So before doing more prep for NaNoWriMo in October I decided to re-read a series I read a few years back. (I was cleaning and found all three so decided to read them again.)
The books are the Dragonmaster series by Chris Bunch. Now, before I had read these I had never even heard of Bunch, but I've done my google-ing tonight before writing this...
I have to say that I am disappointed in these books. I know that I am, as a writer, definitely not perfect. But for someone who has as many books published as Bunch has, I am shocked at the low quality of this writing.
He is inconsistently using quotation marks, apostrophes, italics. And those are just the grammar things I'M noticing...and I usually over look or don't notice grammar unless it's really bad. He also refers to his character Hal Kailas both by "Hal" and then by "Kailas", often on the same page, but even more often in the same paragraph! Talk about confusing and losing your readers! He also introduces characters that you never see again, or don't see again for chapters, in too descriptive a manner. If the rouge bandit is only in chapter x-for example-the reader doesn't need to know that his front left tooth is broken, he reeks like ale, has a drawl, twitches in the bright sun, his pants are dirty, his saber is dull, and that he has a large extended family from some random, admittedly in the text, little known town. Too much for a character that lasts all of 2 pages!
Oh and be prepared for the narrative to just suddenly jump. Chapter one starts with Hal Kailas as a young boy, maybe 12 or 13 then in the next chapter he seems to have aged by 2 or 3 years! It just continues like that, and he gives the reader no warning as to how far the narrative will jump.
And don't even get me started on the typical uneducated dialogue, or how unoriginal his theme of "boy coming of age in a time of war" is. Yes, it is a relatively good theme offering up times of trial for his character, but there seems to be nothing behind this main theme. There are no extra layers that would make this story so much more satisfying to the reader. And the dragons are just beasts. Just dumb beasts that are cast aside in the exact same manner all of the other animals in the story are.
I'm sorry, I guess I'm just not a fan of that treatment.
Yes, it is a far cry from the usual "dragon" portrayal. But the storyline just falls flat, I have no affection towards Hal Kailas-the one exception is in the first chapter when he saves a young dragon kit-and am not invested in the character or the outcome of the war.
It is interesting to me that he is such an acclaimed or well-known writer...I just hope that this series is not indicative of his writing style...
No comments:
Post a Comment