Potter’s final bow | Feature

It's been nearly a decade since the adolescent, bespectacled wizard Harry Potter took the world by the tips of his wand. This July, the magic will finally make its last stand on what the analysts are describing as the most awaited book in history.

It's hard to describe the magical ability of the Potter series to draw in readers. A children's read by heart, the magical misadventures of Harry Potter's eccentric cast is, as the London Daily described, "An endearing read loved by children and parents alike". Perhaps because of this quality, the story has survived and strengthened itself despite less-than-perfect movie adaptations, a plethora of Anti-Harry critics and public admonitions, even by Pope Benedict himself who accused it of spreading witchcraft.

"This year's inquiry regarding the book has been far greater than that of the previous ones," says Anjan B. Shrestha of Educational Book House, "This being the seventh and final book in the entire series has really elevated the anticipation for the book's arrival." Indeed, every major book store in Kathmandu has been planning to make it available on 21 July 2007, the global release date.

"The book's release is a month away and already we have started to receive inquiries and reservations for the book," says Mr. Hari Awastee of Pilgrim's Book House, Thamel. The atmosphere is same in most of the shops we enquired, "The highest delay we expect is of one day, which is quite short considering it takes weeks for some newly released books to arrive to Nepal," says Sunita Manandhar of United books.

The biggest preparation for the final book's release seems to be at Educational Book House, Kantipath. "We are the only official distributors of the 7th book in Nepal," says Anjan, while sharing his plans for the book's launch, "We have begun taking reservations for the book since last month at a minimal price of Rs.100. We are also giving away special gifts for the first 100 reservists of the book." What sort of gifts you ask? Well let's just say fans of certain "Man" heroes will be extremely pleased with their reservations. "We will also be decorating the shop in a 'Harry Potter' flavour and if all goes well, a special guest will be signing away the books to the buyers," shares Anjan.

But the success of Harry Potter is not merely the success of a series. "I really feel that Harry Potter has increased the reading culture of the masses. Children who read Harry Potter during their eighth grade are now moving on to more serious stories when they are at their +2 levels," said Miss. Shrinjaya Basnet of Nepal Book Depot. WAVE's own staff writer Rishi Amatya agrees to this idea, "The beauty of Harry Potter is that its presentation is very approachable to even the ardent of non-fantasy reader. It's a great book to begin your reading habit with."

Educational Book House is providing the book at Rs. 1560, while the prices for other stores vary in cost with Rs. 1600 being the highest price. On an average a hundred copies are being ordered by most of the stores. "We expect the boom to die out within a week of the book's release though," says Anjan, "With popular books like this, almost everybody finds a way to read the book within the first week of its release." True enough, the great advent of P2P file sharing services also means a resourceful internet user can download the book for free and illegally. "People will find a way to read the book as fast as they can, it's only expected," Sunita Manadhar of United Books agrees. With all the anticipation surrounding the book, we can only hope the end is as good as the build up to this final chapter has been. Accio Firebolt!