Harry Potter. A character and a series that defines a generation. Having grown up alongside Harry, Ron, and Hermione, the Harry Potter series has been near and dear to my heart since I first picked up The Sorcerer’s Stone. So when I learned that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was going to be published for us to read, I was both happy and hesitant – happy to see what more might be done and hesitant to have the ending from Deathly Hallows changed in my mind.

As Harry and Ginny’s son Albus first attends Hogwarts, the apprehension that Albus feels stems from his trying to live up to his father’s reputation and expectations. When Albus befriends Scorpious Malfoy and gets sorted into Slytherin, he becomes more and more distant from his father, and Harry’s temper eventually gets the best of him. When the opportunity arises that Albus can change the past, he takes it, not realizing the drastic and dark changes it could spark. Albus’s actions bring back the pain in Harry’s scar, leading him to fear the return of unspeakable evil and confront the consequences of his and his son’s actions.

A play is a different beast than a novel, and it’s always a touchy subject to revisit a cultural staple that played an integral part in people’s childhoods, but this play that visits the famed 19 years later in the Harry Potter world does a good job of developing the characters, both new and old alike so that it still has that Harry Potter feel. Events took place a little too rapidly for my preference, and it was filled with areas in the plot that raised more questions than it answered, but it was an entertaining foray into life after we left the story.

Overall, I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.