2016 Book Challenge: {A Book Published This Year...} Harry Potter and The Cursed Child-Parts One and Two.

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child Parts One and Two

J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany

For those of you that know me, it is anticipated that I would own this book and ultimately love it! Which, is true, and writing a whole blog post about how much I love it may be excessive and unnecessary. But, I do have many thoughts regarding this beloved Harry Potter book, believe it or not, some may be negative.
Let me explain. 

I do not think that it is fair to refer to this as "The Eighth Book."

First of all, it is not a book. It is a screen-write for a play. So ultimately it is going to read differently than a novel, it will not provide as many details to help imagination start rolling, and the portions that direct acting can become very distracting. 

Secondly, even though the cover of the book itself says "The Eighth Story, Nineteen Years Later," I completely disagree with the statement.

My best way to describe it is to compare it to Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. 

(Those of you that have read both books will completely understand. Those of you that haven't read both books, shame on you. ;))

For both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, the basic storyline involves Ender and Bean being chosen to go to an academy to learn how to play a "Game" and ultimatly win many games. BUT, in each story, the point of view is different. Ender's Game being in the point of view of Ender and Ender's Shadow being in the point of view of Bean. So, even though they are the same basic storyline, they are ultimately different because the life and experience of the storyteller is completely different! Different enough that Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow have their own series behind them. Ender's Game has books such as Ender in Exile, Xenocide, and Speaker for the Dead. While Ender's Shadow has books such as Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Hegemon, and Shadow of the Giant. The "Same Story" is different enough that the stories continue in their own different direction!

I don't mean to go on a tangent about Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow, but I think that you'll understand me now when I say that this is not the Eighth Story, but a new beginning of a Potter going to Hogwarts. Even though this book has the history of Hogwarts, the same characters, and many references to the original 7 books, it is not the same story. It is Albus' story. 

All that being said, I LOVED IT! The character build up was incredible. The book gave me "All The Feels" like the original 7. It did answer some of that questions that I had been wondering about since the end of the series. Don't get me wrong, I am still longing for a "Harry Potter: Life After Hogwarts", but It is nice that we can follow the life of Albus Severus Potter. :)

I Give this book 5 stars!!!

Until Next Time...

Peace & Blessings. :)