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By the standards of what I enjoyed as a nine year-old? Larry Send a noteboard - 10/09/2012 01:04:12 AM
It serves its purpose, just like any airport novel, it's written well enough to convey its rip roaring type story, and it does it relatively well.

Now if we are talking written to a standard that would satisfy elitist literary snobs? Then no, it'll never do that. But then since I daresay 90% of people have no idea about what literary conventions satisfy a 'well written' book, and instead just like what they like, which in most cases is a story rather than how 'well' it's written, that's fine.


I recently finished revisiting several children's/YA stories that I read and enjoyed when I was 9-12 years old. By those standards, the turgid prose, the unnecessary interruptions to refer to the game's imagined past, the stock characterizations, all of those were poor compared to say The Wind in the Willows, the Ramona series, or several others. It may be that because I didn't encounter these books when I was learning to deal with hormones that there is nothing that appeals to me, but I doubt my dim opinion of them is anything inveterate ;)

But the comment about how many people might not know what a "good book" is would not be something that I would share, ironically enough. I hold to that perhaps quixotic faith that some are quite aware of what is well written and that while many may favor what they themselves might label as "trash," they wouldn't hold it in any higher esteem than something to read while taking a shit ;)
Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie

Je suis méchant.
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This may be one of the most dire reviews you shall ever read - 09/09/2012 09:12:25 PM 2141 Views
Certainly one of the most original, you get points for that. - 09/09/2012 10:39:00 PM 1384 Views
Well... - 09/09/2012 10:57:25 PM 1377 Views
A review of a D&D bestiary could be more dire. - 09/09/2012 11:29:17 PM 1245 Views
Perhaps - 09/09/2012 11:50:20 PM 1353 Views
Hey now. Owlbears are awesome. - 11/09/2012 02:35:28 AM 1560 Views
That page is painful to behold - 11/09/2012 03:09:29 AM 1352 Views
They are popular as they are fun, easy reading books - 10/09/2012 12:11:24 AM 1329 Views
"Popular", "Fun," and "Easy" doesn't have to be equated with poorly-written - 10/09/2012 12:16:27 AM 1461 Views
Poorly written by what standard? - 10/09/2012 12:29:17 AM 1411 Views
By the standards of what I enjoyed as a nine year-old? - 10/09/2012 01:04:12 AM 1354 Views
So like I said, by the standards of Elitist Literary Snobs - 11/09/2012 12:03:08 AM 1457 Views
Nice attempt at sophistry, but alas, it fails - 11/09/2012 12:38:24 AM 1359 Views
Was that meant to make any sense? - 11/09/2012 01:43:13 AM 1506 Views
Re: Was that meant to make any sense? - 11/09/2012 01:54:23 AM 1351 Views
I'm with Wibble on this (big surprise) - 12/09/2012 03:07:53 PM 1466 Views
Heh. - 12/09/2012 03:43:52 PM 1497 Views
Pretty much so - 12/09/2012 04:19:35 PM 1489 Views
When did you put up that header? - 12/09/2012 04:35:20 PM 1374 Views
I didn't put it up - 12/09/2012 04:51:32 PM 1280 Views
I shall tread lightly so. - 12/09/2012 06:15:51 PM 1408 Views
- 12/09/2012 07:25:29 PM 1265 Views
+6 health? What game are you playing? - 12/09/2012 07:52:52 PM 1314 Views
The Game of Life? - 12/09/2012 08:23:53 PM 1390 Views
Re: Pretty much so - 12/09/2012 08:50:57 PM 1394 Views
