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queserasera posted:I had to put down Libromancer because the protagonist, a cataloger for a public library, did his job by standing at the front desk zapping ISBNs. Dude, really, you couldn't have just shadowed or interviewed an actual cataloger or other back-of-house staffer to find out what they actually do? In a similar vein, I read the first book of the Invisible Library series and was super disappointed with the ending and won't be reading any of the sequels. Basically they squander the premise of being a librarian for a interdimensional library by having the main character spend the rest of the series just hanging out on one boring steampunk London world.
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Aug 23, 2017 22:12
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queserasera posted:I had to put down Libromancer because the protagonist, a cataloger for a public library, did his job by standing at the front desk zapping ISBNs. Dude, really, you couldn't have just shadowed or interviewed an actual cataloger or other back-of-house staffer to find out what they actually do? Haha jeez I haven't volunteered in a library for over a decade and still find that incredibly dumb. Wouldn't have been hard to ask a simple question of someone in the profession your protag is.
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Aug 23, 2017 22:13
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PJOmega posted:Haha jeez I haven't volunteered in a library for over a decade and still find that incredibly dumb. Wouldn't have been hard to ask a simple question of someone in the profession your protag is. Note to self: whenever I have to write a profession with no research, just add a quick line or two saying "this bullshit wasn't normally part of his job and it was a loving tedious pain in the rear end to have to do it"
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Aug 23, 2017 22:38
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queserasera posted:I had to put down Libromancer because the protagonist, a cataloger for a public library, did his job by standing at the front desk zapping ISBNs. Dude, really, you couldn't have just shadowed or interviewed an actual cataloger or other back-of-house staffer to find out what they actually do? Copy cataloging is a thing. There's no reason to create a MARC record from scratch for mass marketed materials that are all exactly alike when you can zap said ISBN and download a perfectly good MARC from, say, OCLC right into your local database, especially if you've got hundreds of new titles to add. That said, this book doesn't sound very good, so who knows if the author even knew *that* much.
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Aug 23, 2017 23:01
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Tunicate posted:Note to self: whenever I have to write a profession with no research, just add a quick line or two saying "this bullshit wasn't normally part of his job and it was a loving tedious pain in the rear end to have to do it" That sounds like a pretty sure bet no matter what profession you're writing about.
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Aug 23, 2017 23:51
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Wheat Loaf posted:On the lesser-known end of the scale, I remember thinking Awful End, the first book in the little-remembered Eddie Dickens trilogy, was pretty poor. Wasn't that a parody?
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Aug 24, 2017 00:03
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Wheat Loaf posted:As far as ones that managed to sell well and sustain an audience go, Eragon? I remember liking the first one when I was 14 or however old I was when it came out as just a dumb popcorn book, nothing great or remotely original but still kinda fun (it probably wasn't even that, but "when I was 14" are the operative words). The second one was so bad it killed my interest in completing the series. I don't remember much about it, but I do remember this: large sections of the book were devoted to the author jacking himself off about how smart he is for being atheist, with a scene where the smart atheist elf totally pwns the dumb religious dwarves with witty logical repartee (that we don't actually get to hear, but the narrator assures us that it was extremely clever) and a bit at the end where the wise sage dragon explains that there are no deities or afterlife, specifically explaining that people cease to exist entirely when they die because there is no existence beyond the physical body. The author was apparently so enthusiastic to enlighten us that he forgot that the main villain of the first book was a necromancer who got his powers from the spirits of the dead.
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Aug 24, 2017 01:38
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Pastry of the Year posted:Copy cataloging is a thing. There's no reason to create a MARC record from scratch for mass marketed materials that are all exactly alike when you can zap said ISBN and download a perfectly good MARC from, say, OCLC right into your local database, especially if you've got hundreds of new titles to add. That's true, and I also think it's a level of detail the author should know because the character should know it too. (Insert my exegesis on author/character knowledge, sand off the RPO part and replace with Libromancer.) I also never used Connexion at the front desk so I call foul. 
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Aug 24, 2017 01:58
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The Vosgian Beast posted:Wasn't that a parody? Eddie Dickens was neither a parody nor imitation of Harry Potter. More like a goofier knockoff of A Series of Unfortunate Events (which as previously mentioned doesn't have that much in common with HP), with lots of bad puns and authorial asides.
