WARNING: Contains spoilers.
After a month long wait of what was supposedly my birthday gift, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (HPCC) arrived at my doorstep, neatly wrapped by bubble wrap and waterproofing (thank you Amazon.in). I was not gaga per se, but knowing that it has arrived surely stirred warm, old memories of reading the series. Unwrapped the package, caressed the cover, took in the aroma of a new book and proceeded to read it. The story picks off from the end scene of deathly Hallows, at King's Cross Station, marking the beginning of Albus Potter's first year at Hogwarts.
Basically, this is the only good thing about the book I felt.
The story revolves around going back in time in a bid to save Cedric Diggory, literally going against Dumbledore's "No spell can re-awaken the dead, Harry." What follows is a Back To The Future meets Doctor Who meets high Tumblr fanfic creators. Bad fanfic creators. There is barely any depth. Yes, it is a script and you cannot get all prose-y in it. This does not mean you write a bad story and rely on great actors and stage effects to create a good performance. Those tricks are for the theatre, if you plan on releasing a book, your script needs to be a winner.
The main protagonists do not stay in character (apart from Harry who still is an Expelliarmus yelling doofus). That hurt. It was plain bastardization. Destroying the deep rooted characteristics of Hermione, especially was untenable. Analytical, calculating, ever-ready for any emergency Hermione, who packed tents, clothes, herbs and books for the Horcrux hunt, who would cast an envelope of spells to keep intruders away, now Minister of Magic, Hermione Jean Granger hides the Time-Turner in flapping books, protected by mediocre riddles that were broken by two school kids and a hippie.
And of course, the hippie, Delphi, daughter of Bellatrix and Voldemort, what? Voldemort, a man who tried every means possible to distance away from human nature had a child? (he wanted to conquer the mortality of a common human being by creating Horcruxes, only to die pretty much normally, he still had a corpse). Again, original story ruined.
However, the book has one hero and that is Scorpius Malfoy. Good kid, good potrayal as well. Read it to get to know him. Although, both he and Albus Potter are new characters, he is better done so to say.
I can strip the plot down and pick out every single flaw, but that would be rather time consuming and boring too. I now ask, if an 8th story was indeed necessary. The world wants a prologue, the story of the Marauders (a lot like Tolkien who wrote The Hobbit to make LOTR "more complete"). An epilogue seems unnecessary seeing that JKR is regularly providing tid-bits about the present Potter world on Pottermore. Getting fresh heads to write it was a bad call I'd say. I understand that when new writers pick up old stories, they obviously cannot step into the shoes of the original writer as much as they try. HPCC fails even as an attempt. It is easy to identify where JKR has touched this story and unfortunately, it is in very few places.
PS: Panju? Seriously? Of all Indian names, one decides to go with Panju. Disgusted.
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