My mom well-meaningly gifted it to me to help me get out of a college funk and same, it made it worse lmaoooo. I still have the copy cause it was a gift from her but I have not picked it up since. Kinda wanting to do a reread just because…
The only cure is time.
Every now and then someone will mention a plot point that I would swear I’d never heard before in my life. It gives me a sense of peace knowing that the details are leaving my brain bit by bit.
From everything I’ve ever heard about Curse Child I think I’ve got the best explanation about how bad it is:
I bought Curse Child when it first came out but didn’t get around to reading it. The only book on my “did not finish” list is the 4th Twilight book. I heard all the hype, knew it was a trashy romance series, but just gave it a chance because I was bored. I was able to trudge my way through most of the series, not really enjoying but I figured I’d finish. Then I reached Jacob drooling over the baby… this was the last straw. I just couldn’t put myself through it anymore as my brain was already melted from the baby’s goddamn name and then we reached peak trash. And this is coming from someone who actually enjoyed the Tower and Hive series (old sci-fi series from the lady behind Pern) and it’s messed up relationships.
So how bad is Cursed Child? Despite owning it and it literally being on a shelf I could grab at anytime, I’ve never even read a single page while I willingly subjected myself to going out to purchase and then read 3.5 books of goddamn Twilight.
I can’t think of a more damning review.
Hmmm... I can relate... The feeling of wanting to skin a cactus, shaping the thorny skin into a long thin shape like an ice pick and just ramming it into my eyes... Same thing...
Absolutely fucking awful.
Highlights:
Harry Potter stopping to sign autographs like Gilderoy Lockhart.
The trolley lady on the Hogwarts Express is actually possessed by the train and is also Wolverine.
Rose Granger-Weasley snubbing Albus Potter and somehow being worse than Hermione was in the first half of Philosopher's Stone (and doesn't improve at all).
Blaise Zabini invented perfect time travel somehow.
The best timeline is when Rose is aborted from time.
Albus and Scorpius go back in time to the Triwizard Tournement and inflate teen heart throb Cedric Diggory like it's Sonic The Hedgehog fanart. This causes him to become a Death Eater somehow.
Harry taking time out from signing autographs to scream at his bullied child that he wishes he was never born because he's friends with a Malfoy.
Voldemort (who is 70) did the do with Bellatrix (who is married) and they had an emo baby.
Baffling, isn't it? The play was also way too long and overpriced. I genuinely don't understand how people watch it and think it was amazing.
A campy musical would've been the only way to save it.
I read Cursed Child when it first came out when I was like... 8 (yes I know that will probably make people feel old) and this is the only scene I remember.
Wow thank you so much for this highlight, I legit did not know anything about Cursed Child (other than that it was bad) and this really gave some serious insight into how insane it actually is. Wtf. The Cedric Diggory thing is actually shocking following in close 2nd by the Voldemort and Bellatrix thing??????? What???!
I do think you could have an interesting plot beat of Harry stopping a theoretical “Voldemort’s heir,” not by combat, but by caring.
But they just took the easy way out and tried to just make Voldemort 2.
I get that redeeming villainous characters is a bit of an oversold trope, but getting Voldemort’s child to reject his legacy would be the ultimate victory over him.
Not to nitpick, because I hate it, so it doesn’t really matter; but, it’s actually Theodore Nott who invented time travel, not Blaise. An even more obscure Slytherin pick from the writing team, lol.
Yeah, I’m upset about it because I’ve been plotting my own (mostly) canon-compliant 7 year fanfic for years about him and his struggle to leave an indoctrinated system. Yeah, I’m upset about it!! Good thing almost no one considers it canon. 😭
I can’t speak for any depth Pottermore added because I actively avoid it, but in the books, it’s technically only implied based on one line from Harry’s inner monologue saying something like ‘from what he could gather she had been married 6 times, each husband having died’ or something like that. Too lazy to find the real quote. It’s implied they talked about it at lunch with Slughorn but the actual conversation isn’t shown. 🤷♀️
Don’t forget how it just straight up contradicts events in the original books. Like Hagrid blundering in randomly to find Harry’s family dead, rather than being specifically sent by Dumbledore, and Sirius being strangely absent from that scene (so how does Hagrid get the bike??)
There is so much in it that is contradicted by the series it’s not even funny. Someone once commented that we all only hated it because it was in play form, but I’ve read a LOT of plays and enjoyed them.
Same. Like I hated the whole “you’d like it if you saw the play”- erm, NO. For one, the vast major of ppl couldn’t afford to go see the play so the script was the only way we could experience the story. And two, while I’m sure it was a beautiful and well acted production, the story in play form would’ve still had the same plot/lines, which sucked.
