Omg 8Th Harry Potter Book Just Announced !

[W_L]

JK Rowling Announced 8th Book "The Cursed Child"

 

Yay! My inner child is re-awakened and is ready for more magic, Quidditch, and slash fiction.

 

"Fan Girl Scream"

 

Seriously, I am so glad JK Rowling is continuing her stories and I can't wait to read of the post Voldemort era. Personally, I am holding out hope that she does allow a major character to be openly gay, bi, lesbian, or trans (in a world of magic, I'd think trans would be easier with just some polyjuice potion). The crowning jewel would be if either Albus, James, or Lily turn out to be LGBT and main characters, but I won't hold my hopes up so high.

[Drew Espinosa]

Well... this book will completely invalidate every fanfic of Harry Potter next generation

 

...but, I still hope Albus and Scorpius become bfs

[Bill W]

Since Jo is writing again, maybe she'll hire one of you to be the matchmaker.  

[Reader1810]

I guess I better read Book 7 then.  I've only had it since it was first published.

[Graeme]

From what I've read, the book is the publication of the stage play. She bowed to pressure from fans who weren't going to be able to get to London to see the play and asked for the script to be published.

[Bill W]

From what I've read, the book is the publication of the stage play. She bowed to pressure from fans who weren't going to be able to get to London to see the play and asked for the script to be published.

Graeme, are you saying this is in script format, rather than like her other books? 

[Emi GS]

Ok!!! Now can I scream like W_L...

[Graeme]

Graeme, are you saying this is in script format, rather than like her other books? 

That's what I read. To be precise, the script is being "adapted for publication". According to another article, this will be the "special rehearsal edition" version of the story, allowing the play's creative team to modify the production, with a "definitive collector's edition" coming out later.

 

Different Internet articles are saying different things, but that first link includes the link to her website where she made the announcement, so you can go there for the exact statement of what will be published. Even if that may not be particularly illuminating....

Edited February 11, 2016 by Graeme

[W_L]

That's what I read. To be precise, the script is being "adapted for publication". According to another article, this will be the "special rehearsal edition" version of the story, allowing the play's creative team to modify the production, with a "definitive collector's edition" coming out later.

 

Different Internet articles are saying different things, but that first link includes the link to her website where she made the announcement, so you can go there for the exact statement of what will be published. Even if that may not be particularly illuminating....

 

I am fine with reading English plays, the Brits have a decent history of adapting plays to stories and vice versa.

 

 

Well... this book will completely invalidate every fanfic of Harry Potter next generation

 

...but, I still hope Albus and Scorpius become bfs

 

They're so cute in the fan fics

 

Which brings up an interesting thought, I will check with Renee later, since we do have a HP section in GA and playwrights are far and between among us.

[Krista]

If she can come up with a villain that could top Voldy, I wouldn't mind seeing the next gen thwarting him or her. She did write those book really well. Actually a really strong female villain would be a nice change of pace from what I've been reading lately. lol

Edited February 13, 2016 by Krista

[RocksPapersNScissors]

I was super stoked when I heard about this~!!

[comicfan]

Yes the book is the screen play. Rumors are there might be books using the film's with more detail as a prequel to HP so we can hope. Jo hasn't said yes or no yet.

[Ardisia]

Enjoyed all the other Hp books and films so I'm hoping this will make an interesting addition to the Hp collection.

[Kitt]

I guess I better read Book 7 then.  I've only had it since it was first published.

Well what is taking you so long?  I finished the dang thing the first time in 22 h 35 min the day I got it! (Well that day and the next.)  I did go back and read it a second time after my daughter finished it, just to be sure I didn't miss little details.

[Reader1810]

Well what is taking you so long?  I finished the dang thing the first time in 22 h 35 min the day I got it! (Well that day and the next.)  I did go back and read it a second time after my daughter finished it, just to be sure I didn't miss little details.

 

 

I'm really not sure what happened, but I'm guessing something "shinier" distracted me. One thing led to another and a bunch of years passed. I'll get to it soon. I hope...

[W_L]

I'm not going to create a new thread, because I am deeply disappointed in the 8th book.

 

I knew it was a play, but either the Brits have changed their literary values to a low standard for your playwrights or the actors must have been adding libs non-stop to cover the woeful plot, the stupid twist device (Hint Voldy's Seed of Chucky concept is so woefully bad), and yes, the suspension of belief in character choices.

