JKR v. Eddings
Oct. 11th, 2005 12:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlock10 Reasons Why Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince Would Have Been Better If David Eddings Had Written It
1. The campyness of the HPverse would still be cute and campy, but the dramatic parts would be more dramatic.
2. The jokes would be funnier.
3. They both over-use adverbs, but Eddings makes better use of adjectives.
4. The Half Blood Prince would have turned out to be a character like Silk, and in two weeks he'd have the Order of the Phoenix running like a proper covert spy organization. Meaning more spying and less dying. And in three months he'd have recruited 3/4 of Voldemort's spies to work for the the Order instead. And in six months the Dark Lord would wake up one day to find all his financial assets had disappeared, all his magical items of power had been stolen down to the wand under his pillow at night, nearly every Death Eater had been bought off by the other side, and someone had tied his shoelaces together.
5. If Ginny were Ce'Nedra, she'd never put up with this Angel from Buffy season 3 shit. She'd call him on his idiocy and manipulate him into running in circles for daring to dismiss her.
6. Ginny would have a personality.
7. The mystery of HBP's identity would have been more interesting, and actually mattered to everything else that happened in the book.
8. Neville wouldn't have been forgotten about after being the most awesome character in book 5.
9. Luna would have had a an actual plot purpose instead of being forgotten about too.
10. Dumbledore would have had a more impressive end than waiting around for a Draco of all people to kill him.
EDIT: Half Blood Prince spoilers in comments, vague Belgariad/Mallorean spoilers too.
1. The campyness of the HPverse would still be cute and campy, but the dramatic parts would be more dramatic.
2. The jokes would be funnier.
3. They both over-use adverbs, but Eddings makes better use of adjectives.
4. The Half Blood Prince would have turned out to be a character like Silk, and in two weeks he'd have the Order of the Phoenix running like a proper covert spy organization. Meaning more spying and less dying. And in three months he'd have recruited 3/4 of Voldemort's spies to work for the the Order instead. And in six months the Dark Lord would wake up one day to find all his financial assets had disappeared, all his magical items of power had been stolen down to the wand under his pillow at night, nearly every Death Eater had been bought off by the other side, and someone had tied his shoelaces together.
5. If Ginny were Ce'Nedra, she'd never put up with this Angel from Buffy season 3 shit. She'd call him on his idiocy and manipulate him into running in circles for daring to dismiss her.
6. Ginny would have a personality.
7. The mystery of HBP's identity would have been more interesting, and actually mattered to everything else that happened in the book.
8. Neville wouldn't have been forgotten about after being the most awesome character in book 5.
9. Luna would have had a an actual plot purpose instead of being forgotten about too.
10. Dumbledore would have had a more impressive end than waiting around for a Draco of all people to kill him.
EDIT: Half Blood Prince spoilers in comments, vague Belgariad/Mallorean spoilers too.
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couldn't resist
Date: 2005-10-11 07:23 pm (UTC)But I couldn't resist clicking on your spoilers things to find out what I'd missed. No big surprise that Ginny has a crush on Harry and they may wind up together in the end, if both of them are still alive; she's been setting that one up since book 2. No big surprise that Dumbledore gets it; it's always been obvious that he was going to have to die because Harry loses all his protective father figures one after the other, that's been the pattern all along, and I figured the idea was that in the end when he faces the Final Battle he will be all alone. Dumbledore is the one who's been protecting him from everything for ages, so he had to die.
But Draco kills him? Now that is utterly lame. I suppose the idea is to set up Draco as a worthy adversary for Harry in book 7. Still, how lame!
As for Ginny getting a personality, I'm not expecting that, because JKR hasn't managed to give ANYONE a personality ... as I said, not exactly champing at the bit to read on, but I expect I will, eventually.
Re: couldn't resist
Date: 2005-10-11 07:50 pm (UTC)Dumbledore's actual moment of death is kinda cool. It's just the time and context leading immediately up to it that could have been more impressive.
I had read one or two brief analyses on Ginny/Harry stuff before book 6 came out (really they were more like anti-H/Hermione essays that used Ginny as a backdrop), but I didn't think they'd been given enough lead up to be a pairing unless something new happened that sparked it. But, without getting into too much detail... nothing new happens. It's like Harry wakes up one day and randomly decides this girl that he hasn't paid attention to for 6 books (including the current book, which would have been a time to build them up if they were going to get together) except as his best friend's sister is all of a sudden the focus of his undying love. Except then he pulls an Angel/Peter Parker, which just kind of makes it seem like JKR put them together because she thought Harry deserved to make out with someone before he battles Voldemort, not because there's a great romance there that's been building for ages.
The whole Ginny/Harry would have been okay if I hadn't thought it was dropped on us out of nowhere with some emotional ret-conning on Harry's part. The apparent need to give Harry someone and then to give him a girl who's "really the perfect girl for him" (as JKR has said in interviews) felt amateurish to me. Like a Mary-Sue or something... not a self-insertion, just trying too much.
This post belies the fact that I did like most of HBP. There were definitely things I liked about it. I enjoyed it as much as book 5 and book 3, which I had considered the better books of the series. But I was thinking that instead of just liking it, if someone else had done the actual writing I could have loved it. As much as I enjoy the story and the verse she invented, I am constantly disappointed in her actual prose and delivery.
Re: couldn't resist
Date: 2005-10-11 08:39 pm (UTC)That's it in a nutshell. Let's b fair, though - at least she's not George Lucas. :)