Matt
IKYN Guy Groupie
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Someone mentioned the books in the TV series thread and I thought I'd start a discussion here. Did any one read them? Here are my thoughts from the other thread:
I was actually really disappointed by the books. I've only read the first two and couldn't go on. Lindsay is a good idea man, but his writing style leaves a lot to be desired. He will spend 3/4s of the book repeating himself over and over in slightly different ways then because there has been such little progression due to the repitition, he is forced to advance the story by having plot points jump from A to B with little to no build up or logic.
On top of that, no character but Dexter is really developed in the books and that is unfortunate as Dexter of the books is a weak protagonist. There is no way to relate to him as unlike on the show where he claims to be a monster but retains some humanity to make him relatable, book Dexter is truly the monster he claims to be. He speaks of characters like Deb and Rita with what seems to be disdain. He is strictly driven by his urge to kill (and eat in the second book). It makes him very difficult to relate to and that's fine if you have a strong supporting cast, but you don't. Lindsay does not allow any of the other characters to shine.
My biggest problem though, is Lindsay has no falling action. After the climax he tries to resolve hanging plot lines with a couple throw away sentences and as a result it fails entirely.
Its ashame, because in a better author's hands these books can be great but Lindsay is just such a weak author, IMO.
I was actually really disappointed by the books. I've only read the first two and couldn't go on. Lindsay is a good idea man, but his writing style leaves a lot to be desired. He will spend 3/4s of the book repeating himself over and over in slightly different ways then because there has been such little progression due to the repitition, he is forced to advance the story by having plot points jump from A to B with little to no build up or logic.
On top of that, no character but Dexter is really developed in the books and that is unfortunate as Dexter of the books is a weak protagonist. There is no way to relate to him as unlike on the show where he claims to be a monster but retains some humanity to make him relatable, book Dexter is truly the monster he claims to be. He speaks of characters like Deb and Rita with what seems to be disdain. He is strictly driven by his urge to kill (and eat in the second book). It makes him very difficult to relate to and that's fine if you have a strong supporting cast, but you don't. Lindsay does not allow any of the other characters to shine.
My biggest problem though, is Lindsay has no falling action. After the climax he tries to resolve hanging plot lines with a couple throw away sentences and as a result it fails entirely.
Its ashame, because in a better author's hands these books can be great but Lindsay is just such a weak author, IMO.
