Trapped in L-Space...

Today I feel like writing stuff, but I couldn't be arsed with the concentrated attention (well, attempted) required for a proper book review, so instead here's what you might call a normal blog post, where I'm going to ramble on in a self-absorbed manner until I run out of steam. It's like an adventure, and we're all in it together. Anyway, I managed to catch up a little on my list of things to review, though there's always the danger of quickly adding to it by getting absorbed in a new book. It actually makes it easier to keep this blog updated when I'm labouring through something that I don't particularly enjoy but feel like I have to finish. I had that with A Feast for Crows and then John Updike's Marry Me, which is a pretty small book but took me ages. Here's a preview of my eventual review (it's third in the queue right now); I didn't like it. Right now I'm reading Haruki Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart, which won't take long to devour because I'm addicted to Murakami's writing; and running dangerously low on unread material.

The real problem is the to-read pile, which is more literally a to-read cabinet. I'm wary of looking over and counting the actual number because it's out of control now. Sometimes I do look at it, and each time I spot something I don't remember buying. It's giving me the nagging feeling that I've opened up a hole into L-Space. I think there's about forty paperbacks sat in the cabinet, plus four I haven't bothered putting in, plus Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Vol. 10, plus my yet-to-be-delivered copy of The Absolute Sandman Vol. 3, which was kind of a Christmas present to myself, because I'm generous like that.

The thing is, as I've mentioned many times in my blog, I can't resist a second-hand book shop. While I occasionally get tempted by Amazon, almost every time I'm in town I check out one of the two shops I like, and usually they've got something for around £2.50 that I like the idea of reading at some point in the far future, so the pile keeps growing. Plus, the thing with charity book shops is that if you don't grab it when you see it then it won't be back in stock when it's gone.  There's even a few things that I've grown less fond of the idea of reading, like Cormac McCarthy's complete Border Trilogy. If I don't like the first one, they're all getting kicked out of the pile. Just not literally because it is actually a glass cabinet.

But as overgrown as it is, I do love having this ever-expanding personal library to pick from, and it's going to give me plenty of material for this blog, as long as I don't let the laziness slip in. I've got a review of Douglas Coupland's Generation X to do next, and I'm always tempted to get back to the Discworld, especially with the next installment being a Granny Weatherwax episode in Witches Abroad. Ah well, back to the real world...

Goerge R.R. Martin- A Song of Ice and Fire 04- A Feast For Crows

 A Song of Ice and Fire 04- A Feast For Crows

Harper Voyager

George R.R. Martin

2005

Game of Thrones - A Clash of Kings - A Storm of Swords: Book One: Steel and Snow -  A Storm of Swords: Book Two: Blood and Gold - A Feast for Crows

“All me lie when they are afraid. Some tell many lies, some but a few. Some have only one great lie they tell so often that they almost come to believe it ... though some small part of them will always know that it is still a lie, and that will show upon their faces.” 

Before we get going with this review of the fourth installment of George R. R. Martin's soap opera with swords, I feel like I need to make kind of an apology to the friends I have who really, really like the series. Honestly guys, I'm sorry in advance, because I understand how the power and lure of a good franchise universe can extract an unconditional love for even its weakest entry. Then, when a guy comes along who admits he's not really a fan of fantasy, starts reviewing the beloved series, and goes from enthusiastically positive to drearily repetitive within four micro-blogs, I can see how that might kind of annoy people.

So yeah, the above paragraph might give the impression that I really didn't enjoy A Feast for Crows, and that impression would be right. On this whole, this review is going to be pretty negative, but, don't fret, will aim for a bit of positivity. I'm not giving up on this series (I've got a copy of A Dance with Dragons- Book One sat on my shelf), and I do expect it to return to a more enjoyable standard, because the reason that I didn't at all like this one was pretty obvious. Going back to the franchise thing above; A Song of Fire and Ice is no really different to, say, Star Wars in that it's continuity-based storytelling where the appeal lies in strong, memorable characters. If George Lucas wrote Empire and cut out Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Yoda because it was getting too long, it would be rubbish. In A Feast of Crows, George R. R. Martin excludes Jon Snow, Tyrion, and  Daenerys completely, and I'm pretty sure those three are the best characters.

On the one hand, I'm looking forward to reading the next book a bit more, but on the other it leaves this book as dull and fairly event-less, as it follows the stories of second-tier characters like Cersei and Samwell, taking another 600-pages to do so. I'm not a fan of Martin's writing style by itself, so I was left with almost nothing interesting. The only character I really had any interest in was Arya Stark, and nothing much happens with her either.

