World Building And The Potterverse/Character Building/Sarah Monette books

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 167265

> >>Alla:
> Oh my goodness. You just had to mention Sarah Monette to make me to 
> respond, yes?
> 
> You **know** that I adore these books and will be forever grateful 
> to you for recommending them, but I have to disagree, sort of.     
> While I do not think that her world building is horrible or worse   
> then some other universes I read about, I found it often to be     
> quite confusing and find that JKR is much better in introducing    
> detailed, richly layered world, no matter how many inconsistencies 
> we can find in Potterverse.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Hmm.  I'm trying to think of a way to respond to this without getting 
too much into Monette's books.  And also to not spoil anyone 
interested in reading them. <g> (I think I succeeded, so no spoiler 
warnings needed.)

IMO, Monette has the richly layered and detailed world, while JKR's 
is highly simplistic, relying on broad-strokes and common knowledge 
to fill in holes that, IMO, needed a bit more effort on her part.

For example:  In JKR's world we have this tension between the Muggle 
world and the Wizard world.  And we've no real idea how the problems 
came about and why they've stuck around.  There's been a few mumbles 
about Muggles making too many demands on wizards, and a jokey history 
blurb about wizards enjoying their burnings, but in 6 books no real 
look into what started and maintained this sort of on-going cold war.

On the flip side, in Monette's world we have this powerful and 
wealthy city with an underbelly so dark it makes Oliver Twist look 
like a sheltered and cosseted young man.  In two books (one if you 
consider that Melusine and Virtu were apparently written as one book) 
we've had several hints at the political pressures from both within 
and without that allowed this underbelly to flourish.  I mean, yes, 
it can be confusing since the information is culled from various 
sources.  But at least it's there.

Of course, this kind of thing can really interest me.  *Especially* 
if it's revealed in dribs and drabs as we follow the main characters 
through their various adventures. (I'm not a fan of world building at 
the cost of character and story.)  So it's something I think about 
and look for, and miss if it's not there.  YMMV. 

And I'll also add that JKR has the advantage of only *hinting* at 
greater depths in her world.  Since she relies on her fans to fill 
everything in themselves (or, more fairly, probably thinks the hints 
are fun enough and details aren't really needed) she doesn't have to 
do the heavy lifting involved in actually *explaining* why various 
things are so.

> >>Alla:
> Having said that, I have to say that I find Sarah Monette books to 
> be superior on more important level ( for me) – in writing         
> character driven story.
> <snip>
> Do not get me wrong, I believe sometimes characters in Potterverse 
> do influence the plot, but I think that often enough the contrary 
> happens – the character development is sacrificed to make plot move 
> along. Which is sometimes fine, the characters are still           
> interesting, but sometimes it grates on me badly. I mean Ron was    
> supposed to overcome his Quidditch insecurities in OOP, wasn't he? 
> Why is he back to them in HBP?

Betsy Hp:
On this I totally agree.  And I think it may be because the books are 
winding to a close that this type of weakness (for want of a better 
word) is coming to the fore.  Ron's quidditch struggles are a perfect 
example.  It made no sense to revisit the issue, and yet with the 
limited time still left, we did.  Did Ron develop too fast?  Is there 
a reason (a plot one I can only assume) that he remain the "goofy" 
and "not quite good enough" member of the Trio?

I do know I'm a bit nervous about how it's all going to end.  Will I 
still love the Potter books as I used to?  Or will it all end with a 
whimper? 

Betsy Hp (looking a bit more forward to 8/7/07 than 7/21/07 -- yeah, 
I said it! <sad grin>)