Harry Potter 6 release date announced!

[Radhil]

Wow. This is a strangely downward turn.

I want to tear into some of that, Star, but honestly I'm kinda depressed. This is what fans think?

[OmahaStar]

Originally posted by Radhil
Wow. This is a strangely downward turn.

I want to tear into some of that, Star, but honestly I'm kinda depressed. This is what fans think?

Yes.

It's still better than a lot of stuff out there, but book 5 was a let-down after the excellent 4 books it followed.

Please note - this is my opinion, and obviously you should be free to have your own.

[WorkerCaste]

I saw an interesting piece on the 5th Potter book by Stephen King. IIRC, it was his opinion that JKR is still learning her craft with regard to the actual writing. I believe he used the phrase ônever met an adverb she didnÆt like.ö He felt, though, that she was at the top of her game with regard to character and plot. This kind of parallels my feelings. I devour the books and remain an avid fan because IÆve bought into the character and story. I didnÆt really see the character drift OmahaStar did with the Weasleys, but I wasnÆt excited about the death. It felt gratuitous to me. Maybe it will make more sense in the context of the last two books.

All that being said, I do find the writing style a little tough to wade through at times. IMO a some good editing could go a long ways. It also seems like that is becoming more true as the series progresses. Perhaps her unporecedented success has made her more resistant to editing.

BTW, has anyone listened to the books on audio. Jim Dale has narrated every book so far in an unabridged format. He is a very talented narattor and has created unique ôvoicesö for all the characters. After listening to him, one of the biggest problems I had with the movies was that some of my favorite characters didnÆt sound right!

[Radhil]

When I inevitably re-read the books, I guess I'll pay more attention. That is probably why I didn't notice anything wrong - I love the plot, I love the characters, so the actual form of their delivery kinda gets lost when I get sucked in.

King is a hypnotist with his writing, so I do pay attention to what he says. If you or someone has the article text, I'd be quite appreciative (I found the original from your mention, but it's behind a subscriber wall). Curious that he mentions adverbs though. When he needs to, he's a hell of a rambling sort himself.

[DysfunctionalReality]

I stopped reading that damned series after they killed off ******** in book 5. That was my favorite damned character and when he/she died, so did all my interest : _ /

[WorkerCaste]

Sorry, Radhil, the magazine has long since gone to recycliing, and it's not my subscription. As far as the adverb thing goes, college courses I remember and a book on writing by Orson Scott Card all pointed out that pitfall. You can be rambling and include lots of exposition, but adverbs can get in the way. The theory is that it's better to cleanly establish the action and let context provide the supplemental information. An example used by Card is applying adverbs to "s/he said." IIRC, his feeling was that you need the "said" in dialog, but you ought to go minimalistic so as not to detract from the dialog itself. All that's not to say that you shouldn't use adverbs, just that they should sparingly to provide great impact.