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Aug 24, 2017 02:34
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Chuck Buried Treasure posted:I remember liking the first one when I was 14 or however old I was when it came out as just a dumb popcorn book, nothing great or remotely original but still kinda fun (it probably wasn't even that, but "when I was 14" are the operative words). I was just a bit younger than that I think when the first one came out and even then when I would voraciously read fantasy of all kinds I was just completely unable to finish Eragon. I think I got to when Obi-Wan died and Eragon used magic to encase his body in crystal or whatever the gently caress, it's been over a decade since then, I can't remember the specifics. The movie was even worse because Jeremy Irons gave a pretty good performance which just made Eragon's petulance stand out even more. I didn't finish the movie either.
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Aug 24, 2017 02:52
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The movie is hilariously bad. It's like Last Airbender bad except a few years earlier.
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Aug 24, 2017 03:20
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My favorite thing about the Eragon movie is the Eragon motorcycle.
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Aug 24, 2017 03:37
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A Series Of Unfortunate Events and Harry Potter really only have in common the same themes of most young adult literature; teenage protagonists having to grow up quickly in a weird alternate world full of strange and dangerous things, and every single adult and authority figure is either evil, incompetent, impotent or not paying attention, often some combination of the above. You can probably see why it's very popular with teenagers.
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Aug 24, 2017 09:22
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Inescapable Duck posted:A Series Of Unfortunate Events and Harry Potter really only have in common the same themes of most young adult literature; teenage protagonists having to grow up quickly in a weird alternate world full of strange and dangerous things, and every single adult and authority figure is either evil, incompetent, impotent or not paying attention, often some combination of the above. And the show seems to be taking the same approach - give the central children as little heavy lifting to do as possible, and surround them with buckets of well known actors chewing the poo poo out of the scenery. It's delightful.
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Aug 24, 2017 11:24
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Wheat Loaf posted:Eragon quote:When he was still several hundred feet away, the lead elf appeared soot-black from head to toe. At first Nasuada assumed he was dark-skinned, like herself, and wearing dark attire, but as he drew closer, she saw that the elf wore only a loincloth and a braided fabric belt with a small pouch attached. The rest of him was covered with midnight-blue fur that glistened with a healthy sheen under the glare of the sun. On average, the fur was a quarter-inch long—a smooth, flexible armor that mirrored the shape and movement of the underlying muscles—but on his ankles and the undersides of his forearms, it extended a full two inches, and between his shoulder blades, there was a ruffled mane that stuck out a hands breadth from his body and tapered down along his back to the base of his spine. Jagged bangs shadowed his brow, and catlike tufts sprouted from the tips of his pointed ears, but otherwise the fur on his face was so short and flat, only its color betrayed its presence. His eyes were bright yellow. Instead of fingernails, a claw protruded from each of his middle fingers. And as he slowed to a stop before her, Nasuada noticed that a certain odor surrounded him: a salty musk reminiscent of dry juniper wood, oiled leather, and smoke. It was such a strong smell, and so obviously masculine, Nasuada felt her skin go hot and cold and crawl with anticipation, and she blushed and was glad it would not show.
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Aug 24, 2017 11:34
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"Christopher Paolini discovers furries"
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Aug 24, 2017 11:42
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Did she blush because she saw his shartballs?
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Aug 24, 2017 11:47
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I would think Chronicles of Narnia is something that's very close to Harry Potter - you've a group of kids amidst of a crisis, thrown into a magical world (that exists alongside the real one) that they are destined to save and a coming of age story. vvv Aye, I was thinking about The Magicians as well, but the only common factor is the school of magic - The Magicians reads to me as more of urban fantasy setting, dedicated to adult readers. canis minor has a new favorite as of 13:32 on Aug 24, 2017 |
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Aug 24, 2017 12:06
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canis minor posted:I would think Chronicles of Narnia is something that's very close to Harry Potter - you've a group of kids amidst of a crisis, thrown into a magical world (that exists alongside the real one) that they are destined to save and a coming of age story. hence The Magicians.