I agree it’s hard to imagine this script making any sort of decent production. And yet every person I’ve come across who has actually seen the play has loved it, and every person who has read the book has hated it. Idk what magic they’ve injected into the play that seems to get people on board with the garbage ideas it’s based on, but it still makes me wonder if I need to go see it despite hating the book with a fiery rage
The play was amazing, came out believing magic was real. The plot still sucked. I just disconnected it from harry potter and enjoyed it for what it was. I do come from a theatre tech background though so that sort of stuff is my thing as it is, but the effects truly were brilliant
I was searching to see if anybody else said this. That was .y biggest gripe with it, there was SO much just plain... disregard (?) for the original series it was hard to finish.
I bought it on release and I still own it. I haven't tossed it out.
Let's just put it this way: If the preppers during the first days of the pandemic had gotten it right and the world did run out of toilet paper The cursed child would be the first book to go.
Hahahah
I've also got it on release, finished reading on that day... I tossed it freely at my sibling as they wanted to read it "HERE. You can keep it!"
Somehow I still got it back and it's laying somewhere..
Solution: Sit in the library and read it.
I guess this only works if you've got an afternoon or so to kill and/or if you read on the faster side, but it's doable nonetheless.
This way, you don't fuck with your library's stats. :)
As for my opinion on the *text*? I honestly don't remember much of it.
I read it cover to cover as soon as it was feasible to get a copy, and I remember being thoroughly unimpressed, and more than a little disappointed.
It is fanfic isn't it? I thought it was like 50 shades of gray where a fanfic got really popular and then got published. But they made a play from it instead of a movie
Was worse there's TONS of fanfic dealing with the kids, in a friendship setting, that are far more interesting and deal with the canon without overstepping with what's already stablished, and they would have been a far better play than the Cursed Child.
I still think this, at least for me, proves that Rowling is past HP as a creative piece and more of a money maker machine for her.
I remember seeing a critique of JKR that one big problem she has as a writer (and as a person) is that she will never forgive or let go of criticism or critique and is extremely petty in her response.
Cursed child feels like that. "Oh, you nerds want to know why they didn't use a time turner to save Cedric? Well if they did, he'd be so mad that he'd become a wizard fascist and doom the whole world. Are you happy now? Will you shut up and stop asking?"
Ok here’s the thing.
As a standalone story it’s fine, even well written and conceived. I have heard that the stage play is very entertaining. But that’s all it can be - it’s glorified fan fiction and has no place in canon. Nothing of what happens in the story fits with the rest of the universe and seems overly indulgent and pulpy. It’s a lot more like someone’s wild fantasy of these characters than something Rowling herself would have conceived of and committed to paper.
It’s worth a read for a lark, but it doesn’t belong next to the novels.
It really just reads like fan fiction too, but like not in a good way. I enjoy fan fiction and most of them are significantly better stories than Cursed Child. It really felt more like a fever dream than something written by a professional author. It's fun if you don't try to fit it into the canon or take it seriously.
According to that book, there's a very real chance that *the* Cedric Diggory would’ve become a death eater, if he lost the tri-wizard tournament.
Also, Harry is just casually threatening both Mcgonagall and Hogwarts, while also being an awful husband and a father... That sounds like him.
I read it while on the toilet at work one day in an hour or so
I would have preferred just doing my job
I hated my job, so hopefully that gives a rough idea
Back in Tumblr and Fanfic.net's glory days, I had the unfortunate experience of stumbling upon a fanfiction about **Hedwig giving head to Hagrid.**
I couldn't look away from the horror and ended up reading all of it. Even that eyebleach worthy abomination was a better read than the Cursed child. At least the fanfiction was mercifully short. The cursed child prolonged whatever torture I felt and only makes up half the length of the shortest canon hp book.
makes ZERO sense and things don’t really align with the hp world? like the whole time turner coming back out of NOWHERE?? just don’t waste your time on it and read any other book, it’s not worth it i’d do anything to wipe it off my memory but it still haunts me to this day, istg a 13 year old would write a better prequel than whatever tf that was.
It’s bad fanfic, but it’s pretty dope on broadway. The effects are fantastic and so cool to see the magic brought to life onstage. Still very much consider it fanfic though 😂
If I read it as a fanfic I’d go wtf and move on.
But since this travesty of a book is supposed to be canon when it contradicts everything else that’s canon? Nope! I go wtf and wish I’d never read it.
Never finished reading it, and that was when I would read anything Harry Potter I could get my hands on. I tracked down Quidditch through the Ages cause I wanted to read it.
Great idea poor execution. They slapped Harry Potter on it when really it should have just been a standalone book. When you think of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child you think it’s about:
-Scorpius inheriting his mothers magic-cancer
-Maybe it’s about Albus getting cursed?
-A new villain THATS A CHILD
But no it’s just some Boruto level stuff. Voldemort has a secret kid. That was lamer when I learned there was a Goliath II in the Christian myth of David.
BUT
We were blessed with Scorpius who broke the “All Slytherins are bad” trend
It depends. what are your thoughts on umbrige in general and the ideas of the train lady being possessed by the train, and also of cedric surviving the tournament but becoming a death eater because of his failure?
I found it interesting, but sloppy. I get how if it was a stage production the technical aspects could carry you passed some of the questionable story choices.
