HOLY SHIT. Robb Dies, Catelyn Dies, Jaime looses his hand, Joffrey Dies, Petyr saves Sansa, Stannis stops the Wildlings, Tysha wasn't a whore, Tyrion kills Tywin, Jon is Lord Commander, Petyr and Lysa plotted Jons death and started the war, Petyr kills Lysa.....CATELYN IS A RING WRAITH OF VENGEANCE!!! HOOOOLLLLLY SHIIIIITTTTT!
Yeah seriously fella, take a break for a few months right now. You've just reached the highpoint on the series, after this it'll start to build back up again. So all the high drama and tension you've been used to is now all reset. So take a break, come back to it later knowing that it will start slow. But it will get awesome again, trust!
Yeah seriously fella, take a break for a few months right now. You've just reached the highpoint on the series, after this it'll start to build back up again. So all the high drama and tension you've been used to is now all reset. So take a break, come back to it later knowing that it will start slow. But it will get awesome again, trust!
HOLY SHIT. Robb Dies, Catelyn Dies, Jaime looses his hand, Joffrey Dies, Petyr saves Sansa, Stannis stops the Wildlings, Tysha wasn't a whore, Tyrion kills Tywin, Jon is Lord Commander, Petyr and Lysa plotted Jons death and started the war, Petyr kills Lysa.....CATELYN IS A RING WRAITH OF VENGEANCE!!! HOOOOLLLLLY SHIIIIITTTTT!
Yeah seriously fella, take a break for a few months right now. You've just reached the highpoint on the series, after this it'll start to build back up again. So all the high drama and tension you've been used to is now all reset. So take a break, come back to it later knowing that it will start slow. But it will get awesome again, trust!
What how could you forget that? Its such a big deal. When Lysa is having a breakdown before Petyr pushes her out the moon door she lets slip "No need for tears...but that's not what you said in King's Landing. You told me to put the tears in Jon's wine, and I did. For Robert, and for us! And I wrote Catelyn and told her the Lannisters had killed my lord husband, just as you said. That was so clever...you were always clever...."
I think I need a break to just to be able to calm my poor rodent heart. These books are so fantastic and there is a brilliance to the way Martin is able to make these story arcs collapse in on themselves.
The problem with ADWD steams from a horrible editing, IMHO, which goes far beyond the now infamous decision of dividing the POVs between different sides of the narrow sea. It has some really good chapters on it (some of them can rank among the best of the series), but it was poorly put together.
Several arcs which badly needed a conclussion in this book were left out like
the whole Stannis northern offensive or how after so much Meerense - knot cut touting it was left off without a decisive conclussion
while several filler chapters were included for no reason, for they did not advance the plot one bit
how many chapters do we need in order to get that Daenerys sucks bollocks as a ruler? one was more than enough
, not to mention that there are some chapters that clearly belonged to AFFC, period, like
Cersei's walk of shame
.
Which is a pity, because as I have said before, ADWD has some really good pieces of literature on it, they just feel off when trying to work together. While I am not in the "the old man is loosing it" boat since by the end of the book you can see where everything is going and some twists that were planned with tomes of anticipation (Lost, this is not) I really hope that Martin takes a different editor next time.
It's mentioned near the end of the book Book 3 Spoilers
Peter is talking to Sansa and Lysa. Lysa has gone and is talking about Sansa trying to steat Peter from her. Lysa always loved Peter and murdered Jon Arryn as part of Peters plan for them to be together. Peter then threw her out the sky door.
What how could you forget that? Its such a big deal. When Lysa is having a breakdown before Petyr pushes her out the moon door she lets slip "No need for tears...but that's not what you said in King's Landing. You told me to put the tears in Jon's wine, and I did. For Robert, and for us! And I wrote Catelyn and told her the Lannisters had killed my lord husband, just as you said. That was so clever...you were always clever...."
I think I need a break to just to be able to calm my poor rodent heart. These books are so fantastic and there is a brilliance to the way Martin is able to make these story arcs collapse in on themselves.
Re-reading the early chapters of A Clash of Kings (also ASoS spoilers):
Everything looks so bright and optimistic. Robb has just won a string of victories over the Lannisters, all his men are psyched, and he's sending Theon off to the Iron Islands to recruit the Greyjoy navy. You just can't help but feel like things are going to work out.