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Aug 24, 2017 13:16
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Drunken Baker posted:Did she blush because she saw his shartballs? And was his chybut dry???
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Aug 24, 2017 13:35
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I just want to express how happy I am that this conversation immediately went to Eragon. I remember the series getting pushed so hard as 'finally a fantasy books for boys!' and it was just infuriating considering it borrows so heavily from Star Wars.
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Aug 24, 2017 19:01
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Narnia is actually a fantasy world I'd like to visit. The Harry Potter world started out nice but as it went on it turned into this hateful world of elitist bigots who keep stepping on the wholesome good wizards. The Fantastic Beasts film made a big fuss about promoting wizard north America, and it's a fascist police state with death penalties. If I wanted that I'd just skip down to the USA.
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Aug 24, 2017 19:10
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there wolf posted:I just want to express how happy I am that this conversation immediately went to Eragon. I remember the series getting pushed so hard as 'finally a fantasy books for boys!' and it was just infuriating considering it borrows so heavily from Star Wars. The gently caress? Every single freaking fantasy novel I read as a child was written for boys. It sucked. Forgotten Realms and the other lovely YA fantasy was incredibly male dominated, and it was only really with the rise of Twilight and Hunger Games that that started fading away. Sure, there were a few out there, but none that crossed my circle, and I read a lot as a child. My mother used to flat out disallow me from buying any book when we went to Chapters that was under 400 pages, because otherwise I'd finish half of it before we finished driving home.
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Aug 24, 2017 19:21
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Cat Army 
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Depends on who does the ordering I suspect. My school library had a ton of Tamora Pierce, Elizabeth Moon, and Weis fantasy books, which were generally pretty good.
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Aug 24, 2017 19:44
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It's weird, I could have SWORN the 'Unfortunate Events' books were published ages ago, like back in the 80s or something. Maybe I'm thinking of Roald Dalh's books? I mean a lot of them seem to also have similar themes of kids stuck with horrible adults and some sort of magical event: Giant Peach and Witches, certainly. Didn't Shel Silverstein also explore similar themes?
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Aug 24, 2017 19:49
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Tunicate posted:... My school library had a ton of Tamora Pierce ... The Circle of Magic books are loving awesome. Gotta palm my copies off on my niece when she's a bit older.
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Aug 24, 2017 19:49
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font color sea posted:Instead of fingernails, a claw protruded from each of his middle fingers. So like does he file the others down specifically to make more of an impact when he shoots someone the bird, or
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Aug 24, 2017 21:45
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The Vosgian Beast posted:Wasn't that a parody? Not sure - read it when it came out and didn't like it so it probably wasn't a very good one if it was. Segmentation Fox posted:Maybe I'm thinking of Roald Dalh's books? I mean a lot of them seem to also have similar themes of kids stuck with horrible adults and some sort of magical event: Giant Peach and Witches, certainly. It's strange to think about the timescale for Dahl's books. I always had this vague sense that he did them all in the 1960s, but his first children's book (The Gremlins - little-remembered today) was published in 1943, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was 1964 and Matilda was 1988.
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Aug 24, 2017 22:34
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Segmentation Fox posted:It's weird, I could have SWORN the 'Unfortunate Events' books were published ages ago, like back in the 80s or something.
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Aug 24, 2017 23:15
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Segmentation Fox posted:It's weird, I could have SWORN the 'Unfortunate Events' books were published ages ago, like back in the 80s or something. The Unfortunate Events books have this weird mishmash of time periods in them, so maybe that's why? They definitely have some of the Dahl feel without ripping him off, though. I blew them off in middle school as a wannabe Harry Potter thing, but when I went back a few years later I loved them.
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Aug 24, 2017 23:17
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queserasera posted:I had to put down Libromancer because the protagonist, a cataloger for a public library, did his job by standing at the front desk zapping ISBNs. Dude, really, you couldn't have just shadowed or interviewed an actual cataloger or other back-of-house staffer to find out what they actually do? I had a summer job as a cataloger, and my job was only and exactly this, except usually in a back room with the same insufferable hip-hop station being played all day, every day.
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Aug 25, 2017 00:36
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Let us not forget the great Mercedes Lackey! She cashed in on the yaoi craze early, good for her! I loved those gay wizards.
