It's really hard to read a book or watch a tv series if you don't like the lead character or even the supporting ones, particularly a series that is not ensemble based and from that character's pov.
I get that. It's why I can't stand Breaking Bad. Why I've struggled with several of Neil Gaiman's novels. And various other things. The book Atonement by Ian McEwan...I despised but I hated the main character whose pov I was in.
I admittedly adore Harry Dresden and I'll give Butcher credit for evolving and changing the character, who gets darker and more powerful as the series progresses, and less self-aware. He is in danger of becoming the very thing he's fought against. The books are definitely in the noir category. But if you can't stand the character - no way you will like that series.
(I haven't read the Alexa Codera series either - tried, didn't like it. Butcher is a clean and neat writer...getting better as he goes, but he doesn't like to play with his world and his stories have...a sameness to them...that gets tiring at times. Plus Butcher's writing is very conventional. While he takes risks with Harry, he doesn't with anything else. I prefer in some respects Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series - which is also noir, but about a female character who gets darker and more powerful as she goes. Harrison blends sci-fi and fantasy, plays with established tropes, steps outside the box and has a bit of femslash in there as well. She's more creative and she has also established character arcs for everyone NOT just the lead (which is the main flaw in Butcher's books - it's all about Harry.) Harrison plays with more characters. She's not as technically accomplished in her writing as Butcher, not as neat and clean. But her story, itself, is a lot more interesting, as are her characters. Example of how story trumps writing technique.
Can't really comment on Prachett. I've never been able to get into his books. I liked the Amazing Maurice, and Good Omens wasn't bad. But Monsterous Regiment bored and annoyed me. And the whole footnotes bit gets on my nerves - residual effects of undergrad and grad school no doubt. (I have no patience for footnotes in non-fiction, where they belong, let along fiction - I feel like I'm being asked to work. Plus they are bloody distracting to anyone with dyslexia - I have enough problems keeping myself on track, having to skip down to the bottom of the page to read silly footnote about a pun pulls me completely out of the story.)
(Yes, there's three things my flist loves to pieces that I don't understand: 1) X-Files, 2) Terry Prachett, 3)Breaking Bad. LOL!!!)
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I get that. It's why I can't stand Breaking Bad. Why I've struggled with several of Neil Gaiman's novels. And various other things. The book Atonement by Ian McEwan...I despised but I hated the main character whose pov I was in.
I admittedly adore Harry Dresden and I'll give Butcher credit for evolving and changing the character, who gets darker and more powerful as the series progresses, and less self-aware. He is in danger of becoming the very thing he's fought against. The books are definitely in the noir category. But if you can't stand the character - no way you will like that series.
(I haven't read the Alexa Codera series either - tried, didn't like it.
Butcher is a clean and neat writer...getting better as he goes, but he doesn't like to play with his world and his stories have...a sameness to them...that gets tiring at times. Plus Butcher's writing is very conventional. While he takes risks with Harry, he doesn't with anything else. I prefer in some respects Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series - which is also noir, but about a female character who gets darker and more powerful as she goes. Harrison blends sci-fi and fantasy, plays with established tropes, steps outside the box and has a bit of femslash in there as well. She's more creative and she has also established character arcs for everyone NOT just the lead (which is the main flaw in Butcher's books - it's all about Harry.) Harrison plays with more characters. She's not as technically accomplished in her writing as Butcher, not as neat and clean. But her story, itself,
is a lot more interesting, as are her characters. Example of how story trumps writing technique.
Can't really comment on Prachett. I've never been able to get into his books. I liked the Amazing Maurice, and Good Omens wasn't bad. But Monsterous Regiment bored and annoyed me. And the whole footnotes bit gets on my nerves - residual effects of undergrad and grad school no doubt. (I have no patience for footnotes in non-fiction, where they belong, let along fiction - I feel like I'm being asked to work. Plus they are bloody distracting to anyone with dyslexia - I have enough problems keeping myself on track, having to skip down to the bottom of the page to read silly footnote about a pun pulls me completely out of the story.)
(Yes, there's three things my flist loves to pieces that I don't understand: 1) X-Files, 2) Terry Prachett, 3)Breaking Bad. LOL!!!)