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4.52 AVERAGE
4.52 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I hesitate to write a review for several reasons--the series isn't finished; it's a really complex book deserving a complex review that I'm not ready to write; and R. Sutton said a lot of it already.
But I'll say a few things anyway.
My number one criteria for loving (rather than liking) a book is how well it conveys a sense of place- a quality for which contemporary tastes seem to have little patience. A Song of Ice and Fire, like LOTR, delivers on place. Plus fully fleshed-out characters!! Hurray!
Several reviewers have commented that there's too much about extraneous characters, and that the plot might disintegrate in confusion. In all five books I have found no character or section extraneous. Sometimes the point of the scene was small--or not yet revealed . As I was reading along I might have thought I didn't need to know this, that or the other thing....but Martin has so far picked up so many of these details later on in the story that I have to go back now and check :"what shields were at that tourney?" I think he is in total control of the plot.
I cannot guess where the plot is going and that's a beautiful thing. I'm seriously irritated by the all too common criticism: "I can't tell where it's going." If you knew where it was going why would you bother to read it?
It's a genre-expanding book. I devoured Tolkien when I found him---but that was 40 years ago! Pale Tolkienesque imitators, domesticated dragons, flat characters on pointless quests, and workshopped plots have bored me to tears ever since. Thank Goodness for this renewal of the genre!
But I'll say a few things anyway.
My number one criteria for loving (rather than liking) a book is how well it conveys a sense of place- a quality for which contemporary tastes seem to have little patience. A Song of Ice and Fire, like LOTR, delivers on place. Plus fully fleshed-out characters!! Hurray!
Several reviewers have commented that there's too much about extraneous characters, and that the plot might disintegrate in confusion. In all five books I have found no character or section extraneous. Sometimes the point of the scene was small--or not yet revealed . As I was reading along I might have thought I didn't need to know this, that or the other thing....but Martin has so far picked up so many of these details later on in the story that I have to go back now and check :"what shields were at that tourney?" I think he is in total control of the plot.
I cannot guess where the plot is going and that's a beautiful thing. I'm seriously irritated by the all too common criticism: "I can't tell where it's going." If you knew where it was going why would you bother to read it?
It's a genre-expanding book. I devoured Tolkien when I found him---but that was 40 years ago! Pale Tolkienesque imitators, domesticated dragons, flat characters on pointless quests, and workshopped plots have bored me to tears ever since. Thank Goodness for this renewal of the genre!
My 2 cents:
The level of detail in sketching out a scene is next level,and grrm’s biggest strength imo is how he paints out the scene for you,it just shows that he has experience in film scripts and it feels like a movie that you are being shown,with not much left to imagination.
Honestly speaking the text doesn’t feel like it was written by a very traditional prose author,it doesn’t have that much poetic feel to it that books like Lolita have,and I understand that the author was not striving for that and it would be impossible to do so anyway.The length is very considerable,and feels a cross between normal very edited novels and the rambling beauty of Stephen Kings style.
Very surprisingly for me,I feel like I could reread all of the stuff all over,and I rarely do that,and it would be rewarding.Part of the credit goes to the communities that follow the work so faithfully,but credit also to the author for creating layers of a very different variety than traditional smaller novels that I usually read.
And the thing that annoys me a bit is the way many of these books end,they tend to be left on cliffhanger,which would be very appropriate for,again,visual media like tv shows,because you know they are going to continue with the next season in a short span of time. But GRRM and his promised deadlines are just way too much and each individual book does not give that much closure to you.
The author has wayyyyy too many characters and many are just mentioned here and there,and you really have to use your intuition and imagination to visualize each of them on your own,and to know which characters to ignore and which to not.
The books imo are not worth much on their own individual basis,and a fair comparison would be Harry Potter.
At its height,the popularity of that series was just about the same,maybe more.The demographic are different,but both are popular literature.
If you remember,each book in that series showcases just one year of his life,and it provides a good structure to the story.
There is not much going like that in asoiaf,and that’s an issue.The timelines can be confusing and although POVs are a novel way of writing,it does have its issues,you can struggle to know what happened when,and you have to go with it.
As far as asoiaf is concerned grrm is definitely in his element,and the problems are just mere annoyances,thus my 4/5 rating
The level of detail in sketching out a scene is next level,and grrm’s biggest strength imo is how he paints out the scene for you,it just shows that he has experience in film scripts and it feels like a movie that you are being shown,with not much left to imagination.
Honestly speaking the text doesn’t feel like it was written by a very traditional prose author,it doesn’t have that much poetic feel to it that books like Lolita have,and I understand that the author was not striving for that and it would be impossible to do so anyway.The length is very considerable,and feels a cross between normal very edited novels and the rambling beauty of Stephen Kings style.
Very surprisingly for me,I feel like I could reread all of the stuff all over,and I rarely do that,and it would be rewarding.Part of the credit goes to the communities that follow the work so faithfully,but credit also to the author for creating layers of a very different variety than traditional smaller novels that I usually read.
And the thing that annoys me a bit is the way many of these books end,they tend to be left on cliffhanger,which would be very appropriate for,again,visual media like tv shows,because you know they are going to continue with the next season in a short span of time. But GRRM and his promised deadlines are just way too much and each individual book does not give that much closure to you.
The author has wayyyyy too many characters and many are just mentioned here and there,and you really have to use your intuition and imagination to visualize each of them on your own,and to know which characters to ignore and which to not.
The books imo are not worth much on their own individual basis,and a fair comparison would be Harry Potter.
At its height,the popularity of that series was just about the same,maybe more.The demographic are different,but both are popular literature.
If you remember,each book in that series showcases just one year of his life,and it provides a good structure to the story.
There is not much going like that in asoiaf,and that’s an issue.The timelines can be confusing and although POVs are a novel way of writing,it does have its issues,you can struggle to know what happened when,and you have to go with it.
As far as asoiaf is concerned grrm is definitely in his element,and the problems are just mere annoyances,thus my 4/5 rating
It got boring. After watching the show completely fall apart, and having not touched the book for over 3 years... I gave up.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, War
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia, Vomit
I think after reading all the series one after the other that I am a bit tired of all the rape and violence. The story was still excellent but some of the descriptions I felt were there just for shock value, not to add anything to the story.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes