Harry Potter And The Cursed Child: 7 Ups & 3 Downs
Is the new Harry Potter story a blessing or a curse?
The eighth story. Nineteen years later.
That's the billing for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which shares the titling and some of the characters of the original series, but not its writer. Although J.K Rowling helped create and oversee the story, it's written by playwright Jack Thorne, and isn't actually a book; it's a script.
Still, that wasn't going to stop Pottermania striking up again. For the first time in almost a decade, fans were queuing up at midnight for a new Harry Potter book, with special events at bookshops across the globe.
The enthusiasm comes not just because it's another - ostensibly the 'eighth' - Potter story, but because the play, which recently opened in London, has been receiving rave reviews. Most fans, though, aren't able to experience it on stage, and so we have the book, to fill the void and tell the tale. Does it stack up to the other stories? Has the magic transferred from stage to page? Let's take a look.