Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is likely to become the fastest-selling novel ever, with reports of millions of copies flying off store shelves in the first 24 hours of its launch Saturday.

In Canada, the Chapters/Indigo chain said the book was going at a rate of three per second, and in Britain, that rate was estimated to be 15 per second. 

Five-year-old Keegan Walsh and his mother Sarah enjoy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows together at a Peterborough, Ont., bookstore on Saturday.
(Clifford Skarstedt/Peterborough Examiner/Canadian Press

British publisher Bloomsbury said three million copies were sold in 24 hours in Britain. Scholastic, the American publisher, said 8.3 million books had moved on the first day while Amazon.com had 2.2 million pre-orders. Statistics aren't available yet from the book's Canadian publisher, Raincoast.

Deathly Hallows is on its way to beating its predecessor, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, released in 2005, in the fastest-selling novel category.

Two years ago, the sixth book sold two million on the first day it was out in Britain and 650,000 in Canada. Sales figures so far indicate Deathly Hallows will land ahead of those numbers.

Staff prepared for mail rush

On Saturday, Canada Post had thousands of staff working overtime to deliver about 80,000 copies on time in 35 cities.

"Everything in the past leads up to this book. It has to be bloody and gory," one fan of the teen wizard tale, Jennifer Silver, 13, of Montreal said Saturday. "I'm savouring it [but] I don't want it to end. It's the last book, and I don't want it to end."

That frenzy was likely boosted by the immense anticipation for the end of the seven-book series about the young wizard's battle against evil. It was further prodded by author J.K. Rowling's admission a few months ago that two main characters die.

Author J.K. Rowling reading at the moonlight launch of her book at The Natural History Museum in London, England late Friday.
(Jamie Turner/Associated Press)

"I'm disappointed to have lost the stories of Harry, but I really liked how she ended it," said Madeleine Cummings, 16, who finished the book over the weekend at the dockside of her family's cottage in Muskoka, north of Toronto.

In recent weeks, internet spoilers have been popping up, and many newspapers and readers managed to get their hands on the book ahead of its release.

"The last Potter is amazing," said Deb Kiehlmeier, 16, of Cherry Hill, N.J.  "It has definitely gone way beyond what I expected."

Around the world, fans clamoured for the 608-page novel, which became available just after midnight Friday. Thousands of parties, overnight sleepovers and special events commemorated the end of the series, which sold 325 million before the last book.

Many fans, eager to uncover the outcome, flipped to the end to discover what happened to Harry and his friends. Others just started reading the moment they had Deathly Hallows in hand.

Many Harry Potter fans, such as this man in Bangalore, India, started to read the book as soon as they bought it.
(Aijaz Rahi/Associated Press)

"They just couldn't wait a moment longer. The statue of Eros in Piccadilly was awash with people reading the book," Fiona Allen of Waterstone's in London, England, told the Sunday Telegraph. 

Allen said that, at one point, staff members were selling Deathly Hallows at a rate of 20 per second.

Newspapers hired speed readers and most of the reviewers gave the book a glowing appraisal. 

The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune were among those comparing Rowling to the greats of children's literature: Roald Dahl, J.R.R. Tolkien and even Dickens.

Hailed as an 'epic quest'

"To create such an extraordinary world, fill it with complicated characters and convergent back stories is beyond the reach of most writers," wrote Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times.

"To sustain that world and grow those characters over seven books filled with plot twists, folklore and even a magical curriculum, and then bring it all to an articulate, emotionally wrenching conclusion — that is a truly epic quest."

Two girls in Nairobi, Kenya share a copy of the book.
(Sayyid Azim/Associated Press)

Fans said they were avoiding the internet and keeping to themselves so they wouldn't encounter any plot spoilers.

Some have advice for those tempted to skip to the end.

"Regardless of the temptation, don't skip to the end. It doesn't work. The answers to all those key questions everyone wants to know unfold throughout the story," writes Julie Neal on Amazon.com.

"It's satisfying," said nine-year-old Kaavya Jayram of Morgan Hill, Calif. She finished the book 11 hours after buying it on Saturday morning.

"I think it's a pretty complete ending. I personally think the seventh one is the most exciting. It really has lots of suspense and things."

Now that most readers have had their fill, Deathly Hallows is being resold by some fans. Used copies are going for as little as $10.99 US on eBay.

With files from the Associated Press