written as the originals were, that would actually be a bad thing, because it's not a book - it's a script. Imagine a play where someone read through the entirety of a Harry Potter book. No one would be paying attention by the end! To make the thing work as a play it had to be short and to the point. Every line will be acted or spoken aloud - remember.

There are some fundamental things in the book that don't make sense. For example, a third year student outsmarts Hermione, the minister of magic, and infiltrates the ministry of magic. Also, dementors seem to have increased in power as a few of them were able to take down Hermione, Snape and Ron (all three are full grown adults at that point!) in minutes! Finally, some old characters act in ways they never would have in the original series. Harry - who seems to have developed a very cold side in his older age - especially acts different. He acts towards other characters in a way that the old Harry never would have - mistreating McGonagall, for instance. (A witch he had a lot of respect and love for.)

However, once again this is only to be expected. Rowling didn't even write most of this one - someone else did, with Rowling helping a limited amount. This automatically results in some differences. Luckily all the really important rules of the world of Harry Potter still stand.

[close]

Now to weigh in with @Jet the binturong

Concerning Snape, I concur. He's a loved character and a great character but despite his, perhaps, good heart - he was a bad person.

Neville and Harry are definitely great points of proof, but the deciding factor for me was his treatment of Sirius. Sirius had a childhood with parents that hated him, ran away from home, lost his brother, lost two of his best friends, was betrayed by one of his two remaining best friends (causing his last best friend to hate him for years), spent years in Azkaban for a crime he did not commit, and then was forced to stay inside, unable to help fight the most evil wizard in history who ruined his life and killed the people he loved the most.

Rather than feel pity, Snape mocked him and prodded him - perhaps contributing to Sirius' death. With the good side in constant peril, Snape attacking the few people on his own side certainly wasn't a move that an intelligent adult with morals would make. While he's a great character, he is indeed a bad person.

With your view on Dumbledore, I have to disagree. His youth was all wrong - there's no mistaking or denying that. But in his adulthood he acted completely contrary to that. His plans with Harry were not made in evil. Dumbledore just had to do what was best to save the world. If Harry had to die to stop Voldemort from taking over, then that was what would have to happen. Harry himself eventually agrees with what Dumbledore had planned, and fulfills it. This plan ends up saving the world from Voldemort, so I'd say it was the right idea, albeit a bit messy.

Also Dumbledore was only okay with Harry dying because he was a Horcrux keeping Voldemort alive. Given the alternative of Voldemort taking over, I think I would prefer Harry to die as well. 

PS: We get to see the world under Voldemort's control in The Cursed Child, and I definitely prefer Harry dying over that.

[Jetthebinturong]

Dumbledore's morality is a lot more complex than Snape's. Dumbledore very much clings to the idea of doing things for the greater good, and it is my belief that his personal interest in Harry was partly due to the fact that he needed to groom him into becoming someone who would sacrifice themselves "for the greater good." He was only planning to tell Harry this when it was absolutely necessary, thus giving him very little time to make a decision. Ultimately, I think Harry would have done it anyway, but the way Dumbledore went about his plan was incredibly sketchy.

EDIT: Oh and good point about Sirius. I knew there was something I was missing.

[alexandre]

Snape: Bullied Neville so much that he became his worst fear (and bear in mind, Neville's parents were tortured into insanity). Was the wizarding equivalent of a Nazi and only stopped because Voldemort killed the girl he creepily obsessed over for years even after he'd mocked her, called her a mudblood and generally been horrible to her. Took his frustrations with James out on Harry, an eleven year-old boy who could barely even remember his dad.

Dumbledore: Wizarding equivalent of a Nazi until his late teens. Only stopped when he contributed in killing his sister. Kept important secrets from the rest of the magical world, including Harry, whom they heavily concerned. Placed himself into Harry's life so that he could influence him to do what he deemed necessary. Was okay with Harry dying if it meant it killed Voldemort too and wasn't planning to let Harry make his own choice until the last possible second.

Don't get me wrong, they were both great characters, but horrible people.

I guess when you put it that way they don't seem so great but in the end they played a critical role in defeating voldemort

[Fatch of Southsward]

Dumbledore's morality is a lot more complex than Snape's. Dumbledore very much clings to the idea of doing things for the greater good, and it is my belief that his personal interest in Harry was partly due to the fact that he needed to groom him into becoming someone who would sacrifice themselves "for the greater good." He was only planning to tell Harry this when it was absolutely necessary, thus giving him very little time to make a decision. Ultimately, I think Harry would have done it anyway, but the way Dumbledore went about his plan was incredibly sketchy.

EDIT: Oh and good point about Sirius. I knew there was something I was missing.

Thanks.   

It's hard to deny these points so I'm going to go with the over - used proverb: Desperate times, desperate measures.

[Jetthebinturong]

I found a review that perfectly sums up my feelings about Cursed Child.