What how could you forget that? Its such a big deal. When Lysa is having a breakdown before Petyr pushes her out the moon door she lets slip "No need for tears...but that's not what you said in King's Landing. You told me to put the tears in Jon's wine, and I did. For Robert, and for us! And I wrote Catelyn and told her the Lannisters had killed my lord husband, just as you said. That was so clever...you were always clever...."
I think I need a break to just to be able to calm my poor rodent heart. These books are so fantastic and there is a brilliance to the way Martin is able to make these story arcs collapse in on themselves.
See, here's why I don't get the Feast disappointment. Like, 67%.
Just finished this Cersei chapter where she basically spends the whole time worrying about shit and being suspicious about shit and basically nothing happens except Loras getting sent off to battle but the whole time she's remembering how shitty it was fucking Robert and then it ends with her basically playing his part while fucking Taena, hoping that it would have any emotional resonance whatsoever and it doesn't. All these melancholic parallels and numb, damaged people.
If you don't think that shit is fantastic, then you're reading these books wrong.
See, here's why I don't get the Feast disappointment. Like, 67%.
Just finished this Cersei chapter where she basically spends the whole time worrying about shit and being suspicious about shit and basically nothing happens except Loras getting sent off to battle but the whole time she's remembering how shitty it was fucking Robert and then it ends with her basically playing his part while fucking Taena, hoping that it would have any emotional resonance whatsoever and it doesn't. All these melancholic parallels and numb, damaged people.
If you don't think that shit is fantastic, then you're reading these books wrong.
I think most of the feast hate stems from it taking a good while to come out and the didn't feature many of people's favorite characters. When I read them back to crack I enjoyed it just as much as the first 3. It definitely has the best prose in the series.
I did the same, but I found myself fatigued by the change. If it kept the same pace as SoS I would have been OK but it slowed down considerably and left me frutrated.
It's like if you go out to the pub, and at the end of the night everyone's like "let's go to a party!" and you're like "YYEEAAAHH!!" but then you need to call a cab and wait around and then there's the drive there and by the time you get there, you're tired and you just want to go to sleep. That's AFFC for me.
So, I finished ASOIAF a month or two ago, and have been struggling to find another fantasy (preferably low fantasy) series to replace it... I know that's a mighty task, but it is what it is.
Anyway, I tried:
- Wheel of Time, got about half way through book 1, didn't find the character development all that great, wasn't very invested in anyone. Kind of cool moments, but too much running away from bad guys and not enough intrigue.
- The way of kings. Heard good things, got past the first few chapters but not really feeling it
- Malazan series. Reading the first book now, probably the best of the 3 I tried.
Does anyone have some other recommendations so I can stop stabbing around in the dark like an idiot?
Anyway, I tried:
- Wheel of Time, got about half way through book 1, didn't find the character development all that great, wasn't very invested in anyone. Kind of cool moments, but too much running away from bad guys and not enough intrigue.
- The way of kings. Heard good things, got past the first few chapters but not really feeling it
- Malazan series. Reading the first book now, probably the best of the 3 I tried.
Does anyone have some other recommendations so I can stop stabbing around in the dark like an idiot?
Wheel of Time is my favorite series next to ASoIaF, is shares a lot of the intrigue and mystery of Martin's books, but is more high fantasy. The First book, Eye of the World, is actually quite mediocre. Things pick up considerably the next few books, a lot of prophecies and politics are introduced. Things get awesome for a while, but then events slows down to a crawl in books 9 and 10. At which point, the author found out he was dying The next three books are an improvement. The final book will appear next year.
The Malazan books are very inconsistent. The first is a bit of an amusing mess. The second is much better and a few books are totally awesome. But some later books suck and the ending is a bit of a dud. My main gripe is that the author has way too many (sometimes poorly developed) characters/stuff running around and doesn't seem to know how to properly resolve it. So he just adds some more people and other worlds. He's a bit like Stephen King in this: great ideas, mediocre execution.
Speaking of which, Stephen King's Dark Tower series is pretty cool. At least the first four books are, the fifth is ok, the last 2 were not nearly as good. It's sorta post-apocalyptic fantasy-steampunk
See, here's why I don't get the Feast disappointment. Like, 67%.
