Potter fans await Harry swansong, but leaks mar surprise

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

LONDON (AFP) — Excitement mounted among Harry Potter fans worldwide Friday as the clock ticked down to the release of the last instalment of his adventures, but a growing tide of leaks threatened to mar the event.

With only hours to go before the 2301 GMT publication of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in most of the world, queues grew outside bookstores which were braced for a record demand for the seventh, swansong Potter tome.

And the frenzy surrounding the launch triggered a last-minute price-war as booksellers sought to get a bigger slice of the massive market for the book, which will finally reveal whether or not Potter dies.

"Harry Potter has reignited children's passion for reading," said a spokesman for British supermarket ASDA. "Our...