Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, J.K.Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne (version translated into Danish)
I understand if you dislike this one, but I actually liked it. Let me tell you why you might dislike it and why I did not:
I got this super cheap on sale in a nice hardcover first edition and could not resist purchasing it. I guess the reason it was cheap was that it is a lot less popular than the previous novels about Harry Potter though.
Why I liked it
With all the reservations about this not being a novel (see later) and that if you are really into Harry Potter you will likely be disappointed (see later), I actually loved reading it.
Why?
I guess I just missed Harry and "his universe" more than I thought, so for me the play was both magic and fun.
The second reason: I got it at a bargain. Nothing wrong with that!
Why people disliked it - and why I understand
On SoMe many people dislike this novel, one of the reasons being that it is in fact not a novel at all but a play. The text contains only short intros to each scene and then the actor’s lines. For this reason, reading the first few pages is not enjoyable, but then I got used to it, and it was fine for me.
Some fans of Harry Potter dislikes this play, and I actually agree with lots of the points they raise, there are things in the plot that does not make sense, and Harry Potter only has a few lines in the play, so it’s a stretch to put "Harry Potter" in the title, and I understand why some people would say that this all about "making money," then again I don't really have a problem with making money, as long as I enjoy the outcome, so...
It's just a story folks
An example of one of the things in the play that makes less sense than it should, is how the grownup versions of Ron, Hermione and Harry is acting. Grownup Ron acts more childish than he did as a teenager, Hermione has a fancy position at the ministry but seems to have gotten more stupid over the years too, and I can understand why Harry might not be the best parent after the upbringing he had to endure, but I doubt he would be quite this shitty.
Then again, all three characters are not very important in the play, it’s all about the next generation and time travel.
Then why are you writing this Rune - you only write about stuff you like!
Well, if you look at it from a writers view, I think that some fans can get stuck on "if a character acted one way in the books I love, or the world worked a certain way (in the fan’s subjective optics), then everything damn well stay the same in the next book!!!!”
In reality however, sometimes people do change. They get hurt, or sick, or older, or disillusioned, or simply act strangely once in a while (from an outside perspective). Things and people change, even if that change might be scary.
For all I know Ron is trying to embrace his inner child, so he is acting like one, Hermione might be so stressed at work, that she is missing obvious things and Harry could suffer from PTSD, and that is why he is feeling like crap and end up treating his son badly.
Whether the changes are actually caused by the play being mostly written by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne (and not J.K.Rowling), I have no way of knowing, but it could also be that the grown-up’s lines is not what they actually say, but what the children think they mean?
Then again I'm just trying to make sense of it, and to be honest I don't lose any sleep over it. Don't get me wrong, I like Harry plenty, but as I read hundreds of fantasy books before I ever heard of him, I have never been "fanatic" about the series, and I thought the spin offs with the fantastic creatures were kind of boring, sorry to say. I like this play better.
/Rune S. Nielsen