Most overrated writers/books

[~NoodleDemon~]

Hey, I like Ludlum!

Lol, most of his stuff is kinda mediocre, though better than most action stories.

I just don't have a life yet.

Dune, the first book especially, was very, very good.

I won't say it's the best scifi, but that's cause I have not yet read Ender's Game, SOIAF, Princess Bride, or some of the others you guys rave about.

I think I shall go to the library soon.

Stephen King has done some good shit, like Cell and some of the Dark Tower series, but overall, his stuff brings his fewer good works down a few pegs.

I totally agree about LOTR, but I can't get enough of the Hobbit, personally. I'm still reading that shit after 3 years.

Dostoevsky, though I still admire his style.

[fueledbycoffee]

It wasn't until I read this thread that I realized how behind I've fallen in the world of literature. There's a seventh Harry Potter book? Which implies that the series continued after the fourth book... Woah, trippy.

Anyway, yeah, I'd probably say that JK Rowling is the most overrated author in the world at the moment. Not because her stuff is bad, mind. I actually quite like it. However, I don't think it's the greatest literary achievement of all time, as sales would indicate.

And, as much as everyone I know would tar and feather me for this, Frank Miller. I'm not sure why, but his stuff just rubs me wrong, somehow. Dark Knight Returns and Sin City were ok, if not mind-blowing, and 300 was pretty awful.

And of course, Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Orson Scott Card. Yeah, I went there.

[Edd]

And of course, Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Orson Scott Card. Yeah, I went there.

All three started out great but their most recent work doesn’t even seem as if they tried.

[Zankou 2.0]

*Kills everyone in this thread*

[fueledbycoffee]

*summarily dies*

[Rainswept]

And of course, Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Orson Scott Card. Yeah, I went there.

Card and King each have some gems amongst the rocks, but there are definite rocks.

[Moral Minority]

Anyway, yeah, I'd probably say that JK Rowling is the most overrated author in the world at the moment. Not because her stuff is bad, mind. I actually quite like it. However, I don't think it's the greatest literary achievement of all time, as sales would indicate.

Her stuff is excellent and quite readable, but she screwed things up in book seven.

[Zankou 2.0]

Anyway, yeah, I'd probably say that JK Rowling is the most overrated author in the world at the moment. Not because her stuff is bad, mind. I actually quite like it. However, I don't think it's the greatest literary achievement of all time, as sales would indicate.

Her stuff is excellent and quite readable, but she screwed things up in book seven.

She did not. Book seven was excellent.

[Rainswept]

Book seven's ending was very very weak, I very much believe it was done that way for non-story purposes (Like making sure people didn't keep begging her to write more books.) Outside of that, it was a bit too dreary and depressing overall for my taste, and in comparison to the series.

All in all tho, I still loved the Harry Potter books, and liked the message the early ones carried to kids, encouraging thought, planning, good choices in friends, and bravery as ways to deal with your problems. Overall I have no beef with the Harry Potter series.

[Mad Willyum Bonney]

It wasn't until I read this thread that I realized how behind I've fallen in the world of literature. There's a seventh Harry Potter book? Which implies that the series continued after the fourth book... Woah, trippy.

Yipes! Me to !

Anyway, yeah, I'd probably say that JK Rowling is the most overrated author in the world at the moment. Not because her stuff is bad, mind. I actually quite like it. However, I don't think it's the greatest literary achievement of all time, as sales would indicate.

Yar ye be m8 , ye git roight ta thee point , oi kin think ove no moor an' no less ( oi be thinkin' less an' less arrry day !) .

And, as much as everyone I know would tar and feather me for this, Frank Miller. I'm not sure why, but his stuff just rubs me wrong, somehow. Dark Knight Returns and Sin City were ok, if not mind-blowing, and 300 was pretty awful.

Oi savvy m8 !
Oi considarr Millarrr ta be amongst thee garrrrrrr8 comic stylists , he be thee hole package . But he duzzint captour my attenshun as much as Alan Moore or mabbe Neil Gaimen .

And of course, Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Orson Scott Card. Yeah, I went there.

20 yers ago oi be 'avin ye swingin' onna yarrdarm by yer thumbs fer thet outbarrst !
A floggin' still ta gud fer ye , yet ye speek troo as oi seas et , ARGH !

[fueledbycoffee]

Yarr, thankee, mate. I think.

[Cryofdragon]

Now I don't think Rowling is overrated, per say. Reason is I haven't heard that much claiming she's the greatest thing since Shakespere. She gets good sales because her books appeal to a wide audience. I think that makes her truly great. I don't think anyone who's read her books can say they didn't like reading them, even if they don't list the series with their favorites. She somehow took a seven-volume, several thousand page work -- the sort of thing that would normally make a student cry -- and made something that millions of people who have never even picked up a book outside school would read in their free time. In this day and age, that's danm impressive. She also, I think, does an excellent job of world-building, almost on the level of Tolkien. She doesn't sit around telling legends or stories, and she doesn't have any maps included in the books, but I the way her characters talk, her extensive cast of characters, combined with the intricacy of the story build a living, breathing, believable world. She manages to do that with little to no direct narration of these things. She's a danm good writer.

[fueledbycoffee]

Reason is I haven't heard that much claiming she's the greatest thing since Shakespere

I suppose this is based on experience. Many people I know (save for two or three people who can't stand the books) consider Harry Potter to be the definitive work of our generation. It's sales are up there with the Bible, or Abbey Road. I'm not contesting that they're good books, I just don't think they're unbelievably brilliant, and certainly not worthy of all the hooplah surrounding them.

I kind of see it like Star Wars, which is in my book the textbook example of an overrated work. Many people consider it to be the greatest science fiction masterpiece of all time. The world-building is legendary. Ninety-nine out of one hundred people have seen it. However, when all the hype is peeled away, they are merely quite good action/sci-fi movies, rather than being Citizen Kane in space.

[Wawizzle]

Now I don't think Rowling is overrated, per say. Reason is I haven't heard that much claiming she's the greatest thing since Shakespere. She gets good sales because her books appeal to a wide audience. I think that makes her truly great. I don't think anyone who's read her books can say they didn't like reading them, even if they don't list the series with their favorites. She somehow took a seven-volume, several thousand page work -- the sort of thing that would normally make a student cry -- and made something that millions of people who have never even picked up a book outside school would read in their free time. In this day and age, that's danm impressive. She also, I think, does an excellent job of world-building, almost on the level of Tolkien. She doesn't sit around telling legends or stories, and she doesn't have any maps included in the books, but I the way her characters talk, her extensive cast of characters, combined with the intricacy of the story build a living, breathing, believable world. She manages to do that with little to no direct narration of these things. She's a danm good writer.

QFT

[Capellini]

The thing about Rowling is that she wrote the right thing at the right time. She could be credited with making reading popular again. I certainly don't think it's a stretch to say that.

And I thought the books were great.