SurfinTaxt said:
teh_gunslinger said:
SurfinTaxt said:
teh_gunslinger said:
haha youre obviously trolling because no one who actually read through dance w/ dragons would say that. How does it drone on and on? Things are happening all the time, the 4th might have dragged a bit, but every other book is packed to the gills with believable political intrigue, layered, interweaving sub plots, unique morally ambiguous characters, and gripping, tense moments.
Read the first book at least before making a comment like that. And no, thats different from me saying vg books suck because they are designed to suck. No one is spending more than 4 or 5 months writing these things, its like a book factory. Every game book Ive ever picked up sounds like a first draft
Oh, I'll happily admit that I've only read the first two and a half books. Can't bear reading any more of them to be honest.
My point was not that video game books are better (or even good). They mostly are not. Rather I wanted to show that when it comes to taste, it makes little sense to slam other people for theirs. If someone enjoys a Mass Effect book that's not really a problem. Likewise, it's not a problem that someone enjoys Martins books. To each their own.
I just don't enjoy them very much. I think there are too many better books I could read instead of spending so much time on ASoIaF. The ones I've read would have, as so much genre fiction, benefited from a harsh editor to trim out the fluff. Martin can obviously write. He just have problems stopping again. Much like Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan. Though Martin certainly is a better writer than those two.
For the record, I've not read a good video game based book so far, but it's entirely possible one exists somewhere.
Sure, I get that (some) ME diehards want to continue their adventure in as many mediums as possible. To me it just waters the brand down unless its a real effort by a very talented writer. Im not slamming people, I just have hard time understanding the point in reading a tie-in book that isnt going to be at least memorable. I doubt many people reread the mass effect books.
Im actually appalled that you compared martin and jordan. When martin writes, every word has substance. Jordan on the other hand can write a thousand pages and say almost nothing.
I hope youll give the series another shot, Ill admit that some chapters can be a slog (every Bran chapter ugh), but I find that youre constantly rewarded for your persistance. Whether its the moment when the overbearing, entitled little shit prince gets gelded, or the victories of the deformed Tyrion with his keen wit, or Jon having to take the respect from his men as youngest Lord Commander of the nights watch with some no nonsense bad assery (I dont want to spoil it, but I will say he lets his men know that they will respect his authority or suffer very severe consequences, using a particularly loathsome character to set an example), the world of westeros and valyria across the narrow sea is so rich. If you dont continue, you wont get to see the landsmoot of the saltmen and all the subtle political things going on in the background, interweaving into the narrative. Im gushing I know Im sorry, but the last book was so damn good.
What is it that youre into? Do you have a favorite series that you reread over and over?
I didn't mean to compare Martin to Jordan (and especially not Goodkind, he really is not good) in any way other than he, in my opinion could benefit from trimming some filler out. He is certainly a better writer than both of those. I was perhaps being a little glib.
And I'll also give you that most of the chapters involving Tyrion are enjoyable, as was the Ned Stark stuff. It's just that for every one of those, there are a lot of Sansa, Bran, the young girl I can't recall the name of and Daeneries. Those parts, to me are most in need of slimming down. And the you girl, who get's saved from Kings Landing, her parts are just infuriating. A lot of walking around and never getting to the goal. I know that's a way of doing it, but at the point I got to, I started feeling like Martin was just yanking our collective chains.
So, I guess what mostly is my feeling of it being a very uneven read. The parts I enjoy seem sometimes to be drowned under what I don't enjoy. But I guess it's a bit of a slow burner. And seeing as I bought the books I'm sure I'll get round to actually reading them at some point.
As for myself, I don't have a series I read over and over as such. Well, the Discworld books are getting worn at this point. They might fit that bill. But they are not really the same.
As for stuff like Martins books with politics, plotting, inter-fighting and betrayals I find myself turning to Herberts Dune books. The first 3 in particular. Or, and this is a bit out of left field, Colleen McCoulloughs Masters of Rome series. That one has issues of its own though.
Though now that I think about it, I have read Alastair Reynols Revelation Space books quite a few times. While not directly comparable the books are pretty complicated, having several plotlines, moving in different timelines and having characters that live 100s of years apart influence each other in various ways. I remember, when I read the first one, I had to pay attention to keep the timelines straight in my head.
The books also have one of my favorite characters in quite some years, Ilia Volyova, chain smoking, misanthropic and acerbic that she is.
