Popularity Does Not Equal Quality, Dammit!
WTB copies of The Hero and the Crown, the Weetzie Bat series, the Prydain Chronicles, and A Wrinkle In Time for every teenager in the country, please.
I tried to read Eragon, and felt my eyes glazing over. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And no, the "Paolini was fifteen!" excuse won't work on me: He was fifteen when he wrote the rough draft of the first book, not any final versions. (Here's where I could start discussing originality, or lack thereof. But I don't believe I will.)
I tried to read Twilight...and, if the copy had actually been my property, it would have abruptly found itself across the room from me. The heroine impressed me as a swooning, driveling fluffwad. Not to mention a witless, codependent doormat. And as for her love interest? A prime specimen of Martysammicus jerkassia (subspecies allovampirica).
As if that weren't bad enough, I've heard that both series only get worse in later volumes. When works of fan fiction that I've skewered have more coherent plots than one bestselling series and stronger protagonists than still another...heaven help us.
I tried to read Eragon, and felt my eyes glazing over. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And no, the "Paolini was fifteen!" excuse won't work on me: He was fifteen when he wrote the rough draft of the first book, not any final versions. (Here's where I could start discussing originality, or lack thereof. But I don't believe I will.)
I tried to read Twilight...and, if the copy had actually been my property, it would have abruptly found itself across the room from me. The heroine impressed me as a swooning, driveling fluffwad. Not to mention a witless, codependent doormat. And as for her love interest? A prime specimen of Martysammicus jerkassia (subspecies allovampirica).
As if that weren't bad enough, I've heard that both series only get worse in later volumes. When works of fan fiction that I've skewered have more coherent plots than one bestselling series and stronger protagonists than still another...heaven help us.