Books Blog: books.elliottback.com

After selling 8.3 million copies in the US in just 24 hours, Harry Potter 7 is billed as the “the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling’s magical series.” We, however, having read the novel, could not agree less with J.K. Rowling and her publisher Scholastic’s publicity-drumming campaign of artificial supply restriction. For we believe that there will be more Harry Potter novels in the future.

Now, if you haven’t finished the series yet, go away because we might ruin the ending!

A mashup of HP covers

There are two reasons that an author continues a series. One is the fun of writing the characters he’s dreamed into life. The other is money. For JK Rowling, Harry Potter offers her both opportunities, a temptation that we believe will be too hard to resist.

One of the Guardian Book blogs argues the financial point indirectly. They claim that over time the Harry Potter series will generate decreasingly exponential interest, and thus revenue. They hold out for a bright spot, but it’s true that Harry Potter is a series of big bangs and a short “long tail.”

The real indicator is that Harry Potter is still alive at the end of HP7. That last chapter, 19 years in the future, indicates that the world of Muggles and Magic still exists in basically the form it had before Voldemort emerged. The whole point of the Harry Potter series is a fight against evil, and once that evil is vanquished–as it is in HP7 without lasting consequence–the world returns to normal, fertile grounds for a sequel. After all, why introduce us to Harry and Ginny’s spawn unless you plan to develop them in the future?

Check this out, someone got a 0day copy of HP7 through some nefarious means and has released these spoilers:

• Hagrid was killed by Snape in the attempt of ambush Hermione and Ron
• Voldemort killed Hermione.
• Harry came up, killed all the bad guys and Hogwarts against became a good place to stay and have fun.
• Draco Malfoy started to create Horcrux

Interesting. He claims to have infiltrated Bloomsbury Publishing with an email exploit he used to snag the file. But, his predictions are extremely generic and could be ripped from any fanfic forum. Do you believe him?

So far I’m highly skeptical that a man long dead can produce a book, except by black arts. According to Christopher Tolkien, the author proper, his father painstakingly collected the pieces of the legend into a complete story told only in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien. I don’t buy it; it seems like just another publicity stunt to milk his inheritance. However, if you want to buy this book, Amazon will definitely sell you a copy:

I do love this Amazon review, though: “In Children of Hurin we are again drilled with endless, boring lists of places and names (all of which rhyme of course: Joe, son of Bloe, cousin of Schmoe, sister of Doe, father of Moe, Foe, and Hoe). In the meantime, those of us that purchased a FICTION book to read an actual STORY are left snoozing in our chairs after having to sift through endless page upon page of descriptions of boring people and boring things that mostly have no relevance to the story.”

Here’s the cover of JK Rowling’s grande finale to the Harry Potter series.

One book you absolutely have to read is Paul Coelho’s Portuguese masterpiece The Alchemist. At its core is simplicity, the urge to follow your own dreams wherever they might take you.

For just $12 at Amazon it’s an experience you’ll never quite forget, magic infused with naivete, curiosity and adventure.  Perhaps after reading it you’ll be motivated to leave your home, begin selling trinkets in a foreign country, optimize the business you work for, fall in love, fight a war, and return to home to live the “life ever after.”  If ever there were a movie candidate in a book, this would be one!