Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm so disappointed. I wanted to love this...I love Harry Potter and everything about the Harry Potter world. I wanted to immerse myself in 320 pages of old friends and new friends and love it. Instead, I put the book down as I finished it and just thought "eh." 1) The plot -- weak beyond weak. 'Going back in time causes changes in the present' is one of the oldest 'what ifs' in history, and authors have used it beautifully to explore possibilities (see Amazon's original series Man in the High Castle for a great example!) Unfortunately, this book used the "what if" as a cheesy excuse to stick scenes from past books in almost word for word. Not only that, but the "effects" of the "changes" were weak and not substantiated by the cannon of Harry Potter. 2) The characters -- see the above...if you're a Harry Potter superfan you know these characters like your own best friends - but even if all you've done is read the books, you still have clear expectations of characters. Rowling's series is YA literature, and despite the classes that have tried to read depth into them, the characters are unarguably clear. Having those characters change dramatically in a story with no catalyst besides "getting older" or "thinking" is a huge plot weakness. (I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, but Harry not being Harry, Hermione and Ron almost completely negligible - characters of themselves, Draco?? ) 3) The writing....this is the death knell in my eyes. It doesn't ring with JK Rowling's language. Reading this is basically like reading a cliff notes version of a weak fan fiction piece. The language, the voice, the diction -- all of it basic and weak. Don't try to tell me it's because it's a play.....I read plays fairly frequently, and depth and beauty of language is even more important on stage -- see Tennessee Williams, or even Miranda's recent Hamilton. This just feels rushed and forced. I'm sure great actors could make it feel better - but as a pure script it fails. Overall, my final review is that this feels like a very weak attempt to keep the Harry Potter money train moving forward. I hate to say anything against Rowling, but this is clearly NOT her work...and why she would put her name on it is beyond me unless she just wants the money. My suggestion -- check it out from the library, don't waste your money.