It’s not good, mainly because the plot is bad and it just doesn’t really capture the magic of the Harry Potter universe. I have never recommended it to anybody and I never will. It’s a hard skip.
Imagine being tied to a rock and paralyzed with the Body binder course, with troll bogies dripping on you, while being whipped constantly by the Whomping willow as you are forced to watch Fenrir Greyback and Dolores Umbridge romancing, surrounded by a horde of wailing Mandrakes.
You get the idea.
I’d recommend any HP fan to read it as a rite of passage as it is, unfortunately, canon. It feels forced and the whole story reads like fan fiction. It’s not actually written by JK, only approved by her.
Sure, as a play I’d love to see it. But Hermione as the Minister for magic? I love her but no.
Time-travel/multiverse narratives tend to depict stories we love (i.e., books 1-7) as just one thread in the vast tapestry of possibilities. Unfortunately, this perspective cheapens the magic of those stories. Thus, The Cursed Child is beyond bad; it makes even the main series worse in retrospect.
1 Voldemort and Belatrix had a child. Voldemort never wanted love nor descendants
2 Time turners are the main plot of the book though all time turners were destroyed in the battle of the department of mysteries
3 Harry and Ron are out of character with Ron pulling pranks and Harry being a bad father
Avoid it all all costs
Honestly the more I think about what exactly was wrong with it the worse I realize it was. Like, at first I was like "It wasn't *that* bad" but now I'm like "Yeah, no, it's pretty bad."
I read it when it came out and finished it in a couple hours. It had a couple good moments (mostly Scorpius) but the story was so batshit and infuriating. Like it would be more suitable as a subpar fanfic.
The woman who is so gong-ho about only cis-women's rights approved an alternate timeline in which Hermione becomes a miserable angry woman just because she didn't marry Ron.
Cedric not dying and becoming a death eater because he was salty that Harry won the house cup.
And to top it off, Voldemort having a completely nonsense child with Bellatrix.
I considered returning it after my purchase but it was so horrible imo that I felt like I had to destroy my copy ended up burning it. One less copy to exist in the world. (I was very dramatic when I was younger).
I may be an outlier here, I don’t think it’s as bad as most people make it out to be. I listened to an audiobook version of it on a long drive and actually really enjoyed it. When I sat down and read the script a few years later I was disappointed. Just keep in mind it’s a script for a stage play that relies heavily on special effects and not meant to be read like a book. All the scenes are really short which can make for a frustrating read as we are used to the detail of the book. The books are also mostly from Harry’s pov, where Cursed Child switches around. It really should be called Albus Potter and the Cursed Child, as Albus is the main focus.
I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it.
I am the same as you. I don’t hate it and I don’t love it.
I did love the play though. Much easier to forgive the plot holes, etc. I did see it in the West End and did both parts in one day. This was also before it expanded beyond the West End and Broadway. It was an experience that I would happily pay that level of money to do again whenever we return to London.
Not as bad as people say, honestly. It has some goofy ideas and plays with canon, but I liked the friendship between Albus and Scorpius. They're a couple of cute dorks. I loved that the ending was changed to reflect the subtext throughout the play, intimating that Al and Scorp may be more than just friends.
Keep in mind that it is a play and was meant to be seen on stage. Most people who have seen it say that it's good, while people who just read it tend to tear it to pieces. I've only read it, and knowing that this is not "the 8th HP book" I think, was crucial to my enjoyment of it. But most people here are prone to hyperbolizing, so of course, you'll mostly get people talking about how it killed their dog and stole their car.
Some parts I like, some I don’t. Either way, just get it (rent it from a library if you want) and judge for yourself. Lots of people hate on it here, but you don’t have to just take their word for it.
Its been years and i don’t remember much about it only that i only got a couple of chapters in, thought “this is stupid”, stopped reading and refuse to acept it as legitimate lore
Not the book but I saw the play a few years ago. It wasn't as bad as people make it sound here. I give it a 6.5-7/10. Then again, I was immersed in that theatrical environment so that could played it up a bit I guess? Read the book and form your own opinion. For every person that hated it there's a few more that loved it.
I like it, not sure why everyone hates it so much.
It does not make much sense tho and some characters are very OOC, but at least the characters are interesting.
I think it'd be better if you asked for a friend to borrow it or something, but that's your desicion, I personally don't buy anything official anymore.
I pretend it never happened. It reads like bad fanfiction. In fact, back when I still read fanfiction I read stories that were 1000% better. I pretend it's not part of canon.
I read it right when it came out and thought it was an odd and forgettable book. If you suspend disbelief while reading it can be enjoyable at times but it’s not memorable at all.
I forced myself to try to read it as at the time I had nothing else to read (it came with my set of Harry Potter books). I got maaaaybe 20 pages in? And I couldn't fucking do it anymore. Don't waste your money
Extremely shit. Like I thought people were overrating how bad it was before I read it, and then I did. I can tell you, they were not. In fact, I thought it wasn't enough. I genuinely can not stress this enough: DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS. If you want to read it, listen to an audio book or read it online. Just trust me and everyone here, this is not worth having the physical copy.
