At long last! Pixabay (CC)

Some of my favorite memories I had as a kid were attending the midnight release parties of the Harry Potter books. The atmosphere and the buzz of these release parties was unlike anything else. Hundreds of people packed into small bookstores armed with wands, black robes, and Starbucks coffee, all ready to pull an all-nighter to be the first person to finish the latest behemoth of a book. And like many others, I reread the books many times over after the initial release.

So like many other people, I was pretty ecstatic when Harry Potter and the Cursed Child got announced a little while back. Yes, it's not a book (it's a play that's been published in book form) and yes, it's not technically written by J.K. Rowling but just the thought of getting back into the Harry Potter universe and breathing in some of the new ideas in her head, was easily enough to get me roped in.

Also, had a lot of fun at the release party with my brothers and hundreds of other people!

Find some of my quick thoughts below (as well as some spoiler thoughts below that)!

• I did not expect that many people to be at the midnight release party but, I'm glad there were.
• Apparently, I'm also getting old (but so were many of the people there)!
• Butterbeer frappuccinos are good for the first five minutes, then the sweetness becomes overwhelming.
• Oh, the book you say? Yeah that was pretty good! Wasn't at all what I was expecting (but to be fair, I'm not sure what I was expecting...)
• The book is a play, not a traditional Harry Potter novel. You definitely notice this the first 10 pages or so and wish it was a traditional novel but after that, you sort of forget about it.
• The run-time for the play is about 5 hours from what I hear and it took a pretty-tired Sanjay about 2 hours to read it.
• Definitely would recommend reading it if you are a Harry Potter fan, it's definitely the biggest wrinkle in the Harry Potter universe since The Deathly Hallows, in my opinion. I wouldn't, however, go into it expecting Harry Potter, or a continuation of it. A lot of people are pretty disappointed with it because they had too high expectations (and for many valid reasons as well, but you'll have to go to the spoilers for that!).
• But yeah, read it especially so you can read my thoughts on the the play, below!

Like actually, don't ruin it if you haven't read it, it's not worth it.

• VOLDERMORT HAS A KID?! WHAT?! WHAT?!
• And it's Bellatrix's?! Ready for me to blow your mind? The following is an excerpt from The Deathly Hallows (Bellatrix talking to Voldemort):






• Always planting seeds, J.K. Rowling is...
• Moaning Myrtle? --> Myrtle Elizabeth Warren
• Time Turners on steroids? I don't know how I feel about that...
• Speaking of things I don't know how I feel about? VOLDERMORT HAVING A KID. WITH BELLATRIX. I don't think I'll ever get over that... It's just so un-Voldermort (Voldermort doesn't love) and I don't think it fits at all honestly.
• What's up with the trolley witch? And Harry's boggart is a pigeon?
• So one or two events change the decency of a person (Cedric Diggory)? I don't quite buy that (I also didn't care for the implications of some of the other time arcs but that's another story).
• Ron is literally the joke of everything. Why.
• Harry hasn't seemed to have grown up. I'm pretty sad about that.
• Speaking of people not coming off well, what's up with Rose?
• I liked the Hagrid part quite a bit, even if it was just for a couple of pages.
• While Harry was falling in love with Ginny in The Half-Blood Prince, Voldermort and Bellatrix were...nope, nope, that image is not going to get stuck in my head tonight.

So yeah, after typing that all out, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it all. I'm not as critical about it as many people have been because I went in with realistic expectations but I definitely raised an eyebrow or two. Would still recommend it for a read though!

ABOUT SANJAY

Ukulele strummer, milk enthusiast, and sushi connoisseur. Was the leading scorer on my amateur soccer team last season. I'm also a true nerd at heart and an aspiring rocket scientist.