 

Sure, I'm glad Albus is a Slytherin and besties with Scorpius (Not LGBT relationship though ), but come on, Albus never really got a chance to shine as a character, not to mention the stupid time jump in the play that skipped potential story elements for several years at Hogwarts.

 

Oh and about the issue of time skips, I won't reveal the entire plot, but I'll just say this, Time Travel is not a plot in on itself, it is a medium for telling stories and not a story, which The Cursed child abuses non-stop.

 

As for the emotional heart of the story, look I get it Goblet of Fire was good and Harry probably has a lot of grief over all the people who died defending him during the Wizard world war against Voldemort, but seriously, you center your entire emotional core on Cedric Diggory (I don't care if he was Edward in Twilight, it makes no sense), really honestly J.K Rowling, you could do so much better and I seriously hope the rumors that she did not write this play are true and that she was just in need of money for some reason (Even if it makes me feel dirty inside, at least she only sold out and not really think this was a good storyline for her series to end on or begin again with).

 

There are so many more deserving characters with emotional connections to Harry's life like Black, Dumbledore, or especially Snape (I'd have love to see that as the center of the emotional drama for all the characters, if someone deserved a longer epilogue it would be Snape).

 

No, the story/play/crap hack writing is awfully wooden, contrived, and I hope is to be removed from canonical material. This is not an 8th book, it is fan-fiction that may make fortunes for the curious fans that go into it blindly hoping fo another magical journey into their childhood, but who find it hollow and shallow.

Edited August 6, 2016 by W_L

[Arpeggio]

I didn't read the book but read a synopsis. I probably will read the script but it seems like a fan fiction big time. Voldemort always came off as too megalomaniacal to have children. The only thing I liked immediately was Albus being in slytherin.

[Myr]

Since I still have twitch at the thought of reading crap from Shakespeare or and that other crap from literature in 'play format', there is no way in hell I'm reading the book.  I picked it up in the store long enough to verify it wasn't a book and tossed it right back on the rack where it belonged.

 

Give me a book or give me a film.  don't give me a friggin script.

[Zombie]

I don't understand this thread. It's a play, not a book. Would you read a recipe and then conclude "well, that was a crap meal"?

 

Unless it's to study a "classic", who buys the scripts of plays? Who would want to read the script of Phantom of the Opera?

 

The whole point is to see the performance. So go and see it.

 

The current performance has had good reviews

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-is-pure-magic---review/

[Graeme]

I don't understand this thread. It's a play, not a book.

Check the first post. The thread is about the 'book' of the play that is being sold as the 8th book in the series. It isn't about the play, per se.

[Zombie]

Check the first post. The thread is about the 'book' of the play that is being sold as the 8th book in the series. It isn't about the play, per se.

 

 

the thread is still pointless since no-one here seems to have seen the play and therefore have first hand praise or criticism to make

 

TV companies publish scripts of TV shows e.g. Fawlty Towers. Does anyone wade in to find fault with the "book" of those shows? No, because with a play or TV show it is all about the production and performance of the script (unless you're studying the text).

[Graeme]

The thread isn't pointless because the script wasn't advertised or sold as a script for the play, it was advertised and sold as the 8th book in the series. It is therefore a legitimate complaint if it's not up to scratch as an 8th book. Plot elements are also worth talking about because they will still be relevant regardless of whether you read the script or watch the play. The play, itself, may be very entertaining and popular, but that's a different discussion. The hype was on the book, not the play (which many of us can't go see because it's not in our countries -- the book is).

[Zombie]

The thread isn't pointless because the script wasn't advertised or sold as a script for the play

 

um, yes it is

 

 

The book jacket clearly states "A new play by Jack Thorne" and "Special Rehearsal Edition Script"

 

It's unfair for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to have been dismissed in this thread as crap and wooden hack writing and trash it for failing to provide the "magical journey" delivered by the novels because, duh, it's just a script And play scripts, like movie screenplays, have to be written differently from novels because they do different jobs. And they are not mass consumer products. It's like comparing the proverbial chalk and cheese. The Independent made this clear in its review:

"as fantastic as the production was, racing through the script was never going to compare. Where stage theatrics sparked imaginations, now there are brief lines quickly explaining huge set-ups; everyone knew the script couldn’t compete with the stage production, begging the question, should this have ever been released in this format?

