Quote:
Originally Posted by AlbertaCowboy
This is what really bugs me.
I get so sick of "Dirk Pitt Syndrome", where the main character is a marine biologist/ex military/amateur archaeologist/linguist/computer hacker/mountaineer/pilot/hostage negotiator etc etc etc.[...]
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Hey, don't knock Dirk! He's my hero.
More seriously, there's a place for Dirk Pitt and other super heros. Action packed books that don't take themselves too seriously; books about the action rather than credibility; books you read for fun rather than education. When they're done well, as Clive Cussler used to do it with Dirk, they work well. When they're not done well the lack or realism/credibility in the main characters just compounds the faults.
Star Trek works, not because anyone thinks it is realistic science fiction, or because the characters have more than the barest necessity of pop-psychology depth, or because the all-too-human-looking aliens are at all believable, but because it's science fiction that we wished could be true.
Who would have accepted names like "Dumbledore" and "Hogwarts" (etc.) in a serious story, if it hadn't started out has a relatively harmless but enjoyable children's story first? By the time you got really involved the names worked, and you couldn't imagine anything else, but the books had to lead you to that point.
And I think that's really the point: every book needs it's redeeming elements. You can forgive a lot if there is
something about the story you enjoy.
Often the main protagonists are quite bland, they serve as the reader's access to the story. This works as long as there are other aspects of the story to pull you in: the setting, the action, the other characters. To my eyes there has to be something extraordinary about the story, some reason for being. It doesn't have to be a likeable or relatable main character, but if that doesn't exist then something else had better make up for it.
And mood plays a big part for me. There are times when I thoroughly enjoy picking up a Tarzan story and breezing through it, but at other times I'm likely to throw it at the wall in disgust, I want something deeper. It's why I don't plan what I'm going to read next, I don't know what I'll be in the mood for until I get there.