Dude... were you not reading the previous many posts!? We're figuring out who R.A.B. may have been

According to the local paper, and talking with my ex-coworkers, libraries have had to sign a hellish contract to get copies of the book. You have to specify who will be handling all of the copies, etc, etc. Breach of contract is implied to be a very, very bad thing, probably related to Scholastic smearing your name with publishers and/or simply suing you into bankruptcy.

I don't understand the craze about locking down the book. From a commerce perspective, there's a good reason to make sure all retailers play fair and don't release the book. But I don't understand the plot secrecy. Most people just release books and that's it. I think the contractual obligations are a little unfair--RMS wanted people to boycott Harry Potter because of a UK court order telling people who got it early that they were "forbidden to read" the book. I agree that those types of rulings are just ludicrous.

I also take a dim view of "deliberately spoiling" it. If you want a spoiler site, fine. If the fans don't have self-control and look, that's their fault. Just put up warnings, but don't spam it or broadcast it to spoil people's view.

ETA: They're even mad at the times for a book review 2 days before the release of the book. Jeez. There's only one (minor spoiler) paragraph in that review that hints at the plot, and that's so vague as to be negligible.

The publishers obviously want to hype the secrecy, because that makes it seem interesting and important and is likely to sell more books. The public responds in three ways: the fans go "Squeee!" and get excited, the non-fans (the decent ones - I'm looking at YOU, blastron) go "Meh, whatever," and the scum of the world go "Hmm... people seem to care about this. Perhaps I shall ruin it for them!". The publishers obviously don't want the plot wrecked, because that will probably lead to less books sold - hence, the lockdown. The vast majority of people don't mind about the lockdown because they either don't care, or are fans.

NY times, wtf?!?!?! Who posts a review of a book that was stupidly released early and the company that did it is already having legal action taken against them. I mean seriously, whoever decided it was a good idea should probably be fired. I don't know what was actually posted in that review because I'm not going to risk finding out -anything-, but it still shouldn't have been published in the first time. I mean jesus, it's two days away now. Were they seriously that desperate to try and win glory for having the first review?

I mean, it seems stupid when I tell people that I'm going to be mad if anyone ruins the book for me, but seriously. I've waited 10 years for this finale, I've been speculating and rereading the books over the past two years trying to come up with my own theories, listening to the theories of others. I want to be able to read the book and be continously surprised by it, I want to be able to read it and speculate as I go along. I don't want someone to shout or tell me the ending because they think it would be "funny" and then for me to go and read it and know why everything happens the way it does. That already happened to me with the fifth book and the end of it and frankly, it sucked. I spent the entire time thinking about what was GOING to happen and when it did I couldn't care less because I had already known.

The secrecy and surprise is what makes it so much better. Think about watching Fight Club for the first time and already knowing the end. Not such a great movie, is it.

I'm pretty sure most fans feel that way and it really disgusts me that people don't care about it, it's just inconsiderate really.

I read the review. It didn't reveal a thing except that it's a good book. They do admit that they had a copy because they bought one at a store when it was accidentally put out. It wasn't an advance copy, they shouldn't have had the book. I wonder if scholastic is going to do anything to them.

Actually, the review also tells you some plot details that cannot be gleaned from just reading the name of the book as well as the number of characters that die and what happens to others without telling names. Even mentions what a Deathly Hollow is in the HP universe. There are more spoilers there than I would have liked to see, but all in all I'm even more excited about the book.

I'm so glad I didn't read the review.

25 hours to go! Here, anyway.

Thanks to whichever mod is keeping the tagline of this thread semi-up to date.

Oh, so now that you agree with him RMS is no longer a dangerous hippy-commie-subversive?

OMG OMG OMG! 16 hours and 15 minutes to go!

I'm allowed to use that emoticon, I'm a Shadowdancer.

Gonna be a long day. Going to college in half an hour, staying until 2, coming home to change and relax... and then going for a meal with my chumbuddies, then to see OOTP, then queing up from like 8PM to get the book.

If I don't make it, tell my wife I love her

You guys are aware it was leaked already?

All my answers on the poll are based off of what happens in the actual book.

And btw, if you haven't read it, prepare to be disappointed in the epilogue.

I'd like to rank the books like this:

4 > 6 > 1 > 3 > 7 > 5 > 2

J.K. Rowling could've done a lot more with the finale of a major book series but she did not. Lame.

Ah, J.K. Rowling. Such an imagination. Such a terrific lack of talent for writing.

(Sigh--You do spend a little more time holding grudges against people on the forums who disagree with you than is healthy. And get over your ageism).

If you go back and read my arguments, Verithrax, I never said everything out of his mouth was bad or evil. I do think he's a bit naive and a little bit crazy, but I do agree with him on some points, such as the right to read, and not to use copyright law as a method for censorship. I don't agree with his rejection of the term IP, or his fanatical approach to things. (Virtually nobody would follow his call for a Harry Potter boycott).



This happens all the time for movies. A movie can open in New York only and be reviewed. It's not a criminal act to write reviews. I see no problem with it. The only people who can get in trouble are bookstores who had a contract. The times review is very fair and doesn't go into many plot details. They have the right to do it. People don't have to read it.

Yeah, I hear it kinda sucks, really. She kills someone off every three chapters, causes widespread devastation, and introduces very little that is new or even surprising. The very idea of an epilogue that tells us what happens to the surviving characters is fairly cliché as well. Please, just end the book with a climax and a delightful little sentence about Harry's scar fading away.

I think I might give that massive, well-written fanfiction version that was being circulated as the full text of Book 7 a while back a shot if I hate the "real" version.

Edit: This is all hearsay, I have no reliable source on any of this information, so I consider this unreliable and Not A Spoiler. Plus, you'd have to be fairly dense not to see this coming.

That was actually the truth. :S Yeah, I followed the series up to five, after it, it got too....not my case. And this book just seems so uck.

I'm holding my legally purchased copy.

Reading now.

Woo Reading it now

I wouldn't highlight this if you don't like spoilers.



I'm a helper!

Spoilerful, but actual commentary and not just spoilers.