Monday, August 28, 2006

Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-to-Dragon:

Readers who have given Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-to-Dragon even a cursory read quickly noted many errors and inconsistencies between the book's story and the official series written by Rowling. The story centers on a struggle between Harry and his classmates at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and a mysterious wizard.

Characters well-known to fans of Rowling's series make an appearance — the Dursleys, Harry's friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, and his archrival Draco Malfoy. In several instances in the book, the master wizard Albus Dumbledore is referred to as "Gandalf" (from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings).

According to translated excerpts, almost the entire book consists of the verbatim text of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, with most (but not all) names changed to those of Harry Potter characters. The only parts of the book that appear to be original writing are the first chapter and the last few paragraphs of the final chapter.

The cover of the book shows Harry riding a centaur (actually an illustration created by Warner Bros. to advertise the first film), which is battling a dragon (which appears to be Maleficent in dragon form from Disney's Sleeping Beauty).