First reviews of The Casual Vacancy: J.K Rowling has gone from 'Potter to potty-mouth'

THE first reviews for J.K Rowling's new book, The Casual Vacancy are in. The Verdict? This. Is. Not. A. Children's. Book.

THE first reviews for J.K Rowling's new book, The Casual Vacancy are in. The Verdict? This. Is. Not. A. Children's. Book.

For those looking for wizards, spells and all the things that made the Harry Potter series magical, critics have warned that you're not going to find it in Rowling's first adults-only novel.

More: Rowling not ruling out another Potter book

Early reviews of the book have described it as "no masterpiece", suggesting that Rowling has gone from "Potter to potty-mouth" in profanity-laden excess.

While some have praised the "emotion" in the novel and the author's ability to make her characters complex and human, others have criticised it as "dull" and drowning in misery.

But any lacklustre reviews haven't stopped fans whipping themselves into a frenzy as they await the simultaneous global release of the book at 5pm AEST today.

Pre-order figures already had the novel at No. 1 on the Amazon website by yesterday afternoon.

Pre-sales in the UK have also reportedly topped 1 million copies, with booksellers expected it to be the best-selling fiction title of the year.

Here's what the critics had to say:

The Guardian:
Theo Tait writes: "The Casual Vacancy is no masterpiece, but it's not bad at all: intelligent, workmanlike, and often funny. I could imagine it doing well without any association to the Rowling brand, perhaps creeping into the Richard and Judy Book Club, or being made into a three-part TV serial. The fanbase may find it a bit sour, as it lacks the Harry Potter books' warmth and charm; all the characters are fairly horrible or suicidally miserable or dead. But the worst you could say about it, really, is that it doesn't deserve the media frenzy surrounding it."

The Telegraph UK:
Allison Pearson writes: "The Casual Vacancy, JK Rowling’s first adult novel, is sometimes funny, often startlingly well observed, and full of cruelty and despair. One teenager cuts herself to relieve her misery, another commits suicide. Online pornography is described in gynaecological detail. JK Rowling bewilders her fans with an uneven, often harrowing book. Three stars."

The New York Times:
Sherryl Connelly writes: "J .K. Rowling has gone from Potter to potty-mouth. She shows herself proficient at tossing out the F-word ... Most of the language she uses to describe the naughty surfing is so dirty that we can’t repeat it in a family newspaper. The Casual Vacancy, which one bookseller breathlessly predicted would be the biggest novel of the year, isn’t dreadful. It’s just dull. Rowling’s strength was never her prose. It was her ability to create unforgettable characters and weave stories that held us captive. The magic simply isn’t there in “The Casual Vacancy.”

The New Yorker:
Ian Parker writes: The Casual Vacancy will certainly sell, and it may also be liked. .But whereas Rowling’s shepherding of readers was, in the Harry Potter series, an essential asset, in “The Casual Vacancy” her firm hand can feel constraining. She leaves little space for the peripheral or the ambiguous; hidden secrets are labelled as hidden secrets, and events are easy to predict. We seem to watch people move around Pagford as if they were on Harry’s magical parchment map of Hogwarts.

The Associated Press:
Deepti Hajela writes: ”This is not a book that’s easy to fall in love with, the way Harry Potter was with its charming, winning hero and his plucky friends, saving the world from evil with the help of a powerful spell or two. Even with its moments of humor, it’s a hard story where some people just don’t get saved, because really, they never had a chance. It’s filled with often-unlikeable people, some of whom cross the line into terrible. They’re all unhappy in one way or another, even if the only people who know that are themselves, if that. They can be judgmental, mean, petty and violent. Some are damaged beyond repair.” The Associated Press.

And if you want to get your hands on a copy, bookstores and retailers across Australia will open their boxes at 5pm today in NSW, QLD and VIC, 3pm in WA and 4.30pm in SA and the NT.