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librarysarie 's review for:
A Game of Thrones
by George R.R. Martin
I have a weird relationship with Epic Fantasy. I LOVE the stories, the character development, the intricacy and richness of the worlds the authors create -- but I canNOT read it. Ever. Part of it is just that the books are so darned LONG -- I don't, generally, have the reading time I wish I had, and it usually takes me a long time to get through them and I get discouraged -- but I can't quite put my finger on what the rest of my problem is. I LOVED the Lord of the Rings movies, and I love reading about them, but the actual books? I just couldn't do it. I tried several times as a kid/teen with no success, and then tried again as an adult after having seen (and loved) the movies -- and even then, knowing where the story was going, I couldn't do it. I got through the first two books (though I skipped/skimmed plenty) but never did make it all the way through Return of the King.
Such it was with A Game of Thrones, or so I thought. I watched the HBO series just like everyone else (I didn't love it as much as I did LOTR, but was still compelled to come back week after week) and I lost my husband to the books. So I thought, despite my track record, that I'd try the books.
It was slow going at first -- it took me nearly two months to plod through the first half of the book -- but then it picked up and I read the entire second half in an afternoon, and started right in on the second.
I don't think I could have read it if I hadn't seen the series first. Particularly because I read the first half so slowly, I truly don't think I could have kept track of all the characters and different plotlines if I hadn't already been familiar with them. Of course, the corollary to that is I missed the opportunity to imagine and picture things myself...but given that I wouldn't have read the whole thing otherwise, I think it's a fair tradeoff.
I enjoyed the different points of view; I have a hard time imagining how else a book of this scope could have been written. That structure also kept me reading; there are a few characters I really dislike and I liked knowing I wouldn't have to spend too much time with them at any one time!
Such it was with A Game of Thrones, or so I thought. I watched the HBO series just like everyone else (I didn't love it as much as I did LOTR, but was still compelled to come back week after week) and I lost my husband to the books. So I thought, despite my track record, that I'd try the books.
It was slow going at first -- it took me nearly two months to plod through the first half of the book -- but then it picked up and I read the entire second half in an afternoon, and started right in on the second.
I don't think I could have read it if I hadn't seen the series first. Particularly because I read the first half so slowly, I truly don't think I could have kept track of all the characters and different plotlines if I hadn't already been familiar with them. Of course, the corollary to that is I missed the opportunity to imagine and picture things myself...but given that I wouldn't have read the whole thing otherwise, I think it's a fair tradeoff.
I enjoyed the different points of view; I have a hard time imagining how else a book of this scope could have been written. That structure also kept me reading; there are a few characters I really dislike and I liked knowing I wouldn't have to spend too much time with them at any one time!