This caused me to raise an eyebrow, too, but I figure that Voldemort could have deliberately fathered a child with nefarious intent – perhaps some kind of dark magic that required a blood relative. Or maybe he wanted another horcrux.
I have a question as I read it a second time, this time with my wife.
They basically killed Rose(made her never exist) by altering the first task. When they return to the present, Ron has a son or daughter named Panju; he had him/her with Padma.
When they reset everything back to “normal”, did they basically kill Panju by making it so he/she doesn’t exist?
I assume so. Kind of a bummer when you think about it.
I just yesterday finished reading this book/script, and I have to say I enjoyed it more than a lot of reviewers did. I would really like to see it performed on stage, just to see how they deal with the constant changes of sets and the oddball sets that would be required (really, how would you do the underwater parts?). My wife, who has much more amateur theater experience than I do (which isn’t hard) had pretty much the same reaction. She said, “There are just too many scenes.”
But here’s the *big *question I have after finishing the book: ***Who is the cursed child? ***Is it Delphi? Albus? Harry? There doesn’t seem to be a clear identification, unlike in the earlier HP books, in which the mystery implied in the title became clear by the end of the books. I’m leaning toward Delphi, because of her (ahem) parentage, but I can see where an argument for someone else could be made. What are your thoughts?
I think the author’s intention is that Delphi is the cursed child. I have no cite, but it just seems like we’re supposed to wonder if it is Albus or perhaps Scorpius, but it ultimately ends up being Delphi in the end.
Finally got around to reading this. Meh. Seemed half fan service and half fan fiction. Lets bring back Snape and show he stayed noble in the evil alternate universe!
I also found it odd that even though JK has publicly stated she had regrets about Hermione marrying Ron, that in the AU where they didn’t marry she became an embittered teacher instead of the MoM.
I think the comparisons between Rowling & Lucas are appropriate. Hopefully she keeps any future work in the Potterverse well in the past like the Magical Creatures movie.
I had a few nitpicks about the story, though I did like it:
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In the original books, Polyjuice Potion didn’t change voices, right? In HP&TCC, everyone’s voices were changed (admittedly, magic might have progressed over nearly 20 years). Likewise, the time turners of Prisoner of Azkaban didn’t allow events in the past to be changed - another advance in magic?
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I’m not sure how Scorpius knew that Cedric had become a death-eater in the alternate future - he had no idea about other changes until someone told him, but we never see anyone tell him about Cedric’s death eater days.
I started it recently, and gave up after maybe 50 pages. It seemed like something written by a junior-high school writer-wannabe. Completely uninteresting to me.
In the books, the voices change. In the movies they do not.
I was disappointed. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t up to the standard of the original HP novels.
Thanks. I saw the movies more recently than I read the books.
I wanted to like it. I tried to like it. I didn’t like it.
Maybe it would be better had I seen it performed (or as a movie) but just reading the script didn’t work for me. I need another 600-page book, darnit!
Regards,
Shodan
I’ve heard rumors that there’s another on the way, but not about Harry.
Bumping this two years later because I just remembered this existed and read it on the plane ride home.
(Insert some joke about Cedric being a zombie like this thread)
The comparison of this “book” to shitty online fan fiction is pretty sound I think. The characters were weird bastardizations of their book selves and the plot choices were pretty dumb, but what really screamed “shitty fanfic” to me was how the characters’ actions were described.
There is nothing that angers me more than when The Internet tries to throw gay subplots into stories when they aren’t there. I remember when this first came out how The Internet was all aflutter because they were bitching and complaining about Albus and Scorpius being gay, but no one said it out loud. My reaction to that was my usual “omg settle down not everything is gay”.
Now that I’ve read the book, omg those two are so frickin gay.
I know this because the stage direction for their hugs and the way they talk and look at each other just screams it, yet we’re supposed to be invested in Scorpius apparently liking Rose? The two opposing viewpoints is why this reads like shitty fan fiction.
Oh well, I’m glad I read the book from the library and I didn’t spend any actual money to read it. I’m also glad I read it because I now have some context to other things I hear from fellow potter fans.
ETA: Has anyone seen the play? How does it look when compared to the book?
I saw the Broadway production right before the Tonys (I had not read the script and had somehow managed to know nothing about the plot for this one) and as a stage show it is, pardon the phrase, magical. It was one of the most enthralling and entertaining plays I’d ever seen. The break between Parts 1 and 2 left me on edge until I could see the resolution. The stage effects are just outstanding, the way they show the time turner being used had me in complete awe. I see tons of Broadway shows and I was so very impressed. So I can’t evaluate the script by itself as it was written to be produced on stage with all the associated stagecraft. As a whole, it was a brilliant piece of theatre.