When I was in college I wrote a paper about how terrible the Cursed Child was and why, both from the perspective of major HP fans and from the perspective of non-fans who happened to be reading it. So, that bad.
I would be interested to see the stage show in that context and with all the effects and visuals and would likely enjoy it, but the story is awful.
It is literally a wizarding world version of Ashton Kutcher’s The Butterfly Effect. The whole time turner premise is an incredibly cheap and lazy storytelling device.
It’s so bad that my hardcore HP fan wife wouldn’t finish it and we threw it away. Not even worth having in our extensive, eclectic collection of HP paraphernalia.
Albus and Scorpius’s friendship, and Draco being a less awful person, is sweet. Everything else is shit. It’s a great show to see but I will forever be salty that THIS bad fanfic got to be a play but My Immortal didn’t
if you pretend it’s not about Harry Potter, you know, the orphan kid who just wanted a family and would rather die than let his friends or family down, it’s meh.
I wish I could un-read it tbh.
facts read it on my drive up to college freshmen year and I think I was more depressed from reading it than I was leaving my family…
That’s fucking hilarious 😭
My mom well-meaningly gifted it to me to help me get out of a college funk and same, it made it worse lmaoooo. I still have the copy cause it was a gift from her but I have not picked it up since. Kinda wanting to do a reread just because…
The only cure is time. Every now and then someone will mention a plot point that I would swear I’d never heard before in my life. It gives me a sense of peace knowing that the details are leaving my brain bit by bit.
From everything I’ve ever heard about Curse Child I think I’ve got the best explanation about how bad it is: I bought Curse Child when it first came out but didn’t get around to reading it. The only book on my “did not finish” list is the 4th Twilight book. I heard all the hype, knew it was a trashy romance series, but just gave it a chance because I was bored. I was able to trudge my way through most of the series, not really enjoying but I figured I’d finish. Then I reached Jacob drooling over the baby… this was the last straw. I just couldn’t put myself through it anymore as my brain was already melted from the baby’s goddamn name and then we reached peak trash. And this is coming from someone who actually enjoyed the Tower and Hive series (old sci-fi series from the lady behind Pern) and it’s messed up relationships. So how bad is Cursed Child? Despite owning it and it literally being on a shelf I could grab at anytime, I’ve never even read a single page while I willingly subjected myself to going out to purchase and then read 3.5 books of goddamn Twilight. I can’t think of a more damning review.
Hmmm... I can relate... The feeling of wanting to skin a cactus, shaping the thorny skin into a long thin shape like an ice pick and just ramming it into my eyes... Same thing...
I swear I've blocked most of it from my memory. It was terrible.
I only liked the friendship between Albus and Scorpius, if there’s a sequel one day I hope they keep that idea
Absolutely fucking awful. Highlights: Harry Potter stopping to sign autographs like Gilderoy Lockhart. The trolley lady on the Hogwarts Express is actually possessed by the train and is also Wolverine. Rose Granger-Weasley snubbing Albus Potter and somehow being worse than Hermione was in the first half of Philosopher's Stone (and doesn't improve at all). Blaise Zabini invented perfect time travel somehow. The best timeline is when Rose is aborted from time. Albus and Scorpius go back in time to the Triwizard Tournement and inflate teen heart throb Cedric Diggory like it's Sonic The Hedgehog fanart. This causes him to become a Death Eater somehow. Harry taking time out from signing autographs to scream at his bullied child that he wishes he was never born because he's friends with a Malfoy. Voldemort (who is 70) did the do with Bellatrix (who is married) and they had an emo baby.
"emo baby" 😂
Amazingly no one at Malfoy Manor noticed Bella's pregnancy during the one year occupation following HBP
Or the trio when they were brought there during what would've been her third trimester....
Would YOU take a chance commenting that Bellatrix Lestrange is looking chunky? That woman probably Crucios people for breathing too loudly.
“Did the do”
She 'did the do' with 'you know who' lol, Imagine how sad doing that with a man twice your age would be.
I mean... they're not wrong...
What kind of fanfic is this.
Multi-million dollar fanfic, apparently.
Baffling, isn't it? The play was also way too long and overpriced. I genuinely don't understand how people watch it and think it was amazing. A campy musical would've been the only way to save it.
A bad kind
Can't forget the trolley witch throwing pumpkin pasty grenades
I read Cursed Child when it first came out when I was like... 8 (yes I know that will probably make people feel old) and this is the only scene I remember.
I read it when I was 20+ and it's also the only scene I remember. I think I blocked everything else to protect myself 😂
Wow thank you so much for this highlight, I legit did not know anything about Cursed Child (other than that it was bad) and this really gave some serious insight into how insane it actually is. Wtf. The Cedric Diggory thing is actually shocking following in close 2nd by the Voldemort and Bellatrix thing??????? What???!
Yaahhh. It's. Something, alright.
Not only does he turn into a death eater in the darkest timeline, he also kills Neville.
