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A review by scribal8
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
5.0
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!