When the final installment of the Harry Potter series came out in July 2007, Amazon’s Kindle was still four months away from launch. But when Harry Potter and the Cursed Child debuts on July 31, a contingent of fans will likely opt to hit the “download” button on their e-readers rather than line up at bookstores for midnight release parties.
According to a Kindle spokesperson, readers who pre-order Cursed Child will receive it on their devices at midnight local time on July 31—that is to say, late Saturday night. That means readers on the East Coast are likely to get the story three hours earlier than those on the West Coast—but mischievous Muggles may try to tamper with the timezone settings on their Kindles to try to game the system.
Amazon says the script is already its top pre-order for the year, both for print and Kindle orders. It’s like wise the number one pre-order year-to-date for Apple’s iBooks.
The new script by Jack Thorne, based on a story by himself, J.K. Rowling and John Tiffany, will reflect the text of the play as it began previews in London in June; it is formally titled Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two (Special Rehearsal Edition Script). At a later date, the “definitive collector’s edition” will come out reflecting the final changes made during the rehearsal and previews period.
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