So basically what I’ve gleaned from everyone’s blog posts is that after 47 pages no one is quite sure what to think about this book other than it’s kind of like Harry Potter. But then you could tell that just by reading the reviews, in which everyone made at least one reference to the master of witchcraft and wizardry. Personally, I think don’t care one way or another for the novel so far.
One thing that we’ve discussed that makes a novel “popular” is creating compelling characters that you care about from the first page (read: Katniss). Grossman failed to do this, in my opinion. Instead of creating a character that was likeable or compelling, he created one we felt sorry for. Poor pitiful Quentin and his unrequited love and his fondness for doing magic tricks where no one could see them. Oh and his parents don’t care about him? Bonus. To be fair, though, I didn’t really get attached to Jacob (was that his name?) or Julia, either, and I’m pretty sure we were supposed to like them. Either way, even when Quentin’s wildest dreams come true and he finally gets to live in a fantasy world I couldn’t muster up enthusiasm for him. I was and am purely indifferent. I was more excited for the punk kid I know nothing about.
Another trend I noticed, though it’s less prominent or significant so far in this book, was the whole “you have to have a dead person,” thing. There was a dead body within the first twenty pages, I think. What is it about our attention span that makes it necessary to have a corpse so quickly in every book we read? I am, however, intrigued about the whole “scouts” thing, where the magic school sends out recruiters that appear to be normal, apparently attractive people.
Anyone else hoping this turns out to either be a drug trip or psychotic breakdown?
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