You apparently do not read my blog/reviews much - 12/09/2012 09:07:18 PM 1414 Views
Actually, I read them almost never - 13/09/2012 03:07:48 PM 1452 Views
I think my IQ dropped a little bit when I parsed what you said - 13/09/2012 04:16:21 PM 1409 Views
Yep, your usual rebuttal... *NM* - 17/09/2012 02:14:56 PM 684 Views
No, not really - 17/09/2012 06:25:15 PM 1221 Views
Yes, Yes, wrap yourself in arrogance and declare yourself correct until your opposite gets bored... - 17/09/2012 11:12:17 PM 1536 Views
Nah, I just wipe my ass with arrogance - 18/09/2012 12:23:44 AM 1783 Views
The last word with me is rather difficult to obtain - 18/09/2012 02:48:03 PM 1308 Views
Don't try to argue with them. They've made their judgments. They are better than you. - 10/09/2012 09:36:17 PM 1367 Views
Defensive much? *NM* - 10/09/2012 10:31:17 PM 741 Views
He never said you couldn't enjoy it. - 10/09/2012 11:10:11 PM 1480 Views
Indeed - 10/09/2012 11:17:20 PM 1361 Views
But they aren't. - 10/09/2012 11:48:14 PM 1398 Views
Prove it. *NM* - 11/09/2012 03:12:17 AM 672 Views
He also went on to compare liking the books to having the standards of a nine-year-old. - 11/09/2012 02:34:18 AM 1349 Views
You didn't read what I said very well then - 11/09/2012 03:16:21 AM 1347 Views
I believe that they were not meant for adults. - 10/09/2012 12:30:05 AM 1362 Views
Basically, both get dubious kudos for trying something new by the dire standards of the day. - 10/09/2012 11:38:22 PM 1380 Views
Interesting point - 11/09/2012 12:41:01 AM 1345 Views
Are you aware of the game's alignment rules? Some of the novels struggle with this. - 12/09/2012 10:58:37 PM 1357 Views
Not aware of it at all until now - 12/09/2012 11:18:57 PM 1346 Views
How is that possible? - 12/09/2012 11:28:33 PM 1304 Views
My dad was (and is) influenced by Evangelicals - 13/09/2012 12:17:36 AM 1250 Views
Wait, so you didn't read the Chronicles first? - 13/09/2012 02:12:13 PM 1253 Views
No - 13/09/2012 02:18:03 PM 1327 Views
Well, it's sort of like starting Jordan at Lord of Chaos - 13/09/2012 05:18:23 PM 1319 Views
Oddly enough, I started WoT at CoS in November 1997 - 13/09/2012 05:56:04 PM 1275 Views
Chronicles is considerably weaker - 13/09/2012 11:14:38 PM 1353 Views
12 modules, not 15 - 14/09/2012 02:55:39 PM 1485 Views
These threads are so much better than the rape threads! *NM* - 12/09/2012 04:03:01 AM 765 Views
You're just waiting to see if I'll use hexameter in the next one *NM* - 12/09/2012 04:32:31 AM 609 Views
When do we get to see some alexandrines? *NM* - 12/09/2012 12:41:29 PM 695 Views
Or quatrains? - 12/09/2012 03:25:13 PM 1247 Views
At least you didn't read the Baldur's Gate novelizations - 14/09/2012 04:29:17 AM 1273 Views
Sssssh! - 14/09/2012 05:10:19 AM 1341 Views
People become lesbians for no reason! - 17/09/2012 04:34:20 PM 1201 Views
I think my IQ dropped further upon learning of this - 17/09/2012 06:29:29 PM 1247 Views
Baldurs Gate wooooo! - 14/09/2012 04:13:34 PM 1393 Views
Is the review dire because of the subject or the sonnet form? - 14/09/2012 04:24:37 PM 1309 Views
Both - 14/09/2012 04:36:59 PM 1286 Views
it would be unusual for someone to just randomly pick books like that up - 14/09/2012 05:05:37 PM 1545 Views
Interesting scenario - 14/09/2012 10:16:11 PM 1308 Views
Re: Interesting scenario - 15/09/2012 09:55:59 AM 1508 Views
Re: Interesting scenario - 17/09/2012 06:28:57 PM 1240 Views

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