The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Any news on Peace Talks
Mira:
--- Quote from: morriswalters on December 04, 2019, 09:19:13 PM ---Rowling ended it in seven books, and she captured a generation or two, internationally. By any definition that includes the readers, she wrote better books. Butcher might have served himself better by not trying to make a life's work of it. You get tired of anybody or thing that consumes as much of your life as the Dresden Files. Rowling hit it and moved on. Now she can work for pride and fun.
--- End quote ---
Rowling's was excellent in the first four to five books, but when she began to write about our favorite young wizards as teens things began to fall apart. She also kept to her original outline, which she has admitted was a bit of a mistake as far a who ended up with whom. However she did know when to quit.
Kindler:
--- Quote from: Dina on December 04, 2019, 08:29:06 PM ---I agree with most of it, but I disagree about first books. I think The Sorcerer's Stone is almost perfect and I think the writing is better than SF. That said, I completely agree about Butcher learning faster and I think he is now a much, much better autor than JKR.
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My issues with the first books of both are that they mainly fall into the same trap. Most chapters are pretty much "I went to a place, and this thing happened. I left that place." Tons of first books fall into the same pattern. Iron Druid was a particular offender throughout the entire series, and Alex Verus would have fit it if Jacka's chapters were shorter. It's the kind of thing that comes from writing based on a rigid outline, mostly (though not really in Jim's case; it's formulaic, but I believe he wrote Storm Front pretty much as he went). Outlines are great, but I prefer it when books don't read like an outline.
Sorcerer's Stone was mostly about the wonder of uncovering a secret world, and it's got a fair bit of wish fulfillment baked into it (poor, abused Harry is saved from a devastatingly poor home life and is revealed to be not just special, but wealthy and famous, and he's a star athlete based on some kind of natural talent). It's fine for what it is, and I like it well enough, but I'm not the target audience for it.
And yeah, Bad Alias, some of the details of the supernatural creatures were retconned a bit, but the point is that magic itself functions in the exact same way from Storm Front through Skin Game. And Harry didn't even know that there were multiple Queens until Summer Knight.
The thing about Vampires is that White Court vamps don't follow the same rules. I assume that's what you're talking about. Because Red Court + Black Court can't do thresholds, and have never been depicted crossing one. So it's not "some breeds," it's "one breed," and that's because they're born human (and still apparently have trouble calling on their Hunger after crossing one). I think Harry even stipulates
In Storm Front, the only thing I recall about the Nevernever as it relates to vampires is that they wouldn't be able to rip someone's heart of their chest with a simple spell on the mortal realm, and would have to do it in the Nevernever. That rule gets twisted in Changes, but that took countless human sacrifices and a leyline, which is the kind of thing you'd notice in Chicago (and way too much effort to kill a mob enforcer). The only other thing I can remember is their "corporeal form" bit, which I took as a reference to the Red Court fleshmasks, which we see in Storm Front.
The Chauncy bit is kinda whatever.
g33k:
Rowling vs Butcher?
Well -- at least for Philosopher's Stone vs Storm Front -- Rowling's effort was overwhelmingly superior.
Rowling was trying to write a whimsical kids' adventure-story in the "British Boarding School" model. It was a runaway international bestseller, and went onto innumerable "best of..." and "must read..." lists. You don't have to like the books, personally, but you need to face the fact that most people -- from literary critics to librarians to the buying public -- love the books. You must face up to the fact that any "dislike" is a matter of personal taste.
Jim Butcher? He was trying to prove that his own writing style was incompatible with what his writing-teacher thought he should write. He wanted to demonstrate it would be unsalably bad. Jim Butcher utterly failed his goal with this book (the poor guy; gotta pity him, really...).
:o
Mira:
--- Quote from: g33k on December 06, 2019, 05:04:49 PM ---Rowling vs Butcher?
Well -- at least for Philosopher's Stone vs Storm Front -- Rowling's effort was overwhelmingly superior.
Rowling was trying to write a whimsical kids' adventure-story in the "British Boarding School" model. It was a runaway international bestseller, and went onto innumerable "best of..." and "must read..." lists. You don't have to like the books, personally, but you need to face the fact that most people -- from literary critics to librarians to the buying public -- love the books. You must face up to the fact that any "dislike" is a matter of personal taste.
Jim Butcher? He was trying to prove that his own writing style was incompatible with what his writing-teacher thought he should write. He wanted to demonstrate it would be unsalably bad. Jim Butcher utterly failed his goal with this book (the poor guy; gotta pity him, really...).
:o
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Oh I am not saying Rowling isn't good, I am repeating what she, herself said about her final pairings. They are what she had planned from day one, and as we all know sometimes characters take on a life of their own, and she wishes she had paid more attention to that instead of sticking to her original ideas on that score. I think it is difficult in any case to write a series of any kind and have it be good through the whole series. Lord of the Rings may be the exception, but it was also the result of a lifetime's work of setting up the world that it is set in.. Even at that there are bits revised with each printing to improve it.
morriswalters:
--- Quote from: Mira on December 06, 2019, 02:55:08 PM --- Rowling's was excellent in the first four to five books, but when she began to write about our favorite young wizards as teens things began to fall apart. She also kept to her original outline, which she has admitted was a bit of a mistake as far a who ended up with whom. However she did know when to quit.
--- End quote ---
I wasn't making a judgement on what I thought of my experience reading both series. For people who choose to write for a living then sales are the only metric that counts. Jim uses the money to afford the lifestyle that he wants to live. So does Rowling. If they didn't get paid they wouldn't be writing.
The biggest problem with both writers was and is that the books got bloated as they went along.
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