Postby JasonPratt » Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:36 am
I find it interesting that the LB books and TDVC tend to get lumped together. I guess they share some common characteristics. (Seriously, no irony intended: my first thought after reading TDVC a few years ago was 'Huh. Stylistically it's kind of like LB.' And that was the best _compliment_ I could give it.)
Anyway, um, ditto. {beam!} Don't like either one. I can come up with good things to say about them here and there. {trying to think of something} Er. Pacing structure is very good, on a chapter transitional basis anyway, for both of them; yep, I found Carpathia to be the most interesting character, and I'm quite sure I would have thought him the worst character in most other books... oddly, I thought his characterization was better in the first LB movie (but paradoxically DULLER!)
I know several people who adore King's Dark Tower series, but I honestly can't stand it. At all. Started trying to read the first book and gave up. Too... I dunno... wacky. I guess I like fantasy but not surreality. Books that read like a bad acid trip, my mind tends to reject on general principle.
The last King book I read that I liked much at all, was _The Tommyknockers_. And I was kind of struggling with liking parts of it. (See previous paragraph. {ironic g}) Haven't been able to even complete (much less start in most cases) any book of his since then.
I know a lot of people think Robert Jordan's _Wheel of Time_ series is vastly overrated. Hard to disagree with them at this point. And I'm a longtime _fan_ of the series. {sigh}
To the person who didn't like Perelandra: I don't especially recommend the other two. The stylism is about the same, and the poetic imagery of the first two books is largely lacking in the third (due to legitimate plot reasons, but still...) Personally I kind of like them, but they're definitely an acquired taste.
[SPOILER]Merlin, admittedly, completely rules as a character in THS; but then he has almost no screen time, including in his climactic action sequences. ARGH![/SPOILER]
And yes, even though I like the LOTR books myself, I used to have exactly the same problem with them as mentioned above: the plethora of photorealistic descriptions were something I had to learn to like on my, oh, fifth or sixth read through it, simply because I made myself attend to them. I wouldn't remove them now, but mainly because I know the story well enough to skip past them if I'm not in the mood to appreciate them. They can be tough going, otherwise. {sympathetically wry g}
Even though I love the main Clancy series, I do _NOT_ love the pacing (of anything after _Clear and Present Danger_ anyway). And I'm meh about most of the characters, too. I like the basic ideas, and what he does with those--eventually!--along with the two main protags. But I can easily see the protags being too uninteresting to many people, too.
Most novels ever recommended/required for school (eons ago when I was actually _in_ school), I loathed like leprosy. I did like the Odyssey (depending on the translation), but never could get into the Iliad.
To be perfectly honest, there are portions of the World's All-Time Reigning Best Seller that are pretty hard for me to chew through. {g} And that's with me recognizing and affirming not only its religious importance but its legitimate literary importance, too. (I totally agree that in this case whether I _like_ it or not, in a literary sense, is irrelevant. Especially because I also know it's entirely due to subjective taste in my case. Still... {shrug})
Didn't much care for _40 Days of Purpose_--cared even less for _The Seven People You Meet in Heaven_. 7Peap is probably purely a matter of taste; 40Days partly is, too, and partly for technical reasons (not to be gone into here).
I know I'm going to have _severe_ problems with Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, whenever I get around to reading it (which I think I'm going to have to do eventually--professional reasons). But I'm hoping I'll at least like it as a literary work.
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"For all shall be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." -- Mark 9:49-50 (my candidate for most important overlooked verse in Scripture. {g})
"We must
be strong and brave--
our home
we've got to save!
We must make
the fighting cease,
so Mother Earth
will be at peace!
Through all the fire and the smoke,
we will never give up hope:
if we can win,
the Earth will survive--
we'll keep peace alive!" -- from the English lyrics to the closing theme of _Space Battleship Yamato_
"It _was_ harsh. Mirei didn't have anything that would soften it either." -- the surprisingly astute (I might even call it inspired {s!}) theological conclusion to Marie Brennan's _Doppleganger_ (Warner-Aspect, April 2006)