Just finished this Cersei chapter where she basically spends the whole time worrying about shit and being suspicious about shit and basically nothing happens except Loras getting sent off to battle but the whole time she's remembering how shitty it was fucking Robert and then it ends with her basically playing his part while fucking Taena, hoping that it would have any emotional resonance whatsoever and it doesn't. All these melancholic parallels and numb, damaged people.
If you don't think that shit is fantastic, then you're reading these books wrong.
So, I finished ASOIAF a month or two ago, and have been struggling to find another fantasy (preferably low fantasy) series to replace it... I know that's a mighty task, but it is what it is.
Anyway, I tried:
- Wheel of Time, got about half way through book 1, didn't find the character development all that great, wasn't very invested in anyone. Kind of cool moments, but too much running away from bad guys and not enough intrigue.
- The way of kings. Heard good things, got past the first few chapters but not really feeling it
- Malazan series. Reading the first book now, probably the best of the 3 I tried.
Does anyone have some other recommendations so I can stop stabbing around in the dark like an idiot?
Might try picking up the wheel of time series again too, I've heard a lot of people echo the above thoughts that it gets a lot better after the first book.
So, I finished ASOIAF a month or two ago, and have been struggling to find another fantasy (preferably low fantasy) series to replace it... I know that's a mighty task, but it is what it is.
Anyway, I tried:
- Wheel of Time, got about half way through book 1, didn't find the character development all that great, wasn't very invested in anyone. Kind of cool moments, but too much running away from bad guys and not enough intrigue.
- The way of kings. Heard good things, got past the first few chapters but not really feeling it
- Malazan series. Reading the first book now, probably the best of the 3 I tried.
Does anyone have some other recommendations so I can stop stabbing around in the dark like an idiot?
So, I finished ASOIAF a month or two ago, and have been struggling to find another fantasy (preferably low fantasy) series to replace it... I know that's a mighty task, but it is what it is.
Anyway, I tried:
- Wheel of Time, got about half way through book 1, didn't find the character development all that great, wasn't very invested in anyone. Kind of cool moments, but too much running away from bad guys and not enough intrigue.
- The way of kings. Heard good things, got past the first few chapters but not really feeling it
- Malazan series. Reading the first book now, probably the best of the 3 I tried.
Does anyone have some other recommendations so I can stop stabbing around in the dark like an idiot?
Though it's not fantasy, I always recommend it to people who like Game of Thrones and are looking for something similar...
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman... It is a historical fiction novel that is set during the War of the Roses (which forms the basis of a lot of the historical analogies Game of Thrones has).
So, I finished ASOIAF a month or two ago, and have been struggling to find another fantasy (preferably low fantasy) series to replace it... I know that's a mighty task, but it is what it is.
Anyway, I tried:
- Wheel of Time, got about half way through book 1, didn't find the character development all that great, wasn't very invested in anyone. Kind of cool moments, but too much running away from bad guys and not enough intrigue.
- The way of kings. Heard good things, got past the first few chapters but not really feeling it
- Malazan series. Reading the first book now, probably the best of the 3 I tried.
Does anyone have some other recommendations so I can stop stabbing around in the dark like an idiot?
I read it over a decade ago, so perhaps I'm just too emotionally distant from it now...but reading everyone's reaction to the Red Wedding was incredibly entertaining. Especially the ones who thought Arya went down too. Am I dead inside?
So, I finished ASOIAF a month or two ago, and have been struggling to find another fantasy (preferably low fantasy) series to replace it... I know that's a mighty task, but it is what it is.
Anyway, I tried:
- Wheel of Time, got about half way through book 1, didn't find the character development all that great, wasn't very invested in anyone. Kind of cool moments, but too much running away from bad guys and not enough intrigue.
- The way of kings. Heard good things, got past the first few chapters but not really feeling it
- Malazan series. Reading the first book now, probably the best of the 3 I tried.
Does anyone have some other recommendations so I can stop stabbing around in the dark like an idiot?
The only thing comparable in scope is Malazan, and that loses all sense of cohesion midway through. A pity, because the early novels are some of the finest around.