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Aug 25, 2017 00:43
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The Iron Rose posted:The gently caress? Every single freaking fantasy novel I read as a child was written for boys. It sucked. Forgotten Realms and the other lovely YA fantasy was incredibly male dominated, and it was only really with the rise of Twilight and Hunger Games that that started fading away. As boys get older they start reading less and less compared to girls, and for a lot of parents, educators, publishers, etc. the problem is the books that exist just must not be appealing to boys, so let's focus a lot of time and resources on finding the book that will. The problem with something like Eragorn is it's fantasy and nerdy guys who like dragons are probably the only reliable subgroup of teenage males who maintain strong reading habits into adulthood. If you want a fascinating look at part of this phenomenon, then checkout the latest I Don't Even Own a Television podcast which is about one of the consistently tried and failed attempts to get tween boys to read poo poo, novels based on video games.
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Aug 25, 2017 00:46
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I'm not sure how I feel about this.
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Aug 25, 2017 02:30
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Doesn't Eragon escape the worst Harry Potter ripoff title by virtue of just being a Star Wars novelization? There were some pretty bad books that went for the "Harry Potter for Christians" angle but I don't remember any of them. James Garfield has a new favorite as of 03:50 on Aug 25, 2017 |
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Aug 25, 2017 03:38
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James Garfield posted:There were some pretty bad books that went for the "Harry Potter for Christians" angle but I don't remember any of them. The Shadowmancer one I mentioned above was one.
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Aug 25, 2017 08:12
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Emily Rodda's fame seems limited to Australia (and also apparently Japan, it even got made into an anime), no one ever talks about Deltora Quest. Which was pretty good, if weird, since it's a fantasy book series that takes inspiration from adventure games, complete with riddles, cereal box puzzles and the collection of crystal macguffins. Also really, really good and freaky illustrations by Marc McBride. I have no idea how well it's held up, mind. I recall there's some pretty clear anti-gambling and anti-dishonest moneylending messages in some of them.
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Aug 25, 2017 09:01
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Inescapable Duck posted:Emily Rodda's fame seems limited to Australia (and also apparently Japan, it even got made into an anime), no one ever talks about Deltora Quest. Which was pretty good, if weird, since it's a fantasy book series that takes inspiration from adventure games, complete with riddles, cereal box puzzles and the collection of crystal macguffins. Also really, really good and freaky illustrations by Marc McBride. they were pretty good. edit: the magic rocks don't really count as McGuffins, they actually do things Cumslut1895 has a new favorite as of 10:03 on Aug 25, 2017 |
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Aug 25, 2017 09:06
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Inescapable Duck posted:Emily Rodda's fame seems limited to Australia (and also apparently Japan, it even got made into an anime), no one ever talks about Deltora Quest. Which was pretty good, if weird, since it's a fantasy book series that takes inspiration from adventure games, complete with riddles, cereal box puzzles and the collection of crystal macguffins. there wolf posted:At some point we should tally up how many better books are buried within the premise of RPO.
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Aug 25, 2017 09:58
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Not sure if this belongs here on in the Schadenfreude thread, but the book is definitely terrible, so... The publisher of Handbook for Mortals - the latest angst-filled, love-triangle-centered teen fantasy crapfest - just got caught trying to game the New York Times bestseller list by buying up all the copies at bookstores. As in, call a bookstore, ask if they report sales figures to the Times, place phone order of say 29 books (30 gets flagged as a corporate buy and not counted), rinse and repeat. It did not go well for them. Excerpts are currently being posted on Twitter and roasted, and, well, I think RPO might have some competition as the worst book in this thread. https://twitter.com/SMCarterWrites/status/900783459358134272 Edit: Entertainment Weekly picked it up also (link contains autoplaying video). There are a bunch of connections to D-list 90's celebrities who plan to make a film adaptation of the book. Somehow I don't think that will happen. Although a film about how teen readers on Twitter outed a scam in less than a day would make a good film. Or book. Also, here's a side-by-side comparison of Handbook for Mortals and infamous fanfic My Immortal Goddamn Particle has a new favorite as of 12:53 on Aug 25, 2017 |
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Aug 25, 2017 12:39
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