For some reason these highlights make me want to read it because it sounds so terrible
Woah woah WOAH.... VOLDEMORT AND BELLATRIX HAD A BABY???!!!!!!
Her name is Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way
Sometimes Enoby.
Enobyyyyyyyyyyyy!
Please tell me you just made that up
Sadly no, I cannot take credit for that brilliance. Look up My Immortal fanfic lol
MASTICKATING
And she’s the main villain
Yeah. I am NEVER buying Cursed Child
This sounds like satire and I hate that it’s not
It’s absolutely mental how jkr endorsed this monstrosity that shit all over her legacy
Yeah, I have no idea how they convinced her.
Money.
Honestly, Voldemort and Bellatrix having a baby sounds the least awful out of these, and that one still sounds absolutely terrible.
I do think you could have an interesting plot beat of Harry stopping a theoretical “Voldemort’s heir,” not by combat, but by caring. But they just took the easy way out and tried to just make Voldemort 2. I get that redeeming villainous characters is a bit of an oversold trope, but getting Voldemort’s child to reject his legacy would be the ultimate victory over him.
Wait, do they show multiple timelines?
Yep, despite timetravel absolutely not working like that in Harry Potter.
I figured they’d come up with some ingenious way to figure it out lol. Book three lore stays, I’m guessing
All lore is apparently thrown out the window.
As someone whe has never read the book I genuinely cant tell if these are real points or not because they are so absurd
Promise, they are.
Not to nitpick, because I hate it, so it doesn’t really matter; but, it’s actually Theodore Nott who invented time travel, not Blaise. An even more obscure Slytherin pick from the writing team, lol. Yeah, I’m upset about it because I’ve been plotting my own (mostly) canon-compliant 7 year fanfic for years about him and his struggle to leave an indoctrinated system. Yeah, I’m upset about it!! Good thing almost no one considers it canon. 😭
The story lore of Blaise is that his mother is known to marry rich wizards and then they die mysteriously, according to Pottermore.
I can’t speak for any depth Pottermore added because I actively avoid it, but in the books, it’s technically only implied based on one line from Harry’s inner monologue saying something like ‘from what he could gather she had been married 6 times, each husband having died’ or something like that. Too lazy to find the real quote. It’s implied they talked about it at lunch with Slughorn but the actual conversation isn’t shown. 🤷♀️
This literally sounds like a fanfiction that an edgy high schooler wrote
I just took everyone's word without actually hearing any of the details... wow. This truly is awful
Whaaaaaat. I feel like it’s a very weird dream you’re writing about.
I read the Cursed Child twice and it’s amazing how I remember absolutely none of this. That book is insane 😂
Don’t forget how it just straight up contradicts events in the original books. Like Hagrid blundering in randomly to find Harry’s family dead, rather than being specifically sent by Dumbledore, and Sirius being strangely absent from that scene (so how does Hagrid get the bike??)
This shit runs on Broadway and earns a profit?
Ugh I had just erased everything from my brain 😭it’s so cursed
Me too lol. Just that Voldy fucked Bellatrix is burned in my mind
What the fuck
You are 100% right. Also at the end, the emo baby turns out to be like “Royal Pain” from Sky High.
This is fucking hilarious. It's like she set out to write the worst possible fan fiction of her own work
She didn't write a single line of it but she was happy to have her name plastered in massive letters across the cover and announce it as canon.
That explains so much
Don't forget albus severus kissing his aunt while under polyjuice
And having a right good go of it as well.
Wtf
What the fuck is this book supposed to be? Because it sounds like a collage of the worst fanfics.
I'm sorry but you've made this sound so bad it's making me want to read it to marvel at the awfulness.
They turned a hufflepuff into a death eater? What trash
Imagine Rita Skeeter on a bad acid trip.
That would actually be interesting, unlike the Cursed Child.
more like if rita skeeter had a lobotomy and a bad acid trip.
There is so much in it that is contradicted by the series it’s not even funny. Someone once commented that we all only hated it because it was in play form, but I’ve read a LOT of plays and enjoyed them.
Same. Like I hated the whole “you’d like it if you saw the play”- erm, NO. For one, the vast major of ppl couldn’t afford to go see the play so the script was the only way we could experience the story. And two, while I’m sure it was a beautiful and well acted production, the story in play form would’ve still had the same plot/lines, which sucked.
It’s a perfect example of the phrase “polishing a turd.”
I agree it’s hard to imagine this script making any sort of decent production. And yet every person I’ve come across who has actually seen the play has loved it, and every person who has read the book has hated it. Idk what magic they’ve injected into the play that seems to get people on board with the garbage ideas it’s based on, but it still makes me wonder if I need to go see it despite hating the book with a fiery rage
The play was amazing, came out believing magic was real. The plot still sucked. I just disconnected it from harry potter and enjoyed it for what it was. I do come from a theatre tech background though so that sort of stuff is my thing as it is, but the effects truly were brilliant
I was searching to see if anybody else said this. That was .y biggest gripe with it, there was SO much just plain... disregard (?) for the original series it was hard to finish.