 

An example of the script being unmeasurable against the production comes in act one, scene four. It starts with the explanation: “And now we enter a world of time changing. And this Scene is all about magic.” In these few pages our hero, Albus Severus Potter, goes from being sorted into a Hogwarts house in his first year to rushing onto the Express in his third. Along the way, we’re treated to a brief Quidditch lesson, Great Hall assembly, and a Potions lesson, but they’re all so brief we hardly get a flavour of what is actually happening.

 

On stage, it was one of the play’s greatest scenes; fast pace but with vivid imagery. If The Cursed Child was perhaps written as a book this could have been built on but, in these pages, we barely get a taste of these formative years. It’s so quick, so little is said, readers will race through, given little direction as what is happening.

 

Another example comes when the new generation of wizards drink a Polyjuice Potion. In previous books and on stage, it was utterly hilarious as Rowling’s heroes transformed, yet, as a script, the scene passes by rapidly, the humour and magic lost."

 

 

So if there's criticism to make it should be about JKR agreeing to this publication. But, hey, the play's a success so it will soon go global

 

[Graeme]

Apparently the advertising the UK was different to that in Australia. It was advertised as the "8th book" here. The cover may be more accurate, but that's not the way it was advertised.

[W_L]

Apparently the advertising the UK was different to that in Australia. It was advertised as the "8th book" here. The cover may be more accurate, but that's not the way it was advertised.

 

Don't worry Graeme, he's just trying to troll the thread by just reading my first post and ignoring what we learned as more information came out. He knows that it was marketed as the 8th book and that we all found out it was a play, which some of us embraced despite the fact. That's just the way Zombie is, he's a fun guy if you want to have a shouting match with..

 

I was excited for the "8th book"  even if it was in play form before it got publish. It just fell flat for me as I read it.

 

Here's my criticism again:

 

I'm not going to create a new thread, because I am deeply disappointed in the 8th book.

 

I knew it was a play, but either the Brits have changed their literary values to a low standard for your playwrights or the actors must have been adding libs non-stop to cover the woeful plot, the stupid twist device (Hint Voldy's Seed of Chucky concept is so woefully bad), and yes, the suspension of belief in character choices.

 

Sure, I'm glad Albus is a Slytherin and besties with Scorpius (Not LGBT relationship though ), but come on, Albus never really got a chance to shine as a character, not to mention the stupid time jump in the play that skipped potential story elements for several years at Hogwarts.

 

Oh and about the issue of time skips, I won't reveal the entire plot, but I'll just say this, Time Travel is not a plot in on itself, it is a medium for telling stories and not a story, which The Cursed child abuses non-stop.

 

As for the emotional heart of the story, look I get it Goblet of Fire was good and Harry probably has a lot of grief over all the people who died defending him during the Wizard world war against Voldemort, but seriously, you center your entire emotional core on Cedric Diggory (I don't care if he was Edward in Twilight, it makes no sense), really honestly J.K Rowling, you could do so much better and I seriously hope the rumors that she did not write this play are true and that she was just in need of money for some reason (Even if it makes me feel dirty inside, at least she only sold out and not really think this was a good storyline for her series to end on or begin again with).

 

There are so many more deserving characters with emotional connections to Harry's life like Black, Dumbledore, or especially Snape (I'd have love to see that as the center of the emotional drama for all the characters, if someone deserved a longer epilogue it would be Snape).

 

No, the story/play/crap hack writing is awfully wooden, contrived, and I hope is to be removed from canonical material. This is not an 8th book, it is fan-fiction that may make fortunes for the curious fans that go into it blindly hoping fo another magical journey into their childhood, but who find it hollow and shallow.

 

 

As for Book to play or Play to book; a good play translate well to Book like Henrik Ibsen or Arthur Miller. A poor play that depends on gimmicks to get attention, like a play based off a Disney movie, is only there for money (Lion King, Aladdin, and Beauty+Beast). This storyline/play falls into the latter; perhaps the BBC, Independent, and others may add on praise for actors and stage-work, which are deserved, but if a plot is weak, it cannot truly deserve real praise for what it is.

 

When you read a play, there is no way to hide the flaws in a story, if it is barely a plot, then you are naked to the world's criticisms.

Edited August 10, 2016 by W_L