M Jones: Don’t be ridiculous. Amazon are treasured by book-lovers across the globe. I think it’s very suitable that they were the ones to buy the book. Besides, they just gave millions of pounds to charity and then gave up their time to write reviews on the stories that Jo Rowling fans have been dying to hear about.

I don’t really see where they’re gaining anything at all, except our respect.

Jo. is. AMAZING!!!!! I sooo love this story, and I hope that I some time in the future will have the oppurtunity to read it. Once again, AMAZING!

Echoing Katie….........and adding: Too beautiful, for words!

Kelly, Linny…

M Jones shows up in each thread, posts one negative comment with no substance, and then vanishes. Save your breath and bloodpressure responding.

So, are we going to get one review each day, or will the Amazon reviewer take the weekend off?

Iolanthe Sorry to spoil your “vision”, but the stone carving above Sotheby’s is of Sekhmet, the lion-headed Egyptian goddess of war and destruction.

@Katie (and anyone else) There, really, is no reason you can’t READ these to your children…..brothers and sisters…..or grandchildren! Sit, in front of your monitor, have your family gathered around. Read the story/synopsis, to them. As if you were reading ‘A Christmas Carol’ or any other story. What a great thing to do, at Christmas! Yah. You’d have to read it, from your monitor. Yah, you can’t show them pictures. But isn’t that what reading is all about? JK has done a magnificent job, with these stories. Amazon has done a great job “reviewing” them, so far. They deserve to be shared….....any way they can be. And what better way, as I said, than as a “family” thing?! It really is, too bad, we can’t print out the review/synopsis. Then, we’d have a “physical” book. But what a fantastic “family” thing…........JMHO Thank you, Amazon and JK, for this beautiful gift. To be shared, amongst ourselves…........what ever the form.

People on the amazon discussion boards keep on saying how this profits the website. That annoys me. It doesn’t seem to matter about the profit to them, they just want to share amazing stories with devoted Harry Potter fans and I am so happy they bought it, so we can have a taste before JK, HOPEFULLY (am I being overly optimistic?), publishes it.

“The Fountain of Fair Fortune,” even synopsized, had me misty-eyed. Another example of Jo’s remarkable skills as a storyteller. Thanks, Amazon!

okay that was a nice story but am i the only one half-sickened by amazon’s complete worship of the author? yes i know that we are all here because we love her work and wish we could read this new book but they are so completely over the top. the reason i love harry potter is more because of the grand story guiding the series, and these are just fairy tales. while i am sure they are beautifully written (literally and figuratively) i cannot imagine that they can in any way be as powerful as 7 books of 300-900 pages each just because they were written by the same person. when they said that the fountain being…well i’ll avoid a SPOILER (oh no?!!!!!), but how could you possibly call that the “Best. Ending. Ever.” and who is writing these, a 15 year old? the review in general is well-written enough but what respectable writer would not only use such ridiculous hyperbole but separate it with periods like they were IMing their lab partner?

Ick! I really hate the author of these reviews. They’re cloying and annoying. They strike me as padding to allow Amazon to claim that they’re “reviewing” the stories and not simply posting an abridgement.

Hello! Amazon. Reviews don’t give away the endings. Saying “spoiler alert” is no excuse for actually telling how the story ends. A true review would have ended with them getting into the Garden and mention of them facing three challenges before reaching the Fountain. But it’s shameless to say what those three challenges were and who actually got to bathe in the Fountain and how the story ends.

Amazon is simply publishing these stories indirectly. I think Leaky members should send them some nasty notes. The stories will eventually be published and I can wait until then to read them. I’m sickened by this reviewer’s gushing and gawking. Ick!

David-

We have no reason at all the believe that the Tales will be published. Actually, we have reason to believe that they won’t. If, indeed, J.K. Rowling had intended to publish the book, she would have had to inform the auction before hand, and the buying price would never have been so high as four million. So, saying that “The stories will eventually be published” is probably incorrect. If you’re holding out for the book, you probably won’t ever read anything more of the Tales. I hope I’m wrong, but I am EXTREMELY doubtful that it will ever become published for the public to read.

Therefore, I enjoy Amazon’s review, however “shameless” you find it. Yes, maybe it is more of an overview or something than a review, but you don’t have to read them when they come out.

Anyway, that’s just my take on it.

The amazon people ask the stupidest questions…

I have to agree with Suzanna about the possible release of The Tales of Beetle the Bard, but I don’t agree that it’s completely impossible.

Yeah, the odds are stacked against ever seeing more of it than these reviews—but I prefer to stay hopeful. I think there would be some serious issues with it being published right now, but from the tone of Amazon it seems like they might embrace the publication. It certainly wouldn’t lose them any money…It would probably gain them plenty, with people going to Amazon to buy it! I don’t think they would try to sue J.K.R. over misinformation or anything if she decided to publish it. It would probably still be worth it to them to have the “original” copy.

But, really, who knows? I doubt it will ever be published, too, but there’s always hope. I wouldn’t blatantly say it will ever be released, for sure, but still…there’s always the possibility.

David, people should NOT send Amazon nasty notes for this! Whether you like the things or not, it is generous of Amazon to post these. They won’t make any direct profit from it – maybe some profit, yea, but not direct profit. I really am hopeful that tToBtB will be published but it doesn’t seem likely.

Does any one see many links to the books? For example, “the true power lies within” for the end of the second tale? Felix Felicies, anyone? Where Harry pretends to put the potion into Ron’s drink, and Ron plays a perfect game of Quidditch, because he THINKS he’s been given lucky potion. That’s a brilliant bit of… linking to stories? I don’t know the term.