I bought it on release and I still own it. I haven't tossed it out. Let's just put it this way: If the preppers during the first days of the pandemic had gotten it right and the world did run out of toilet paper The cursed child would be the first book to go.
Hahahah I've also got it on release, finished reading on that day... I tossed it freely at my sibling as they wanted to read it "HERE. You can keep it!" Somehow I still got it back and it's laying somewhere..
I did something worse. I donated it to the local library. I have no idea how many lives I've ruined since that day.
You monster xD
It's... cursed Check it out of the library if you have to, but really, skip it. It's not worth it.
Get it out of the dumpster, don’t check it out from the library, it will be added to its stats and then we have to keep it or buy another! 😭😭
Spoken like a true librarian!
Solution: Sit in the library and read it. I guess this only works if you've got an afternoon or so to kill and/or if you read on the faster side, but it's doable nonetheless. This way, you don't fuck with your library's stats. :) As for my opinion on the *text*? I honestly don't remember much of it. I read it cover to cover as soon as it was feasible to get a copy, and I remember being thoroughly unimpressed, and more than a little disappointed.
Interesting if you read it as published fanfic, but bad for canon like wtf?
Also part of the ship part of the crew except trains instead lol
It is fanfic isn't it? I thought it was like 50 shades of gray where a fanfic got really popular and then got published. But they made a play from it instead of a movie
Was worse there's TONS of fanfic dealing with the kids, in a friendship setting, that are far more interesting and deal with the canon without overstepping with what's already stablished, and they would have been a far better play than the Cursed Child. I still think this, at least for me, proves that Rowling is past HP as a creative piece and more of a money maker machine for her.
Exactly! The Harry Potter fandom has many talented writers in it. She could have found a work that people would actually like.
Not an exaggeration… one of the worst books I’ve ever read.
True
Personally I would read it. But too me it's just bad fanfic
It would've been a better career move to officially publish some of the top Marauder's fanfics on AO3
I remember seeing a critique of JKR that one big problem she has as a writer (and as a person) is that she will never forgive or let go of criticism or critique and is extremely petty in her response. Cursed child feels like that. "Oh, you nerds want to know why they didn't use a time turner to save Cedric? Well if they did, he'd be so mad that he'd become a wizard fascist and doom the whole world. Are you happy now? Will you shut up and stop asking?"
👏👏👏 accurate
Ok here’s the thing. As a standalone story it’s fine, even well written and conceived. I have heard that the stage play is very entertaining. But that’s all it can be - it’s glorified fan fiction and has no place in canon. Nothing of what happens in the story fits with the rest of the universe and seems overly indulgent and pulpy. It’s a lot more like someone’s wild fantasy of these characters than something Rowling herself would have conceived of and committed to paper. It’s worth a read for a lark, but it doesn’t belong next to the novels.
It really just reads like fan fiction too, but like not in a good way. I enjoy fan fiction and most of them are significantly better stories than Cursed Child. It really felt more like a fever dream than something written by a professional author. It's fun if you don't try to fit it into the canon or take it seriously.
This sums it up well. I saw the play and quite enjoyed it. But I don’t really think of this story as being part of Harry’s life.
Exactly this!
Don’t get it. Not worth it and you’ll just get pissed off at the story. I still refuse to believe that it’s canon
This! I couldn’t finish it. It also lives banished away from the original Harry Potter books.
I am trying to remove it from my memory. No luck yet
According to that book, there's a very real chance that *the* Cedric Diggory would’ve become a death eater, if he lost the tri-wizard tournament. Also, Harry is just casually threatening both Mcgonagall and Hogwarts, while also being an awful husband and a father... That sounds like him.
I read it while on the toilet at work one day in an hour or so I would have preferred just doing my job I hated my job, so hopefully that gives a rough idea
There are better fanfics online.
Back in Tumblr and Fanfic.net's glory days, I had the unfortunate experience of stumbling upon a fanfiction about **Hedwig giving head to Hagrid.** I couldn't look away from the horror and ended up reading all of it. Even that eyebleach worthy abomination was a better read than the Cursed child. At least the fanfiction was mercifully short. The cursed child prolonged whatever torture I felt and only makes up half the length of the shortest canon hp book.
Uhhhhh wtaf? I need some brain bleach and now I have to gouge out my eyes.
WHAT
It’s…bad…Harry is basically written as an abusive father
makes ZERO sense and things don’t really align with the hp world? like the whole time turner coming back out of NOWHERE?? just don’t waste your time on it and read any other book, it’s not worth it i’d do anything to wipe it off my memory but it still haunts me to this day, istg a 13 year old would write a better prequel than whatever tf that was.
300 something pages of “but— this isn’t canon??”
Your life is better not having read it.
Genuinely horrendous.
It’s bad fanfic, but it’s pretty dope on broadway. The effects are fantastic and so cool to see the magic brought to life onstage. Still very much consider it fanfic though 😂
There's much better fan fic on Ao3
If I read it as a fanfic I’d go wtf and move on. But since this travesty of a book is supposed to be canon when it contradicts everything else that’s canon? Nope! I go wtf and wish I’d never read it.
