Draco

I've pretty much always known that J.K. Rowling is on the second tier (at best) of writers, but only just recently realized, after a little too much time, what exactly created the original allure of Harry Potter, and it is despicable. The first Harry Potter is an image of the Dream of the Coast (aka the jackpot expectation, as i've been ranting against as a consistent theme in this blog), in a fairly distilled form. Think about it; Harry is just an average kid who doesn't like his life with his aunt and uncle. However, Harry is promptly told that he is a Wizard, has magical powers to boot, has tons of money left to him from his parents, and is already famous in the Wizarding community. What more could a kid in Harry's position ask for? And what did Harry do to get there? Nothing. What effect has this story had on some wide-eyed children? Almost certainly built up the expectation and belief in those sorts of "miracles" happening. Granted, J.K. Rowling has Harry do lots of work to maintain his status from that point on, but the latter books deviate from that theme pretty significantly. Which isn't to say that they're better or worse for that deviation; she has to continue the story, after all, but i think the sense of wonder has been totally drained from the books, seeing as there's little to no mystery about any of the elements of the book, except that which Rowling makes deliberately, and without subtlety, confusing and mysterious. Take for example the fact that Dumbledore, once a cooky and aloof character now has regular interaction with all the characters; by simple virtue of the fact that Rowling has all that much more to write for Dumbledore, it's impossible for that character to remain nearly as good. Take Snape in the most recent installment for another example; by writing deliberately vaguely, Rowling beats you over the head with the fact that you don't know if he's a double-crosser, a triple-crosser, or what. It's just sorta pathetic how many holes she digs for herself, and how obvious it is that her ending will not be particularly satisfactory because she's given control of the story to the masses.

Ughh...I guess i can't be THAT upset at George R.R. Martin for working diligengtly to produce his next book, rather than nonchalantly putting out the next volume without thinking of the consequences of the events you've set up.