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christ i fucking hate harry potter :)
you are neither bad nor wrong if you love harry potter and i still treasure you
i suspect there is a lot of really good stuff to be mined from any well-written and evocative fantasy series no matter how reflexively its premises may put some others off
and if it's any consolation if i actually read any of it it might evolve to something like, say, the deep love-hate i have of doctor who
but christ i fucking hate harry potter <3
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(To make a more valuable and serious contribution here: I think what puts me off about HP is the innate elitism of its premise. 'Cause that's EXACTLY what puts me off about Doctor Who. You can't achieve Time Lord status. You have to be part of the Special Elf People race. I hate Special Elf People races. I like my weird supernormal genre fiction to be as democratic as possible. If I don't have ANY chance of growing up to punch gods in your world... hard pass. :) )
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Oh, and of course, likewise Vampire: The Masquerade. If you don't have the Gift Of The Special People Thing, you are profoundly unlikely to have any meaningful effect on reality, and you are going to be constantly reminded of it by your culture. Fuck that noise.
Note that the "Blue" narrative in Parallax is basically the story of a Young Adult Novel Heroine who was handed the McGuffin by Special Elf People... and finds out in the first 8 pages it don't work so good. ^__^
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That, of course, is totally intentional, and one of the big thematic goals of Parallax is to put the boot into Special Elf People mythology repeatedly and mercilessly. All gods can scream. ^_____^
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(And some gods are like really cool aunties who will sit and have tea with you at the Adult Table and frankly dish Hot Divine Gossip and not lay that "come back in 100,000 years when you don't have dicks and boobs and things" Star Trek bullshit on you just because your species still fights and poops. >:D )
