death to capslock

I mean at least Jesus really died, rather than living through some convoluted scheme because God couldn't bear to kill him off..

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*This*! :D

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Not only that, but the hero's dying, getting advice from his mentor in the afterlife, then coming back to life to win the battle isn't even original. Rowling ripped it off from the novel The Darkest Hour, by Erin Hunter, published in 2004.

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Where can I read it?! (The Darkest Hour, that is. :)

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Where can I read it?! (The Darkest Hour, that is. :)

You should be able to find it in the children's section of any public library. It's part of the hugely-popular Warrriors series about feral cats. The first six books comprise the first story arc and are: Into the Wild, Fire and Ice, Forest of Secrets, Rising Storm, A Dangerous Path, and The Darkest Hour. They follow the same story arc as the HP books but are SO much better! They're what HP should have been (which is the name of an essay I'm working on, BTW). Compare Fireheart to Harry, Bluestar to Dumbledore, and Tigerclaw to Voldemort, just for starters. But if you have a weak stomach, you might want to have a barf bag ready when you do that. If you think HP sucks now, I guarantee it'll look infinitely worse after you read the Fireheart Warriors series.

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"But if you have a weak stomach, you might want to have a barf bag ready when you do that. If you think HP sucks now, I guarantee it'll look infinitely worse after you read the Fireheart Warriors series."

Why do you say that? *Is curious*

But no problem -- I'll definitely seek it out. *Isn't a huge WARRIOR CATS fan -- but may be. Soon. ;-)*

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I just mean it's positively nauseating how huge the gap in quality is between HP and Warriors. And the thing is, Warriors isn't great literature. The books are wonderful entertainment IMO, but their style is workmanlike, and the characters and situations are nothing you haven't seen before, if you're an adult. Nonetheless, the stories are tightly-plotted and exciting (each book is only about 315 pages long), the good characters are lovble and respect-worthy, the bad ones are fiendishly brilliant, the world-building is carefully thought out (there are even rule books for how the Warriorverse works), and the morality is consistent and ennobling. Even though these books aren't great art, they're just so much better in every way than the Potter books, that it's disgusting to see how much more acclaim and sales HP gets than Warriors. The illustrations are better, too. Wayne McLoughlin's artwork for the American editions is just gorgeous. The website even has a screen saver of his work you can download. I've included the link for the official site. Be sure to have the sound on your computer turned on when you go there so you can hear the cats yowling. http://warriorcats.com/

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I'm actually more disgusted that people bring up the "HP got kids to read" argument. I mean...true, they did, but that doesn't mean they're immune from criticism. *No one* is immune from criticism.

Besides, the books are so meanspirited anyways that I really doubt you'd want kids reading them. Forget the "Satan" accusations -- Rowling generally has an bass-ackward view of morality in general (as many of the community have pointed out. ;-).

But yes...I will read WARRIORS when I have the time. And shamelessly promote it as well. :3

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ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com - Date: 2011-03-08 02:03 pm (UTC) - Expand

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Really? Wow... I thought she was above plagiarism...

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mary-j-59.livejournal.com

Um - really? I would like to point you to my (alas, terribly long!) essay, "The Mores of the 19th century". Before I wrote it, someone else had pointed out how very much Harry was like Oliver Twist. And others have pointed out the strong similarities between the Potter books and The Worst Witch, and also Eva Ibbotson's work and Neil Gaiman's.

You're joking, right?

Not that any of the above is deliberate plagiarism. But she had lots of influences and flung them together, IMHO, in a rather haphazard way-

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Permission to have a link to your essay? It sounds interesting. :)

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mary-j-59.livejournal.com

You certainly can! Here is the link (sorry I haven't yet figured out how to prettify links):
http://mary-j-59.livejournal.com/28732.html#cutid1

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Thanks! Will read. :)

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What a fascinating essay! Makes a lot of sense too.

Re: Rowling and the Mores of the 19th century-

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mary-j-59.livejournal.com - Date: 2011-03-09 04:32 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Rowling and the Mores of the 19th century-

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sunnyskywalker - Date: 2011-03-09 05:38 pm (UTC) - Expand

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Except Oliver Twist was actually likable and didn't get handed stuff just because he was special. (I choose to ignore the tacked on ending explaining Oliver's true birth because it cheapens the story, I think.)

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*This*, just this! :D

Glad you brought it up, BTW. Charles Dickens is the man. :3

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Rowling also blatantly copied Snape off Sherlock Holmes. Almost a year ago on Snapedom, I came up with a list of literally dozens of ways the two are alike, and I didn't even mention all of them. In the interest of saving space, I only hit the highlights. I've included the link if you want to read what I said. Just scroll down to the end of the main essay I'm replying to to see my remarks. http://asylums.insanejournal.com/snapedom/262649.html?thread=2076665#t2076665

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Wow, I never would have caught that! How interesting!

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Didn't really think of that one, really. ;-)

Speaking of which, anyone want to compare Dumbledore to Citizen Kane? *Runs*

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Specific examples? *Is genuinely interested* :)

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Please see mary_j_59's remarks in this thread as well as my own. I also thought of something else Rowling ripped off from Warriors. Many people have remarked how weird it is that Dumbledore didn't just fall when Snape AK'd him; he lifted up and flew off the tower, unlike anyone else in the series killed by that spell. In the penultimate book of the Fireheart series, A Dangerous Path, someone dies in an almost identical way. I don't want to say more and spoil it for you, but the similarities between the two scenes are astonishing--and rather suspicious, under the circumstances.

Let me not forget to mention that Bluestar has a mysterious, secret past that's very similar to Dumbledore's, involving forbidden love, betrayal, and the death of an innocent. Honestly, Rowling reminds me less of an author than she does those "musical artists" who do nothing but ~~rip off~~ "sample" other people's music instead of writing something original.

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Ah. I see. :)

Then there's the locket thing...

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