I'm gonna start by admitting that I'm not an objective judge when it comes to anything Harry Potter related because I'm such a huge fan but still, I had some "What???" moments when I was reading this book. I got my copy on the day of the release, July 31. It's only over 300 pages and it's in a script format so it's really not that long to read. I finished reading in about three hours. I don't really know how to be technical like real critics when making a review, I usually would just say if I like the book or not, or if you should stay away from it because it's horrible. Having been able to finish this book in one sitting, I think it's safe to say that, for me, it is unputdownable.
I missed J.K. Rowling's writing style though the essence is still there and the Wizarding world never disappoints. The script format was at first confusing, what's with the lines describing someone entering and exiting the stage or the stage rotating and changing into a different scene, but it's fine since most HP readers are familiar with the places mentioned in the book already, it's just easy to imagine them.
It's a fantastic book for me but if I'm gonna rank all seven HP books and this one, this is gonna be in the last place. Maybe I just really miss the style where the whole story happens in a span of a school year and like I said, there where a few questionable moments here.
Now, there would be a few spoilers here so if you haven't read it yet and you hate spoilers, you may stop reading. I had my "Huh?" and "What???" reactions to these...
-- Maybe it's just me but I really need to have a talk with the sorting hat because I think Albus and Scorpius don't belong in Slytherin, they should be Gryffindors or Scorpius could also be in Ravenclaw.
-- Potterheads who have better memory than I have and are more into HP than I am, please correct me if I'm wrong but from what I know James and Lily Potter's house in Godric's Hollow in 1981 was under the Fidelius Charm so it should be invisible to people, wizards and Muggles alike, who haven't been told the secret. Voldemort was able to see the house because Wormtail, the secret-keeper, told him the secret. But in this book Albus and Scorpius, who went back in time, were able to see the house and its residents, they even took Harry's blanket and did some potion tricks on it. Even the members of the rescue party who went after the boys were able to observe what's happening in the house. I don't think it has something to do with them being from the future. Maybe it was an oversight, I don't know.
-- Polyjuice potion takes a while to make and when Albus suggested that they make a polyjuice potion to impersonate Voldemort nobody reacted that they don't have enough time, and both geeky Scorpius and Hermione were there, Ron just pointed out that they didn't have a piece of Voldemort to put into the potion. It's just so not Hermione-like to pass up at the chance to give that correction or information. And they also did a very poor job transforming Harry into Voldemort, Harry as Voldemort only lasted a few minutes. Is that how it is with human transformations? The younger Hermione did a better job transforming Ron into a new person when they needed to rob the Lestrange's vault by changing parts of his face. It wasn't mentioned but maybe that's not how they did it with Harry, transforming parts of him to look like Voldemort's.
-- Also, why was Snape alive in that other world where Harry died because Neville was killed and he wasn't able to kill Nagini. There was still a Battle of Hogwarts, only the good side didn't win. So Harry died early and Voldemort did't see the need to kill Snape for him to be the true master of the Elder Wand? Hmmm.... That can't be right.
Okay, I'm not going to be overly critical anymore because the fact is I enjoyed the book though it's far from being flawless. It's just natural I guess to be asking these questions.
Overall, I liked the book. Although it was quite a short piece, it was able to give the readers the idea with what's going on with the life of our beloved wizards and witches after the last book. No regrets making sure that I got a copy on the first day of the release and spending money on this. It's just unfortunate that it's impossible for me to see the play as it would cost me a fortune just to go there. Maybe they'll make it into a movie in the future? Fingers crossed.
I didn't expect much because I know that J.K. Rowling is just a part of the team behind this and didn't write the whole thing so I was prepared for the changes. I still enjoyed it and was very happy to explore the magical world of Harry Potter from a new book once again.