Pottermore, as it turns out, is not a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game, sadly. It might be the next best thing, though. Pottermore.com will be, come October, a “unique and free-to-use website which builds an exciting online experience” around the Harry Potter series. It will be something of an interactive web game full of unpublished material from Harry Potter.

The author has written thousands of words of new material “about the characters, places and objects in the much-loved stories, which will inform, inspire and entertain readers as they journey through the storylines of the books.

The website will also later serve as an exclusive place to purchase and download the novels in ebook and audio book form, without annoying DRM.

For further reading:

• Pottermore Announcement: Details on J. K. Rowling’s Next Harry Potter Project; Video, Pictures, Press Conference Quotes
• Full Text from J. K. Rowling Pottermore Press Conference
• J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore reveal: Harry Potter e-books and more

And Pottermore is… is a post from Fantasy Folder

A new website, Pottermore.com, has gone up. It’s pretty much a fancy “coming soon” page, with an accompanying Twitter profile and a countdown on Rowling’s YouTube channel.

Some of the editors at The Leaky Cauldron have seen a preview of Pottermore, and have described it as “breathtaking.” They say that it’s not a new book, but something “equally exciting.”

We’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available.

Pottermore: J.K. Rowling’s New Announcement is a post from Fantasy Folder

Apparently the final fight between Harry and Voldemort has been…embellished a bit.

The Leaky Cauldron, as usual, has links to high-quality QuickTime, Windows Media, Flash and iPod-ready videos.

Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Trailer Online is a post from Fantasy Folder

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, like its book counterpart, is far different from the rest of the series. Instead of spending their time at Hogwarts puzzling out Voldemort’s latest plot, Harry, Ron and Hermione spend the duration of the film on the run. The Death Eaters have taken over the Ministry of Magic and have imposed a regime reminiscent of Nazi Germany. The overall atmosphere is bleak, with the sense that danger is just over the horizon.

The three’s mission is to find and destroy the horcruxes keeping Lord Voldemort alive, and eventually defeat him. Of course, Voldemort has his own magical artifact to find, one of the mysterious Deathly Hallows.

Overall I liked the film. They did a good job at streamlining the somewhat unwieldy story that Rowling penned. The infamous camping scenes were pruned and tweaked to make their viewing bearable, and some details that were largely unimportant to the plot (such as Dumbledore’s history) were glossed over. I feel that the changes that were made were for the better, though they might disappoint some of the book purists.

That said, I am even more glad in retrospect that Warner Brothers decided to split the story into two movies. It would have been impossible to do the book justice in one.

One of my favorite scenes was the part where Harry and company sneak into the Ministry undercover to find a horcrux that they suspect is there. I won’t spoil the pure awesomeness of it for you, but I think the movie (and book) would have even better with more along those lines. (Harry conducting covert raids on the corrupted Ministry.) But that would have made for an even longer, less movie-suited story.

Long-time Harry Potter fans like myself will see this movie no matter what, so my opinion probably isn’t too important to you. Casual observers (those who didn’t read the books) will enjoy the movie too, though.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 will be released on July 15, 2011.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Review is a post from Fantasy Folder

The movie starts with a bang, namely the destruction of the Millennium Bridge in London. A group of three Death Eaters, doing the flying-smoke thing that puzzled longtime book readers in the last movie, tear it apart while it’s in use. Once the film has your attention, it moves to Dumbledore and Harry’s visit to the retired Hogwarts professor Horace Slughorn.

Half-Blood Prince feels darker than its predecessors, though there’s plenty of comic relief. Dan Radcliffe and company have really improved over the years, and I feel that they really nailed-down Dan’s character this time around. More of Harry’s trademark sarcasm has made it into the final cut this time around.

I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone, so I’ll simply say that the movie turned out great, and though it may not be my favorite of the bunch, it’s no slouch. There are some hilarious moments, some nice action scenes, and overall it captured the essence of the book.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Movie Review is a post from Fantasy Folder

Harry Potter News Roundup (For 7/8/09) is a post from Fantasy Folder

The suit claims that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire infringes upon Willy the Wizard due to both books having “wizards traveling on trains and a magical competition featuring a challenge involving a hostage situation.” The late author’s lawyers also allege that he had been in contact with literary agent Christopher Little, who later worked with J. K. Rowling to bring Harry Potter to publication.

“The central character of Willy the Wizard is not a young wizard, and the book does not revolve around a wizard school,” the publisher declared, as well as they had not heard of Jacobs or his work until the suit was filed.

This isn’t the first time that someone has made plagarism allegations against the Harry Potter franchise, and it is likely that this case is no more credible.

Yet Another Harry Potter Lawsuit… is a post from Fantasy Folder

The series follows the story of Harry Potter, a boy orphaned by the notorious Lord Voldemort, an immortality-seeking wizard responsible for several years of terror and killing that left the wizarding world in a shambles, and nearly exposed the magic-users to ordinary people, in modern day Britain.

On Harry’s eleventh birthday, he is visited by a messenger from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and told that he has magical powers. He leaves his…less than pleasant aunt and uncle and journeys to the school.

As he learns magic, and of the slightly foreign customs of wizards and witches, he makes friends among them, and slowly learns of who he is, what he did when he was only a year old. Lord Voldemort had tried to kill him, and had apparently died in the process. (But did he really die? I’ll let you read the books and find out.)

The seven-part series is packed with action, humor, magic, prophecy, and some tragedy. The first two books, which earned the series it’s status as “children’s books,” are good, and set up the series, but the later books, which progress in thickness and get darker and more serious along the way are truly amazing in how things are linked together, and the plot twists that really spice up the story. As you read you’ll have more than a few “oh, I never would have thought of that, but I should have!” moments. There’s a 90% chance you’ll like the series right off the bat, but the third book is when it really starts getting good.

This is a very good series, and definitely a “must read.” If you don’t believe me, check out some of the Amazon users’ reviews. Book 1, Book 3, Book 5. Oh, and don’t try the lame “I’ve watched the movies” excuse, the films don’t hold a candle to the novels.

Harry Potter is a post from Fantasy Folder