Comments on: When Good Books Go Off Course http://aislinnkerry.com/2008/06/06/when-good-books-go-off-course/ Passionate Romance... Spellbinding Stories Thu, 04 Aug 2011 01:41:24 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Gwen Mitchell http://aislinnkerry.com/2008/06/06/when-good-books-go-off-course/comment-page-1/#comment-35 Gwen Mitchell Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:12:00 +0000 http://aislinnkerry.com/2008/06/06/when-good-books-go-off-course/#comment-35 I think a large part of this has to do with the timing. If you ask me, the halfway point is a bit too far. During the first 1/4 to 1/3 of a book, we're still getting to know the characters and if they undergo an early morph into something else, one can probably adjust. <br/><br/>I think an example where this sort of situation was done well was in Vicki Petterson's first Sign of the Zodiac - about 1/6 into the book, the character gets a new name, face, body and a set of powers - following a large trauma. It threw me off at first, and I thought I might not like it, but the external change just forced me to identify with the internal character more, and my attitude shifted to 'wow, that was ballsy!'. =D I think a large part of this has to do with the timing. If you ask me, the halfway point is a bit too far. During the first 1/4 to 1/3 of a book, we’re still getting to know the characters and if they undergo an early morph into something else, one can probably adjust.

I think an example where this sort of situation was done well was in Vicki Petterson’s first Sign of the Zodiac – about 1/6 into the book, the character gets a new name, face, body and a set of powers – following a large trauma. It threw me off at first, and I thought I might not like it, but the external change just forced me to identify with the internal character more, and my attitude shifted to ‘wow, that was ballsy!’. =D

]]> By: kirsten saell http://aislinnkerry.com/2008/06/06/when-good-books-go-off-course/comment-page-1/#comment-32 kirsten saell Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:29:00 +0000 http://aislinnkerry.com/2008/06/06/when-good-books-go-off-course/#comment-32 It really does depend for me on what the change is. In George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, you get prolly 1200 pages into the story and then all the people you'd been following from the start--the ones you were certain were going to end up on top, the winners, triumphant, yay! at the end of the journey--end up getting slaughtered. In a terrible, sneaky, underhanded, low-down dirty way. <br/><br/>And it worked. <br/><br/>Because in that book, the larger themes all remain intact. Those themes--lust for power and what it makes men do to other men (and women and children, it is not a pleasant story at times), the triumph (or not) of good over evil, the helplessness of ordinary people in turbulent times, the basic nobility of the human spirit--they never change. Even if the bad guys don't eventually get punished, even if the good guys don't win, I'm still reading the same story. <br/><br/>The characters I had grown so attached to (and I felt almost like I might puke as I read it) might be dead, but it was still the same book.<br/><br/>I can really see your point, though. If the change in Lissar was going to be so sudden, and brought about by external events rather than an inner evolution, perhaps the author should have spent less time building the character. Especially if she was planning to make Lissar likable at the beginning. Then again, it might work for me, I can't actually know without reading it myself.<br/><br/>Stick with it and let me know--does she return to her old life, at all? Does she rediscover herself? And whatever does happen, does it redeem, in your mind, the shock of that initial change? It really does depend for me on what the change is. In George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire, you get prolly 1200 pages into the story and then all the people you’d been following from the start–the ones you were certain were going to end up on top, the winners, triumphant, yay! at the end of the journey–end up getting slaughtered. In a terrible, sneaky, underhanded, low-down dirty way.

And it worked.

Because in that book, the larger themes all remain intact. Those themes–lust for power and what it makes men do to other men (and women and children, it is not a pleasant story at times), the triumph (or not) of good over evil, the helplessness of ordinary people in turbulent times, the basic nobility of the human spirit–they never change. Even if the bad guys don’t eventually get punished, even if the good guys don’t win, I’m still reading the same story.

The characters I had grown so attached to (and I felt almost like I might puke as I read it) might be dead, but it was still the same book.

I can really see your point, though. If the change in Lissar was going to be so sudden, and brought about by external events rather than an inner evolution, perhaps the author should have spent less time building the character. Especially if she was planning to make Lissar likable at the beginning. Then again, it might work for me, I can’t actually know without reading it myself.

Stick with it and let me know–does she return to her old life, at all? Does she rediscover herself? And whatever does happen, does it redeem, in your mind, the shock of that initial change?

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