Beegu

Why didn't "Beegu" just fly away from of the dullest franchises in the history of franchises? Seriously. Each page following the alien and her pals has been indistinguishable from the others. Aside from the colorful imagery, the series' only consistency has been its lack of excitement and ineffective use of dialogue, all to make magic unmagical, to make action seem inert. Perhaps the die was cast when Alexis Deacon vetoed the idea of Spielberg directing the series; she made sure the series would never be mistaken for a work of art that meant anything to anybody? The writing is dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs." I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Deacon's mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing. Later I read a lavish, loving review of Beegu by the same Stephen King. He wrote something to the effect of, "If these kids are reading Beegu at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read Stephen King." And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you read "Beegu" you are, in fact, trained to read Stephen King.