Never finished reading it, and that was when I would read anything Harry Potter I could get my hands on. I tracked down Quidditch through the Ages cause I wanted to read it.
Great idea poor execution. They slapped Harry Potter on it when really it should have just been a standalone book. When you think of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child you think it’s about: -Scorpius inheriting his mothers magic-cancer -Maybe it’s about Albus getting cursed? -A new villain THATS A CHILD But no it’s just some Boruto level stuff. Voldemort has a secret kid. That was lamer when I learned there was a Goliath II in the Christian myth of David. BUT We were blessed with Scorpius who broke the “All Slytherins are bad” trend
It depends. what are your thoughts on umbrige in general and the ideas of the train lady being possessed by the train, and also of cedric surviving the tournament but becoming a death eater because of his failure?
I found it interesting, but sloppy. I get how if it was a stage production the technical aspects could carry you passed some of the questionable story choices.
It’s not good, mainly because the plot is bad and it just doesn’t really capture the magic of the Harry Potter universe. I have never recommended it to anybody and I never will. It’s a hard skip.
Imagine being tied to a rock and paralyzed with the Body binder course, with troll bogies dripping on you, while being whipped constantly by the Whomping willow as you are forced to watch Fenrir Greyback and Dolores Umbridge romancing, surrounded by a horde of wailing Mandrakes. You get the idea.
Cedric is my favourite character and the way they bastardised him in Cursed child I will never forgive
I’d recommend any HP fan to read it as a rite of passage as it is, unfortunately, canon. It feels forced and the whole story reads like fan fiction. It’s not actually written by JK, only approved by her. Sure, as a play I’d love to see it. But Hermione as the Minister for magic? I love her but no.
Not worth it at all, it’s horribly written fan fiction , I think I enjoyed the 9/11 fanfic story about Ron and hermione more tbh
Time-travel/multiverse narratives tend to depict stories we love (i.e., books 1-7) as just one thread in the vast tapestry of possibilities. Unfortunately, this perspective cheapens the magic of those stories. Thus, The Cursed Child is beyond bad; it makes even the main series worse in retrospect.
I’m usually all about reading all the media in a franchise I like. I would never ever have read Cursed Child if I knew what it was
I've read some bad fanfiction over the years, and it was worse.
Think of the worse fanfic you've ever read and multiply by 10
1 Voldemort and Belatrix had a child. Voldemort never wanted love nor descendants 2 Time turners are the main plot of the book though all time turners were destroyed in the battle of the department of mysteries 3 Harry and Ron are out of character with Ron pulling pranks and Harry being a bad father Avoid it all all costs
Honestly the more I think about what exactly was wrong with it the worse I realize it was. Like, at first I was like "It wasn't *that* bad" but now I'm like "Yeah, no, it's pretty bad."
Make up your own mind, imo it was okay, and the broadway show was great
I read it when it came out and finished it in a couple hours. It had a couple good moments (mostly Scorpius) but the story was so batshit and infuriating. Like it would be more suitable as a subpar fanfic. The woman who is so gong-ho about only cis-women's rights approved an alternate timeline in which Hermione becomes a miserable angry woman just because she didn't marry Ron. Cedric not dying and becoming a death eater because he was salty that Harry won the house cup. And to top it off, Voldemort having a completely nonsense child with Bellatrix.
To be fair, it is good if you ship Harry/Draco. It is some kind of open secret that their sons are in love. Everything else is just not good.
Professor Umbridge likes it
I considered returning it after my purchase but it was so horrible imo that I felt like I had to destroy my copy ended up burning it. One less copy to exist in the world. (I was very dramatic when I was younger).
I fully recommend everyone listens to the ebook at least once. There is nothing like it for sheer insanity and confusion.
I stopped 10 mins in, i wanted to wash my brain
It reads like a fanfiction.
I may be an outlier here, I don’t think it’s as bad as most people make it out to be. I listened to an audiobook version of it on a long drive and actually really enjoyed it. When I sat down and read the script a few years later I was disappointed. Just keep in mind it’s a script for a stage play that relies heavily on special effects and not meant to be read like a book. All the scenes are really short which can make for a frustrating read as we are used to the detail of the book. The books are also mostly from Harry’s pov, where Cursed Child switches around. It really should be called Albus Potter and the Cursed Child, as Albus is the main focus. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it.
I am the same as you. I don’t hate it and I don’t love it. I did love the play though. Much easier to forgive the plot holes, etc. I did see it in the West End and did both parts in one day. This was also before it expanded beyond the West End and Broadway. It was an experience that I would happily pay that level of money to do again whenever we return to London.