I'd first recommend Guy Gavriel Kay's medieval fantasies if you don't mind standalone fare. Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun and Glen Cook's Black Company series are classics. China Mieville's Bas-Lag novels are brilliant, but you'd need to be able to handle the weird. Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet is marvellous; its focus on relationships and politics rather than action seemed to hurt its marketability, though.
Joe Abercrombie's First Law series feels heavily indebted to GRRM, but that's certainly no problem - it's a consistently satisfying one and Abercrombie has a great touch with characterization. Joel Shepherd's Trial of Blood and Steel is worth a look, too. And I won't say a word about Scott Lynch because if you think GRRM is slow...
Might try picking up the wheel of time series again too, I've heard a lot of people echo the above thoughts that it gets a lot better after the first book.
I just completed Game of Thrones tonight. Great book, if the narrative choices were frustrating at times (
I found Ned's execution rather cowardly and unsatisfactorily written
), but those were exceptions. Dany's character arc remains the most compelling in the book, though I'm fond of Jon and Robb a great deal.
I enjoyed how gradually the fantasy has seeped in, how methodically the scale of the story ramped up to rolling warfare. It has taken its time, but the payoffs are rich.
Next, to watch the first season of the HBO series, so I can finally read that damn thread. I'lll read Clash of Kings next, then watch the second season, and by then probably be through the last two books so I can keep up with the series closer to real time.
The return of GoT to the air earlier this month had me resume where I'd left off in my reading. I was in the middle of A Storm of Swords over the winter.
Little did I know that for four months since I stopped...
ASOS
....that I was three chapters away from the Red Wedding and the enormous shitstorm of events that followed for the rest of the book. Jesus Christ. Another poster who just finished SoS too just spelled it all out at the top of this page...my god. I don't think I've been this excited about any book or series before in my life. That final page of the epilogue. Wow. The Red Wedding, Joffrey's death, the revelation over Jon Arryn's death and the start of the war, and Zombie Cat Stark are going to shake television audiences almost to LOST levels. All that's stopping that from happening is the fact that it's on HBO and not a network like ABC.
Like the rest of you, I just can't wait to see ASOS come to the screen. As per the discussion in the Season 2 thread, it's going to be fascinating to see how it's broken down over the next two seasons, what'll be dropped, what'll be amplified, etc.
Started Feast almost right away after finishing Storm, and with everyone's warnings in place about the kind of change in pace and tone to expect, I'm really enjoying it. I grin almost every time I get to see who the new and returning chapter POVs are with each book, and this one's no different.
So, I finished ASOIAF a month or two ago, and have been struggling to find another fantasy (preferably low fantasy) series to replace it... I know that's a mighty task, but it is what it is.
Does anyone have some other recommendations so I can stop stabbing around in the dark like an idiot?
How the hell this haven't been posted yet is beyond my mortal comprenhension:
This can only be described as "Post - modern epic fantasy". This is a world were magic is taxed, dragons are an endangered species, elves are racist assholes and our main hero, Geralt the Witcher, is a living anacronism. Second best series after ASOIAF, that's for sure.
How the hell this haven't been posted yet is beyond my mortal comprenhension:
This can only be described as "Post - modern epic fantasy". This is a world were magic is taxed, dragons are an endangered species, elves are racist assholes and our main hero, Geralt the Witcher, is a living anacronism. Second best series after ASOIAF, that's for sure.
I have half a mind to brush off my school-german to read the second book. I've read the two books available in english (The Last Wish and Blood of Elves) which is 1 and 3, and they are fantastic fantasy books.
For what it's worth, Dance is a lot better than Feast IMO, but it's not up to par with the first three books and some of the character arcs are pretty dull.
For what it's worth, Dance is a lot better than Feast IMO, but it's not up to par with the first three books and some of the character arcs are pretty dull.
Just finished A Clash of Kings, gotta say, totally loving these books. Gonna have to wait a little while on Storm of Swords...Game and Clash have totally sucked up my time the last few weeks and I've only got a few weeks left for finals. Got books 3 and 4 sitting here in my room, but I must resist...:/
I read Jaime as Jamie every single time when I first read the series. It blew my mind when someone pointed out the right spelling out in one of the Song of Ice and Fire threads on GAF.
