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 Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:26 am
Back before the massive success and popularity of Harry Potter, there was the whole Lord of the Ring series (which I must say, IS pretty good.) And now, AFTER the pinnacle of the Harry Potter series' popularity, Twilight has taken a large part of the stage.
As a Harry Potter fanatics xd , I feel as though we should discuss each book, LoTR as well as Twilight in comparison to Harry Potter. Maybe we could actually extend this comparison to other books (on an afterthought)!
(This actually has most likely been done before, but I just can't seem to find the topic, so if you can find it, that'll be nice. =])
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 5:45 pm
To be honest, I think that Twilight is pretty weak. The author even admitted that she isn't a great writer, but that she is a good story-teller. Actually, I don't think she is good at either one. Her books are predictable and pretty boring.
Unfortunately, I can't say much about LOTR, except that Tolkein describes way too much travel. sweatdrop The stories are good, but I sort of got lost in all of the scenary and the traveling and the traveling and the traveling...
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 5:51 pm
I haven't read Twilight yet but LoTR is ok I don't like it because it dose describe to much of the travel but I wonder may we also compare Harry Potter to Eragon ???
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 6:24 pm
Has anyone read the Young Wizard's Series by Diana Duane, that might be interesting to compare to Harry Potter.
Eragon and Harry Potter never seemed that similar to me beyond the hero being a young man, Eragon always seemed like a more modern, younger take on the lord of the rings or wheel of time series. But to each their own opinion I guess.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 6:27 pm
I haven't read Eragon, but it is fiction like Harry Potter, so I suppose we could compare them, right? Also, Twilight and Harry Potter don't have much in common other than the fact that they're a popular fiction series. So is any popular fiction book up for discussion?
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 6:55 pm
I think we should discuss whatever book we want, but the important part is the comparing part. Haha, yup.
I personally think that Twilight was better written than some of the Harry Potter books (namely the 5-7th books), but Twilight doesn't seem to have a really solid plot!
Eragon's an interesting book, I think. Umm...it almost feels a bit like Harry Potter now that I think about it...Eragon is one of the last Riders and he becomes a hero for "justice," and he seeks to overthrow the dominant evil power, Galbatorix which is in a sense similar to Harry's status as the only one that Voldemort failed to kill (other than Dumbledore), Harry's celebrity status, and his quest to overthrow Voldemort.
And yes, I've read the Young Wizard's series. I actually rather liked it! I think it has quite a bit of twist in the plot...but I'm disappointed that it never actually got such a big footing like Twilight. Heh...
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 7:13 pm
Yeah, I think HP is a lot like Eragon too. You can compare pretty much any fictional book featuring a hero. Most of them follow a certain set of rules;
-The main character is a hero, who is often possessed of supernatural abilities or qualities.
-The hero is introduced to a strange character whose appearance often marks the beginning of the hero's quest.
-The hero is introduced to his/her mentor who often holds supernatural qualities as well.
-The presence of mythical beings, or human helpers
-Hero's travels take him to supernatural world or distant land, often one that normal human beings are barred from entering.
-The cycle must reach a low point where the hero nearly gives up quest or appears defeated.
-A resurrection. Hero revitalizes his/her efforts towards the quest.
-Restitution. Often takes the form of hero regaining rightful place on throne or recieving special acknowledgement for their achievments.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 7:15 pm
justamoose Yeah, I think HP is a lot like Eragon too. You can compare pretty much any fictional book featuring a hero. Most of them follow a certain set of rules;
-The main character is a hero, who is often possessed of supernatural abilities or qualities.
-The hero is introduced to a strange character whose appearance often marks the beginning of the hero's quest.
-The hero is introduced to his/her mentor who often holds supernatural qualities as well.
-The presence of mythical beings, or human helpers
-Hero's travels take him to supernatural world or distant land, often one that normal human beings are barred from entering.
-The cycle must reach a low point where the hero nearly gives up quest or appears defeated.
-A resurrection. Hero revitalizes his/her efforts towards the quest.
