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Post by Tobias Scylding on Jul 29, 2007 12:04:49 GMT -5
Who's read it yet?
I finished it last night. Without giving anything away, I thought it was pretty average really. Suffered from the ususal Rowling problems of too convoluted plots that then have to be explained in long conversations or massive chunks of exposition and she's great at coming up with big story arcs but really quite bad at writing. Her prose is really basic compared to someone like Philip Pullman.
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Post by Aislin of Port Legann on Jul 29, 2007 12:13:19 GMT -5
Eh, I stopped after number four.
I can't say I really care for her writing style, and I'm not terribly fond of some of her main characters.
-coughHarrycough-
I'm all for realistic characters, but I have enough teenage angst in my real life; I don't want to read about it.
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Post by Tobias Scylding on Jul 29, 2007 12:22:00 GMT -5
True enough. It's probably why I haven't been able to engage with the latest books at all, my teen angst years are long behind me (thank god!).
I just don't think she's an especially skillful writer. Imaginative, detailed, yes, but it's very poorly executed and very badly edited.
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Post by Aislin of Port Legann on Jul 29, 2007 12:40:08 GMT -5
Yeah, you should thank God for that. I am well in the throes of mine, which means lots of fights with my mom. Apparently if I'm feeling sad or disappointed or sulky about it, the solution is for her to yell at me about how I need to move on and be happy. That makes me feel much better, obviously.
I don't think she's that incredible, but I suppose I've been spoiled by excellent writers. Sherwood Smith, for example.
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Post by Bella Swift on Jul 29, 2007 12:49:22 GMT -5
Ah yeah, I remember having those kind of fights with my Mum. Getting away from home does wonders for your relationships with your family. Once I moved away to university I found my family instantly more bearable. We still have our moments but there's a lot to be said for having your own space.
I think there are many many infinitely better writers out there. I'm a massive Philip Pullman fan. The finale to the His Dark Materials trilogy completely blew me away...I was caught up in it for days...with this I was just like 'oh right.'
I just think there's this presumption that kids writing doesn't have to be literary and that's just completely false.
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Post by Aislin of Port Legann on Jul 29, 2007 12:54:38 GMT -5
Well, I'm moving into my dorm on August 21st, so if we don't kill each other before then, we should be alright.
I've been meaning to read His Dark Materials. Haven't gotten around to it yet, though.
I think editors are of the opinion that kids are too stupid to know good writing from bad.
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Post by Queen Amedessa of Conté on Jul 29, 2007 13:01:22 GMT -5
Ah! This is diverging from the present topic and going back to the Harry Potter books, somewhat. I stopped at book three, mainly because the concept of the series ceased to interest me. And I agree, Rowling's style does make it very difficult and dull to read––I've tried to read the next few books, but it's been such a pain. It's really a shame too, since some of the material she's created is very interesting!
I also did not like her main characters. It was very difficult for me to get into Harry––I think I just got sick of him and that was that.
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Post by Aislin of Port Legann on Jul 29, 2007 13:03:44 GMT -5
He's a brat, plain and simple. His mother died to save him and he has this evil arch-nemesis wizard person, but he's busy being depressed that he can't go to Hogsmeade and Cho Chang went to the ball with Cedric instead of him.
Meh.
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Post by Duke Gideon of Genlith on Aug 27, 2007 21:11:44 GMT -5
I liked the series well enough (though Harry and Dumbledore got rather insufferable after/during book four), but like you guy's have already stated, there are way better authors out there. Like Orson Scot Card, L.E. Modesitt, or Robin Hobb.
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