Well, I ended up adding Dark House to my TBR thanks to your glowing recommendation of the series. I didn't read too much of your reviews for them so I can go in as unspoiled as possible, and because it seems our taste aligns well enough that your thumbs up along with reading the blurbs was enough to catch my interest.

I agree that Cursed Child was not what I was expecting from the series, although I don't really consider it "the 8th book" or anything, mainly because it is not an actual novel, but a play. It was a little challenging to get into the new format at first, but there were some characters I really loved (Scorpius Malfoy, mainly) and some scenes that made me laugh so much. I agree it was a little bit like fanfic, but that isn't a problem for me, since I read plenty of that as well. Overall, it is definitely skippable, but I derived enough enjoyment from it that I don't regret reading it.

I also found the protagonist of Artemis to be fairly unlikeable, and later read a review that mentioned that she hit all the same notes and humor as the author's male protagonist in The Martian. Once it was pointed out, I could completely see it. She never felt like a female character to me, at all. A lot of her jokes and sensibilities seemed out of place for both her character and the setting. I ended up liking the book ok, maybe 2.5-3 stars, but disliked the protagonist a lot. I haven't read the other book, but it sounds interesting. I like this juxtaposition type of review. I just found your blog, but I'm going to be wandering a while to check it out!