-Restitution. Often takes the form of hero regaining rightful place on throne or recieving special acknowledgement for their achievments.
You forgot the "making amends with 'father figure'" I believe that's the Jung's Hero Cycle? I can't quite remember though. Haha, but that is a good point...
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 7:19 pm
Yeah, that's it! I couldn't remember what it was called. I knew it had something to do with Heros... and yes, I think the reunion with the 'father figure' belongs in there somewhere.
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Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 7:55 am
Personally I think Harry Potter was a lot better than Twilight and LOTR. LOTR was a lot of descriptions and a lot of scenery and a lot of traveling and it sort of gets tedious. Harry Potter was always interesting to me and it never bored me. Twilight was a good book but I think we have to keep in mind that it was a more a love story than anything else and NOTHING happened until the very end of the book. All the action was in one chapter. The rest was all dialogue. I will say the dialogue was funny and interesting so I liked it. To me, Harry Potter had more depth.
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Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:16 am
Descriptions never hurt right? I think LOTR had the perfect balance of action and setting/description. I think that's why a lot of school districts incorporate LOTR into their English curriculum. It feels like it has depth, and at the same time, there are several districts that reject Harry Potter for being too shallow and even somewhat generic.
I used to partially agree in that I couldn't find very many intriguing ideas to talk about, but I met this one teacher who was obsessed about phallic symbols, and surprisingly Harry Potter is just full of them. =3 (I'll leave it at that).
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Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:40 am
KitaAmaya I think we should discuss whatever book we want, but the important part is the comparing part. Haha, yup. I personally think that Twilight was better written than some of the Harry Potter books (namely the 5-7th books), but Twilight doesn't seem to have a really solid plot! Eragon's an interesting book, I think. Umm...it almost feels a bit like Harry Potter now that I think about it...Eragon is one of the last Riders and he becomes a hero for "justice," and he seeks to overthrow the dominant evil power, Galbatorix which is in a sense similar to Harry's status as the only one that Voldemort failed to kill (other than Dumbledore), Harry's celebrity status, and his quest to overthrow Voldemort. And yes, I've read the Young Wizard's series. I actually rather liked it! I think it has quite a bit of twist in the plot...but I'm disappointed that it never actually got such a big footing like Twilight. Heh... Very nice topic! But, instead of just staying I like this or I didn't like that, tell us WHAT you liked or didn't like. The title of the thread is comparison, and Kita makes a good compare and contrast with Harry and Eragon. Not just Kita, a couple of others of you as well. I'm just short on time today... -LHH
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LadyHealingHands Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 5:28 pm
LadyHealingHands KitaAmaya I think we should discuss whatever book we want, but the important part is the comparing part. Haha, yup. I personally think that Twilight was better written than some of the Harry Potter books (namely the 5-7th books), but Twilight doesn't seem to have a really solid plot! Eragon's an interesting book, I think. Umm...it almost feels a bit like Harry Potter now that I think about it...Eragon is one of the last Riders and he becomes a hero for "justice," and he seeks to overthrow the dominant evil power, Galbatorix which is in a sense similar to Harry's status as the only one that Voldemort failed to kill (other than Dumbledore), Harry's celebrity status, and his quest to overthrow Voldemort. And yes, I've read the Young Wizard's series. I actually rather liked it! I think it has quite a bit of twist in the plot...but I'm disappointed that it never actually got such a big footing like Twilight. Heh... Very nice topic! But, instead of just staying I like this or I didn't like that, tell us WHAT you liked or didn't like. The title of the thread is comparison, and Kita makes a good compare and contrast with Harry and Eragon. Not just Kita, a couple of others of you as well. I'm just short on time today... -LHH Thanks for the reminder and the observation that we were somewhat deviating from the true intention of the topic... While I'm in here, I think I'll add a bit of criticism at Harry Potter. I think that a lot of the events in the story was predictable, and if they weren't predictable, it was rather insignificant. For example, we all knew that Harry Potter would beat Voldemort (and it's been pointed out several times throughout the series that Harry would die [and then live again]...). However, the death of Fred, in my opinion, while it was unexpected, was rather...insignificant. Sorry Fred fans! redface It's just that the storyline wouldn't have changed much even without his death? Do you agree/disagree? However, I realize that this is also true of LOTR and Eragon, but I believe that it's not to such a huge effect like in Harry Potter. I actually think that this is because of the copious effort by the Tolkiens and Paolini to develop the setting and characters more...Thoughts?
