Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

This weekend around the campfire I read the nominally J. K. Rowling written Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, but I think the two other authors on the cover may have done more. It's a play and it reads like fanfic, although, in world were Brandon Sanderson completed The Wheel of Time, the line between canon and fanfic is a fairly blurry one. Even tweets are now sited as canon sources, with Andy Wier using them to troll his fans by declaring Whatney & Park from The Martian met and fell in love.

In this tale we find playwrights Tiffany and Thorne (yes, it's a play, not a novel) really wanting to redo Back to the Future Part II but with Harry Potter characters. Thus we find Albus Potter cast in the role of Marty McFly, travelling back in time to make the world better but mucking it up. He and his compadre Scorpius Malfoy's exploits at the Triwizard Tournament allow Biff, I mean, Voldemort to defeat Harry Potter so that Albus ends up not existing. Happy Voldemort Day!

In a typically Harry Potter fashion, however, the bad guy conceals herself and is only revealed as Voldemort's secret daughter in the third act. The team of Harry, Ron and Hermione gets back together and wizard battle ensues, this time in the past, in Godric's Hollow, just before Harry's parents are murdered by Voldemort. And everything is happily back to normal.

Of course, Harry's parents still have to die and Albus and his dad have a heartwarming bonding moment watching their murder. Because if Voldemort wasn't weakened in that battle then his plans for world domination would have been successful. That's more like the orginal series of Star Trek than Back to the Future I suppose.

It's still an enjoyable read though. And it'd be fun to see a high school troupe perform the play. Hopefully J. K. doesn't price it outside of the range of affordability for them.