With almost a decade since the last Harry Potter book, the mention of new additions became a fervor of reminiscing and introduction to a new generation.

The book, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” excited readers. Although not written by J.K., she had endorsed and made the book solidified as what would happen.

The day the book came out, it reminded me of a smaller scale of the crowds from the original series. Getting there at midnight, dressing up, and waiting around talking to other people purely about Harry Potter. The book brought the magic back for a little while.

I finished the book in one night but after the first chapters I had to force myself to continue.

There was a major warning sign as to why the book disappointed me, the fact that it was meant to be a play so it would no longer have the careful attention to detail that became a Rowling stamp.

Maybe with the play, you could invoke the feeling and draw out the audience from the Harry Potter shell.

This is coming from someone who has read the books countless times and whose global destination was Universal Studios, “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.” I was prepared to love the book even if it was mediocre.

But the book was just strange.

It centered on Harry Potter’s child named Albus Severus and Scorpius Malfoy (Draco’s boy) and time traveling back to “Goblet of Fire.”

(Spoilers from here on)

The book was written like it was half-assed. My expectations were high and they were never once touched. There are shout-outs to almost every character whether living or dead to the point where it became an obvious gimmick.

The plot was “Prisoner of Azkaban” but done poorly. When finished with the book it feels like I read for four hours for nothing.

The character development was absent. There were opportunities to present an LGBTQ+ couple between the two main characters, which would have given the book some life. But instead made the conversations progressively awkward and a weird love triangle with the villain of the story. It seemed like they had 20 different ideas and all of them would have been great if they went for it but instead tried to put all these strange ideas together and it became hogwash.

But the thing that made me step away from the book was the Bellatrix and Voldemort lovechild. It quickly went from being tolerable to badly written fan-fiction that was trying to emulate a crappy soap opera.

I would give the book two out of ten stars because it did get a chuckle or two out of me during the beginning. But since J.K. did put her mark of approval, I am going to be apprehensive about reading the new books she is said to be working on.