Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 & 2 by J.K.Rowling, et. al.

It was wonderful to head back into the world of Harry Potter, although I did put off reading this book. As much as I love this series, I wasn't sure reading a script (vs a fully descriptive narrative,) would do it for me, but thanks to the imagery already established in the original books and movies, Harry's world is already so vivid, I was able to fill in the narrative blanks myself to complete the picture of this story.

At this point, Harry is a busy, working dad still grappling with residual fame from defeating Lord Voldemort. His middle child, Albus, is struggling as well, living in his father's shadow and viewing himself as the 'imperfect' son. It makes sense. One can easily imagine how hard it would be living in the shadow and dealing with the immense expectations of an extremely famous father. It gets worse for Albus when he's sorted into Slytherin and becomes best friends with Draco Malfoy's son. Both boys feel like outcasts as a result of their parents. How could they not bond together? Their solution, however to remedy this issue leads to an assortment of problems. Messing with time always leads to problems when you're not careful, especially when you radically change the past. 

I won't give anything else away as far as the radical events that take place as the boys mess with the timeline we've come to know, because there's something else at the heart of this book. Beyond the excitement and adventure set into motion by one, little time turner are two very powerful and universal themes: the past shapes who we are, and we cannot change that, and parents and children can find common ground to form a connection with each other no matter how out-of-reach it may feel.

I found this story more powerful than the novels. Maybe because, as a script, it was forced to be concise and tell a succinct story rather than get caught up in the descriptions of a narrative. I really enjoyed the play and haven't read anything so quickly in a long time. 

This is a must-read, if you haven't read it already, for all Harry Potter fans, especially those who have been missing the wizarding world.