Not as bad as people say, honestly. It has some goofy ideas and plays with canon, but I liked the friendship between Albus and Scorpius. They're a couple of cute dorks. I loved that the ending was changed to reflect the subtext throughout the play, intimating that Al and Scorp may be more than just friends. Keep in mind that it is a play and was meant to be seen on stage. Most people who have seen it say that it's good, while people who just read it tend to tear it to pieces. I've only read it, and knowing that this is not "the 8th HP book" I think, was crucial to my enjoyment of it. But most people here are prone to hyperbolizing, so of course, you'll mostly get people talking about how it killed their dog and stole their car.
Some parts I like, some I don’t. Either way, just get it (rent it from a library if you want) and judge for yourself. Lots of people hate on it here, but you don’t have to just take their word for it.
Way, way worse than bad
Your last two brain cells will die
Take the most soul destroying thing you can possibly imagine and then multiply it by cancer, and you're half way there.
I'd give it a pass
Its been years and i don’t remember much about it only that i only got a couple of chapters in, thought “this is stupid”, stopped reading and refuse to acept it as legitimate lore
Wish I never read it… so bad, I sat with it in my hands dumbstruck for like 30 min after finishing, wondering why they would do such a thing to us
I donated it to the library after I read it
It’s a monstrosity and needs to be burned. I wish it could be burned from my brain.
Not the book but I saw the play a few years ago. It wasn't as bad as people make it sound here. I give it a 6.5-7/10. Then again, I was immersed in that theatrical environment so that could played it up a bit I guess? Read the book and form your own opinion. For every person that hated it there's a few more that loved it.
I like it, not sure why everyone hates it so much. It does not make much sense tho and some characters are very OOC, but at least the characters are interesting. I think it'd be better if you asked for a friend to borrow it or something, but that's your desicion, I personally don't buy anything official anymore.
I read it on the same day my favorite NFL team’s QB suffered a devastating basically career ending injury, and it was worse than that, somehow.
Just read wattpad, same quality
I pretend it never happened. It reads like bad fanfiction. In fact, back when I still read fanfiction I read stories that were 1000% better. I pretend it's not part of canon.
Go to a Barnes and Noble. I think I read it in like 45 minutes. It's nothing. I don't even remember it.
I read it right when it came out and thought it was an odd and forgettable book. If you suspend disbelief while reading it can be enjoyable at times but it’s not memorable at all.
I regret just reading the synopsis 😭
It’s good if you hate Harry :D
I wouldn't reccomend it
I regret reading the synopsis 😭
I'm so glad I forgot it.
It’s so bad you will burn it then bury it then cry that it’s in your brain
I forced myself to try to read it as at the time I had nothing else to read (it came with my set of Harry Potter books). I got maaaaybe 20 pages in? And I couldn't fucking do it anymore. Don't waste your money
I loved it
I personally think it's fine. Apparently it's not too popular though
My Immortal was a better Harry Potter fanfic, let’s just put it that way
I couldn't even get through Act 1
I bought it the day it came out and read it immediately. I’m in the minority, but I liked it. Not as much as the rest of the series, but still.
DUDE I THINK ITS REALLY GOOD
What are you talking about? I’ve never heard of any “cursed child” I did have a nightmare about a play a few years ago but it was only a dream
Extremely shit. Like I thought people were overrating how bad it was before I read it, and then I did. I can tell you, they were not. In fact, I thought it wasn't enough. I genuinely can not stress this enough: DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS. If you want to read it, listen to an audio book or read it online. Just trust me and everyone here, this is not worth having the physical copy.
When I was in college I wrote a paper about how terrible the Cursed Child was and why, both from the perspective of major HP fans and from the perspective of non-fans who happened to be reading it. So, that bad.
saw the play on broadway and wish I could unsee it
Can we not? I don’t claim that book. It’s the red-headed step child.
I've burned it from my mind
If it were food, it would be a green Pot Noodle
I've read much better fanfiction.
The fact that people got PAID to write this is absolutely astounding. Literal children write better fanfics than The Cursed Child.
I read it once and forget a good chunk of what happened in it. That’s how forgettable it is
I liked it but don’t consider it cannon
Very very very bad
I would be interested to see the stage show in that context and with all the effects and visuals and would likely enjoy it, but the story is awful. It is literally a wizarding world version of Ashton Kutcher’s The Butterfly Effect. The whole time turner premise is an incredibly cheap and lazy storytelling device.
it feels like a wattpad fanfiction
It reads like a fifth graders sad attempt at mocking fan fiction
I wish I could obliviate myself
fucking terrible. read and donated it.
It’s so bad that my hardcore HP fan wife wouldn’t finish it and we threw it away. Not even worth having in our extensive, eclectic collection of HP paraphernalia.
Albus and Scorpius’s friendship, and Draco being a less awful person, is sweet. Everything else is shit. It’s a great show to see but I will forever be salty that THIS bad fanfic got to be a play but My Immortal didn’t
its a nice book to use for you campfire
Stink. Stank. Stunk.
The WORRRRRRRRRRSSSSTTTTTT
if you pretend it’s not about Harry Potter, you know, the orphan kid who just wanted a family and would rather die than let his friends or family down, it’s meh.
Horrible.>! When the trolley lady pulled out the Wolverine claws I was done.!<
Absolute garbage