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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 8:28 pm
Many people claim that Twilight is "Life after harry Potter," but I honestly don't see the series as similar at all. Twilight has terrible foreshadowing, unlike Rowling's work, and shallow, underdeveloped chracters that people are expected to take at face value.
Harry Potter is deep, it's true, but it's written in a children's/young adult style, which makes it very different from Lord of the Rings. I agree that Eragon reminds me of Lord of the Rings with the battles and various races, but they don't remind me of Harry potter.
Young Wizards is much more scientific in its explanations for magic than HP, however, I do recognise how many of the characters would make good friends. I wrote a crossover fan fic between the two series once. Nita and Kit were sorted into Gryffindor, and Dairine was in Slytherin.
The series that I personally find the most similar to Harry potter is Children of the Red King by Jenny Nimmo, more commonly known as the Charlie Bone books. Characters go to a school for gifted students with hallways patrolled by Prefects and a Head Boy. They are sorted into houses represented by colours (green=art, blue=music, purple=drama). The main character is also a boy with mean aunt(s) and a deceptively normal name given his extraordinary powers. He has a best friend with a large family, whom he loves.
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Minerva the Bookwyrm Crew
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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 10:03 pm
Minerva the Bookwyrm Many people claim that Twilight is "Life after harry Potter," but I honestly don't see the series as similar at all. Twilight has terrible foreshadowing, unlike Rowling's work, and shallow, underdeveloped chracters that people are expected to take at face value.
Harry Potter is deep, it's true, but it's written in a children's/young adult style, which makes it very different from Lord of the Rings. I agree that Eragon reminds me of Lord of the Rings with the battles and various races, but they don't remind me of Harry potter.
Young Wizards is much more scientific in its explanations for magic than HP, however, I do recognise how many of the characters would make good friends. I wrote a crossover fan fic between the two series once. Nita and Kit were sorted into Gryffindor, and Dairine was in Slytherin.
The series that I personally find the most similar to Harry potter is Children of the Red King by Jenny Nimmo, more commonly known as the Charlie Bone books. Characters go to a school for gifted students with hallways patrolled by Prefects and a Head Boy. They are sorted into houses represented by colours (green=art, blue=music, purple=drama). The main character is also a boy with mean aunt(s) and a deceptively normal name given his extraordinary powers. He has a best friend with a large family, whom he loves. I actually tend to disagree with the "good" foreshadowing that you complimented Harry Potter on. Don't get me wrong, there was foreshadowing, but many events were foreshadowed way before the book at various moments especially with the Trelawney. Now this is where I would agree with your foreshadowing argument. Since everything has to do with magic and mysticism in Harry Potter, it would be hard to sift through what is foreshadowing and what is just a comment/occurrence. For example, Harry sees the "grim" and this can foreshadow Harry's future death or it's just a "reputation" that precedes Sirius and so on, so forth. The Young Wizards series--I agree with you Minerva!--is quite flexible. I don't think it's one of those "typical" magic stories, but it can easily be incorporated into one. Yet, I find the author's writing style a tad bit more bland than some of J.K. Rowling's work. (I don't know how to support this because I read the Young Wizard around 4-5 years ago and it's not in my head anymore.) On another note, while I do agree with LOTR and Eragon are aimed at a slightly older audience, I don't think that it's such a significant difference. Another question I think we could look at is whether or not Harry Potter will be considered a classic book/series. By "classic," what I mean is a book that transcends time and can be enjoyed even centuries from now. LOTR is already recognized as a classic series. Do you think the same will be true about Harry Potter? Especially considering that there's quite a bit of opposition, most notably from the Catholic Church....
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