Sempre foi difícil ser Harry Potter e não é mais fácil agora que ele é um sobrecarregado funcionário do Ministério da Magia, marido e pai de três crianças em idade escolar. Enquanto Harry lida com um passado que se recusa a ficar para trás, seu filho mais novo, Alvo, deve lutar com o peso de um legado de família que ele nunca quis. À medida que passado e presente se fundem de forma ameaçadora, ambos, pai e filho, aprendem uma incômoda verdade: às vezes as trevas vêm de lugares inesperados. ( )

Review also posted on my blog! :)

I went through a lot of trepidation deciding whether or not I wanted to read this book. Many people are very polarized on their opinions about this book; many reviewers I trust absolutely hated it, so it had me worried. But in the end, I decided I needed to form my own opinion about it and just read it. This is a SPOILER FREE review, for both this novel and the rest of the Harry Potter series!

All in all, my feelings are still very mixed about this book. There are elements to it I did like, but a few things that rubbed me the wrong way. The plot – when considered apart from the series it's supposed to belong to – was compelling and enjoyable. However, when considering the fact it IS supposed to be a part of the Harry Potter universe, I felt that it failed in quite a few ways. Mainly being that it did not give me that magical, fun, escapist feel when I enter this universe. Even though there were many dark aspects to the original Harry Potter novels, it was still heavily steeped in that magical feeling. In this book, there was an overwhelming feeling of sadness, and there wasn't that element of magic and hope to make up for that.

I did enjoy "getting to know" the next generation of witches and wizards. Scorpio was undoubtedly my favorite new character. He was kind, funny, brave, and probably the most well-developed character in the whole story. Albus frankly annoyed me throughout the majority of the story until the very end, when we finally see some development from him, and he learns to be less of a prig.

The treatment of the original characters was definitely a letdown. It felt like the authors were trying to include every possible character from the prior novels, simply for nostalgia's sake. Not that I am totally against nostalgia, but in this case it felt more like a selling-point than trying to re-welcome the readers to this universe. The returning characters felt like shadows of their original selves – as if those writing were not intimately familiar with them. I knew I was reading about Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but they seemed merely like pantomimes of those characters, rather than their true selves. I think things improved towards the end, however. Perhaps the authors felt more "comfortable" writing about them?

And one final thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the twist near the end. While it wasn't something I foresaw, I did not find it believable when considering the Harry Potter universe. It's hard to describe exactly why I feel this way because it would literally spoil the book for those who haven't read it. But to try and sum it up without spoilers: the twist is a result of something that is never even hinted at in the previous seven books (unless I'm really that blind). In fact, I think I've even seen it as fan fiction fodder before.

So this element, combined with the overload of nostalgia, and the bad handling of original characters, really gave this book a very "fan fiction" overtone for me. I've read a lot about how Rowling wasn't heavily involved in the actual writing of this play, and after reading, I can personally see that it is evident with how it is written.

But despite all this, the story was done really well. There really wasn't a dull moment to the book, I was always interested in what was going on and what would happen. And as I mentioned before, the new characters were quite interesting to explore – especially Scorpio. As a standalone story about magic, witches, wizards and good vs. evil, it's a worthy read. As a true return to the Harry Potter universe, it definitely falls short. Because of this, I've settled with 3.5 stars for this one. I'm not sure whether to recommend it or not. If anything, I would recommend that you read it to form your own opinion, because it could be wildly different from mine! Just don't expect it to feel like it's a true eighth addition to this wonderful series.

Final rating: ★★★½ ( )

I am going to see this play in May of 2024 in New York, so I decided I needed to read this book before seeing the performance. I love Harry Potter and reading this book was a different feel. I enjoyed this story and I am looking forward to seeing the performance. ( )

Having just finished the other 7 books, I found this one quite disappointing. I don't think it was the screenplay format that turned me off, more the lack of character development and the forced plot. It felt fairly flat with no "realness" to it. ( )

What this shows is you really shouldn't leave time turners laying around where 4th year Hogwarts students can steal them. Although the idea that Hermione Granger would be so incompetent as to fuck up the hiding of a time turner (if Hermione Granger didn't want two blockheaded teen boys finding the most powerfully dangerous item in the magical universe, they wouldn't find it, thank you very much) is but one of the glaring plot holes here.

Some people argue that play scripts should not be read by the casual reader; created to be a performing art, the script is necessarily a shadow of the richness of the whole thing. At the least we have to allow that reading this script is going to be inferior to seeing the play acted out on the stage. Reading a script is also going to be a fundamentally different reading experience than reading a modern novel, in inherently less promising ways.

This work then, existing in an lesser form from a reading point of view by its nature, and suffering from numerous plot weaknesses in addition, really should not be a very good read, and surely isn't for anyone who's not already a Harry Potter fan. Because I am such a fan of the books, I still mostly enjoyed this despite its faults, but to be real, it will likely remain outside the Potter Canon as a semi-successful curiosity. ( )