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| SFReader Forums > SF Fiction and Art > Right Now I'm Reading.... > Harry Potter | Forum Quick Jump
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BethS
Adept
      
Date Joined Jun 2004
Total Posts : 748
| Posted 4/1/2006 8:51 AM (GMT -4) |   |
Jeff Stehman said...I finally got around to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The more Rowling writes in this series, the more her world falls apart, and the flatter most of her characters seem. Hardly a page goes by without me having a "what the heck were you thinking" moment about her prose, she rarely surprises, and her plots continue to be flawed. And yet this book, like all the others, sucked me in. I polished off the last two hundred pages today, which for me is downright obsessive. I can't think of any other way to describe Rowling's writing except to say she is a great storyteller.
I've never been wild-crazy about the Harry Potter books, not like some folks, but the deeper she got into the series, the more it improved, each book better and more interesting than the last.
~Beth | | Back to Top | | |
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nathan
Sage
Date Joined Mar 2006
Total Posts : 2111
| Posted 4/5/2006 12:41 PM (GMT -4) | | David, stunned to hear that. It's 7 books with IMO books 1,3,5,7 being the great, book 2 leaving me so-so and book 6 pissing me off.
But book 1? I do not think I've re-read a book more times over the course of my life than The Dark Tower The Gunslinger. It is like sword-and-planet meets Authrian legends. It is completely original though I suppose it has its influences. That first book set the tone for a desperate, dying world part post-apoclypse part hidden under the shadow of Sauron part High Noon/Magnificent Seven.
I happen to think it is the best fantasy series of all time. Better than Tolikeen, Jordon, Fiest, Martin, Drake, Z-Bradley, and whoever else you've got. Like I said certain books are noticably weaker than others but when included in the whole series is unlike anything else out there.
That 1st book, written in 1973 or so I think, is just awesome dark fantasy with a completely original twist. It wasn't published until he'd been writting for awhile and I think his success let him write a Big Fat Fantasy with completely adult perspectives and characters. It is as far as I can tell the first Weird Western in many ways though it goes beyond that into transdimensional spec fiction as well.
There is nothing else out there like it. It is so good and so original I've been waiting for some kind of pastiche to be written in its shadow like LoTR had so many.
Bad reviews? I admit I was stunned when I first learned people actually thought/think King was a technically bad writer so I've learned to accept that people see things in his writing I often don't. However the only reason I can think of off the top of my head why someone wouldn't like it is A] they thought it was King horror and not dark/high fantasy or B] they're big High Fantasy fans and didn't like how dark and R-rated he made it.
OR C] they only read book 6.
Let me repeat, I think book 1 stands alone at the pinnicle of dark/high fantasy writing. I do think that is fairly personal as King's images and themes have always *clicked* with me so it is perfectly possible that LoTR or Eragorn or something is someone elses fav, but get the Gunslinger at least. Flawed hero capable of horrific acts in the name of finding the object of the quest [ends justify means to Roland], a dark part sci-fi, part horror, part fantasy world on the brink of death...
Okay, I'm rambling now; but you get the idea, lol.
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darkbow
Rabbit lord
Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 1586
| Posted 4/5/2006 4:10 PM (GMT -4) | | While I enjoyed the Dark Tower series, I wouldn't gush over it as much as Nathan. Though I always rave over "Wizard and Glass," my favorite of the 7 books.
However, as far as the scope of the tale is concerned, I would have to agree it is a great fantasy story. It has just about everything a pulp lover would want: guns, robots, high adventure, jungles, monsters, a dark lord (or two or more), cowboys, knights, cute critters, a talking train and more and more and more.
Without giving anything away, I believe a lot of readers were disappointed, or maybe confused, with the ending of the series. And while King is one of my favorite authors, I have to agree with a lot of people he tends to have weak endings. But maybe it's a case of the journey being better than the climax. Also, I couldn't see any other ending than the one King had for the DK series; it made perfect sense.
Nathan, I'm curious ... what was it about book 6 you hated so much. | | Back to Top | | |
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nathan
Sage
Date Joined Mar 2006
Total Posts : 2111
| Posted 4/5/2006 4:23 PM (GMT -4) | | SPOILER SPOILER!!!
See I thought the end was The Only Ending.
Roland is the tragic hero. The fact he now has the horn means maybe the loop isn't eternal 'this time.' But really a traditional "happy ending"? Crap. Doomed heroes rule, lol.
I didn't really like any part of the series that occured in "our" world. I want to read about Tower World not our world--that's why I loved #4 so much as well. I just felt 6 was over all the weakest of the books and it was weak while in my least favorite part [our world, in case you didn't get that, lol]. Though I liked the part where they convince the 1970s SK to pull the 1st story out of the garage.
However this is the part that always leads me to shake my head at how different people are. I thought the ending was perfect, like I said the only ending that did the series justice--then you go and tell me that's why people were disapointed.
It's not like you can go and "argue" to them in some legal sense why that ending was Perfect. People are entittled to their opinion just as I am to mine but the idea that legions of people could be off put by what is so great in my mind leaves me wanting a beer 
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darkbow
Rabbit lord
Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 1586
| Posted 4/5/2006 4:56 PM (GMT -4) | | Heck, I don't need all that to want a beer!
I agree with you about the ending. It was the only ending possible.
SPOILER ALERT!
However, I did think the fight with the Crimson King was anti-climatic. Thinking in "Western movie" terms, I wanted that final fight to be something more like "The Wild Bunch," or even "Unforgiven." I felt little emotion from Roland during the fight with CK, but maybe that was part of the point, or just Roland's calm during combat. One of the reasons I loved "Wizard and Glass" so much was because of the emotion; Roland's role as the doomed hero was much stronger, in my opinion, in book 4 than it was during and shorty after his fight with CK. However I did feel better about things once Roland reached the top of the tower and learned his fate. Just seemed to me all the major villains got short-changed in the end. Even the Walking Dude went out like a little punk.
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Overall, yeah, I liked the Dark Tower series better than Harry Potter. But I enjoy Harry Potter too. | | Back to Top | | |
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