OOP: I was disappointed, too

[Gregory Lynn]

No: HPFGUIDX 64106

"And, there wasn't much character development -- with some major 
exceptions, of course, such as Hermione, Ginny, Neville, McGonagall, 
and (poor) Sirius."--joywich

You're kidding right?  Not much character development?  Leaving aside all the new characters, I think a list of characters that *didn't* develop is pretty much Vernon Dursley, Dudley Dursley, Fred, George, Bill, Lupin, Binns, ahh, can't really come up with anything else, and most of those guys are fairly minor characters. (ooh, Dobby too)

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Sirius, Snape, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Seamus, Dean, Cho, Neville, Ernie MacMillan, Fudge, and even Percy developed.  Criminy,  this book was all about character development.

I think that's why I liked it so much.  I think it was the best of the bunch quite frankly.  Lots of exciting stuff early on, then it moved quickly to a fantastic finish that answered some but not all questions.

I have this theory that there's basically four aspects to any novel, the setting, the plot, the scenes, and the characters and that writers and readers are attuned to different aspects.  Just to compare for a moment, Tolkien I would consider very strong in setting, scenes, and to a lesser extend characters but not so good in the plot department.  What do you think about when you think of Tolkien?  There aren't a whole lot of plot twists.  Basically the quests are laid out and pursued and there you are, but there are great scenes, some really good characters, and the setting is of course phenomenal.

Rowling, I would say is strong in the character, setting, and scenes departments but not so much the plot department.  She's got inconsistencies and plot holes all over the place but the characters are believable and some even likeable, the setting is er, magical, and some of the scenes are absolute classics.  Now readers I think are attuned to these different areas as well and will respond better to works of fiction that are strong in the areas they care about.  I don't give much of a hoot about setting for example, but prefer characters, scenes, and plots so a guy like Robert Jordan appeals to me more than a guy like Tolkien.
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Gregory Lynn


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