After nine years, a new Harry Potter book has been released. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” follows an adult Harry Potter as he tries juggling work and fatherhood. Unlike the other Harry Potter books which are novels, “Cursed Child” is a script for a play written by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne. 

While “Cursed Child” seemed lazily written at some parts, it makes up for it with great characters and a strong emotional core. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” did feel unnecessary but it was nostalgic to visit Harry Potter’s world again.

Written by J.K Rowling, the Harry Potter series follows the young boy who discovers he is not only a wizard, but Voldemort, the greatest dark wizard of the time, was defeated after failing to kill Potter as a baby. 

Harry attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The series follows Harry as he deals with young love, bullies, teachers, mysteries, unwanted fame, a corrupt government and a not so dead dark lord. 

The first book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” was first published on June 26, 1997. Since then, the Harry Potter series landed itself in the public consciousness in a way that no other book has since. The seven novels were adapted into eight movies, each a major financial and critical success. 

The final film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two” is currently the eighth highest grossing movie of all time.  People of all ages were drawn to Harry Potter’s magical world due to the fantastical world building and story themes centered around the importance of empathy.

The oddest thing about “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is that it’s a play, as opposed to a novel like the other Harry Potter books. It’s not written with paragraphs but with dialogue and stage directions. 

As a result, there is a feeling that the book is not the complete experience. Since it’s a play, it should be watched. But the play is unfortunately only being performed in London, so here we are.

The story never feels as grand as past Harry Potter stories, mainly because it had to be restrained to make it performable on stage. “Cursed Child” makes up for it by focusing on more personal scenes with the characters.

The structure of the story is odd at first. The opening scene is the epilogue from “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” where Harry gives advice to his son Albus. 

The next scenes jump around his first few years at school until the skips stops at his fourth year. It’s pretty disorienting.

That said, it does feel like a Harry Potter story. And it’s great to see a full canon story in this world again. 

It did feel unnecessary, but I didn’t regret reading it. Reading “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” felt like seeing an old friend again.