She's got a big enough fan base to keep the money rolling in no matter how crap it is. As for being brave---people have convinced her, and she's convinced herself, that she's a great writer, so no bravery involved in crossing genres. Scotland's a funny place, our two best known living writers JK and Ian Rankine, are both journeymen.
Just ask Lewis Carroll. After becoming famous with the Alice books, he couldn't give Sylvie & Bruno away.Originally Posted by Lokasenna
I'm surprised she's even putting another book out, I thought for she was just going to be a one-trick pony . . . and this new book may still prove me right.
I agree with Lokasenna. I feel pretty certain people will express disappointment. I'm kind of prepared to be disappointed myself. I wondered if she'd try to write anything else, and if she did how it could compare.
I enjoyed the Harry Potter books. I know she's not a great stylist, but in terms of character and plot she does quite will, I think. And in terms of style, s-o-o-o much better than Twilgiht author Stephenie Meyer.
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its' own reason for existing." ~ Albert Einstein
"Remember, no matter where you go, there you are." Buckaroo Bonzai "Some people say I done alright for a girl." Melanie Safka
All of these people citing good characters must be having a laugh. Which character is well written? None of them is the correct answer.
While most adult fans of the HP books will go out and buy the book, there's no guarantee that they'll like it or finish it or recommend it to anyone, or that it'll get good reviews, and she knows this. I've heard her saying in some interview that HP was a sort of phenomenon and that she'd never be able to match it.
BTW, I think she's a good writer, so - let's see how it goes.
I'd say all of the characters are well written, even the minor ones. The only exceptions are a couple of Mary Sues, and Voldy himself, who's more or less a cardboard-cutout psychopath villain.
Last edited by mona amon; 09-25-2012 at 02:54 AM.
Exit, pursued by a bear.
How dare anyone write beyond their famous cash cow? Damn the woman to obscurity. Leave off from her. She has had her moment of being special. No need for a second, old lady.
Relax, we still have ground to criticize, now it is just speculation. If you don't want your work looked at, don't publish it. That's my two sense.
As for damning her to obscurity, she will get her chance in 10 years. I had a professor in China rip on her quite a bit, and he doesn't even read English. It's happening already, people know they are cardboard cut-and-paste novels, there was never any denying it.
The question is, will this card-board cutting remain fresh, in the sense that Dickens' cuttings remained fresh for a century already after his death. Likewise, will we still find the same comical quirkiness in them?
The answer is probably no. The magical world is cute, but it is too eccentric to justify itself altogether. As for the characters, some are cute, but the writing has been clunky, and also the fact that we so associate characters to their movie equivalents is a headache that gives them over to much stronger characterization (for instance, Alan Rickman has in a sense, overacted and overhumanized his character, and it has had an affect on the interpretation of him within the novel).
As for the new book, she is not Dickens, but will need to be, or at least vary her already developed style significantly away from the cartoonage that characterizes such a style. She will ultimately be looked at to do something new and creative that isn't just copy and paste, which is hard. The expectation is high, because everyone in the industry knows, she is marketable as a brand, and a brand is required to deliver.
She is no longer writing for money, she doesn't need it. She is no longer writing for her children fans, they have grown up. She is going to be required to address an adult audience, with a mature text, which is what readers look for in mature books. If she writes a generic romance, which I suspect she did, readers will ask plainly why her and not some other author who perhaps has been writing them for longer, and is more creative with them.
I suspect sales to be ok, but not nowhere as great as the previous books. There has not been any stirring of it on this continent, which means the release will require great acclaim if it will be translate into an international seller (very unlikely, as magical world works, but realism of any sort does not work in a Chinese, or Asian market, reality is too different).
Some will claim this expectation is unfair, but it is completely fair, in that the reason the book is probably published in the first place is that she is an established author - the book wasn't even properly processed and was skipped along in secret, according to the original post. That being true, a product is a product, the question is, does it deserve any recognition based purely on its author's background? I doubt it, but we will need to read to find out.
I don't think HP fans should buy the book just because JK Rowling wrote it. If the story looks interesting to you, then read it. Otherwise a lot of people will buy a book that can never compare to the series they loved. Or maybe, people who would have loved the new novel will never read it, because they didn't like the HP series.
Rather a sweeping statement! Which people? Cut and pasted from where?
Sometimes it's cute, sometimes it's brutal, and mostly it's just a reflection (sometimes a parody) of our own world. The only 'cute' character I can think of is Dobby.
I agree with you that Rickman overhumanized his character, playing him as a strict schoolmaster, but one who has everyone's best interests at heart. But in the books Snape is a far stronger, far more fascinating character, repressed, immmature, petty - with greasy hair, yellow teeth and eyes like cold empty tunnels. Somehow people still find him a ladies man - ah, well...
Exit, pursued by a bear.
I never understood this. Why did she have to shift to young adult fiction or late teen fiction when her initial batch of readers reached that age? Are there not more children being born in England and America who will want to read more childrens books? Did the works of Beatrix Potter grow up with her radiance?
I enjoyed the HP series. Did not think I would and was surprised.
I may or may not read the next book. It depends what I am into at the time. I am surprised many have strong feelings either way. I don't care enough to bother. Good luck to her.
Harry - Total *******, complains constantly about his incredibly privileged life to his best friend who is comparatively poor, suffers from low stature in the minds of most people and is generally incompetent. Harry only seems to notice this when it prompts Ron to fly into some sort of rage, or tantrum which generally allows harry to fall back on his "MY PARENTS ARE DEEEEEEEEAD" routine that got old on its first utterance. He has a very pigheaded and stupid idea about the "right" thing to do and tends to have very bad, cringe worthy lines of dialogue.
Voldemort - Makes no sense. Supposedly the most powerful evil wizard of all time, never really does anything impressive, loses to Dumbledore repeatedly, he and his entire army can't defeat a school of young adults. Wants to purge muggle borns, is a muggle born (ham fisted reference to Nazi Germany, I guess Hitler wasn't Aryan or something), somehow takes over the ministry and everyone just goes along with it? Despite he and his followers parroting the exact same rhetoric as before, as if Hitler had risen from the dead - but in secret - and had like 6 Neo Nazis take over Germany. Makes perfect sense.
Ron - Actually not too bad, all of the Weaselys are kinda cool.
Malfoy - "WE VILLAIN NOW". A complete **** who acts like a **** because he's a ****! GREAT CHARACTER.
Hermione - She's alright I guess. Bland Archetype.
Dumbledore - Cluster**** of retarded. None of his motivations or ideas make any sense, for some reason doesn't get involved in anything serious despite Cornelius Fudge smoking some serious herb for his entire term.
Snape - He's aight.
Last edited by Clopin; 09-25-2012 at 05:35 AM.
It isn't a romance, blurb for the book is as follows:
I'm not particularly interested in the book, but I do think the curiosity factor will carry this one. I think the measure of Rowling's 'success' as a writer for adults will be in the next book (assuming there is one).When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.
Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war.
Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils... Pagford is not what it first seems.
And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?
Want to know what I think about books? Check out https://biisbooks.wordpress.com/
From her own model? Book 1. The kids arrive at school, attend lessons, face some magical problem related to voldemort or something, solve it. Book 2. Back in school, attend lessons, face some magical problem related to voldemort or somethig, solve it. Book 3. The kids arrive at school, attend lessons, face some magical problem related to voldemort or something, solve it. Book 4, etc etc etc
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