So, what did I like about this book? Not much. The pace of events picks up somewhat towards the end for certain characters. There's plenty of violence and other nastiness, as is tradition for this series. The cover is a nice colour. I'm suspiciously looking forward to the next one. That's about it, really. Essentially it comes down to the fact that I'm only a casual Song of Ice and Fire fan and I don't hang on Martin's every word, so his decision to slimline the scope of this book only served to damper my enjoyment. That's enough of that.

George R. R. Martin- A Song of Ice and Fire 03- A Storm of Swords- Book Two

A Song of Ice and Fire- Book Three- A Storm of Swords- Part Two- Blood and Gold

Random House

George R.R. Martin
2000

Game of Thrones - A Clash of Kings - A Storm of Swords: Book One: Steel and Snow -  A Storm of Swords: Book Two: Blood and Gold - A Feast for Crows

“The truth is all around you, plain to behold. The night is dark and full of terrors, the day bright and beautiful and full of hope. One is black, the other white. There is ice and there is fire. Hate and love. Bitter and sweet. Male and female. Pain and pleasure. Winter and summer. Evil and good. Death and life. Everywhere, opposites.”  

I haven't updated this blog much recently. Much of this is because I exist under the spell of some form of warped writer's block, where even the fairly simple task of writing a short review of something somebody else wrote and then posting it on an amateur blog that nobody reads seems like a task of herculean magnitude. Another reason is that I've been off gallivanting around the globe (well, the Midlands), staring out of the window of trains. Also, the European Championships started, so I've had to watch that. Plus, work. Also, I've read a couple of longer books. And finally, and most honestly, I've been reluctant to sit down and try to write something interesting and new about the latest book I read in George R. R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, to the extent where I've managed to write a whole paragraph of this review without saying anything about it already.

I'm not getting into spoilers, because spoilers are really, really annoying when you accidentally run in to them, and seeing as Martin's series is basically a bloody soap opera for men there's little new to say about each installment. While I do think that the second book, A Clash of Kings was noticeably better than A Game of Thrones in terms of prose style and characterization, the two books that comprise A Storm of Swords were stylistically basically exactly the same, and I have mixed feelings about that.

First of all, Blood and Gold is certainly a lot more eventful than part one, Steel and Snow. Without giving any names. certain things happen to certain characters in ways and times that I wouldn't have predicted, dramatically changing the flow of events across Martin's fictional world. As I said, stylistically it's no more developed than its predecessors, and, four mammoth-sized books into the series, I've started to feel that in a negative way. Martin's prose is so fixed, so unwavering for every character and every event that shocking, dramatic, world-changing set-pieces all read to me as exactly the same, with each one facing the law of diminishing returns. On the other hand, his consistency of quality certainly has done much to allow Martin to capitalize on the legions of new readers (including myself) who first tried this series in print after watching HBO's Game of Thrones TV series (which, it hardly needs saying, is totally excellent).

I'm certainly not going to give up reading the series, since I've come too far now and it's not even finished, I'll be in no hurry to start reading the next installment. This is probably going to make me sound like a bit of a literary snob, but what the hell; there's only so far you can take the same concept without making it a flexible one with more meaning. Despite thousands of pages of character development and interaction, Martin's style just doesn't develop far enough with it to take advantage of the build-up and make the big emotional plot-points of the series as poignant and meaningful as they need to be to justify my interest as much as I'd like. Maybe I'm falling out of love with this series a little bit. 

George R. R. Martin- A Song of Ice and Fire 03- A Storm of Swords- Book One

A Song of Ice and Fire- A Storm of Swords: Book One- Steel and Snow

George R.R. Martin
1999

Game of Thrones - A Clash of Kings - A Storm of Swords: Book One: Steel and Snow -  A Storm of Swords: Book Two: Blood and Gold - A Feast for Crows

"The war has been waged since time began, and before it is done, all men must choose where they stand. On one side is R’hllor, the Lord of Light, the Heart of Fire, the God of Flame and Shadow. Against him stands the Great Other whose name may not be spoken, the Lord of Darkness, the Soul of Ice, the God of Night and Terror. Ours is not a choice between Baratheon and Lannister, between Greyjoy and Stark. It is death we choose, or life. Darkness, or light.”

While I'm really enjoying making my way through George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy series, I've realized that the impending difficulty in continuing to review each installment as I finish it is the fact that there's not a huge amount of new information to say that doesn't involve giving out massive spoilers. While I know that there's only about five people who read this blog, including my grandparents, they might one day decide to take on the odyssey of reading the thousands of pages that comprise George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, and I can't in good conscious dare to reveal some of the twists and turns of this fantastic soap opera for men. Hey, there's one paragraph finished already, I'm doing well.

Anyway, Steel and Snow picks up where A Clash of Kings so dramatically left the reader, and, like its two predecessors, the narration bounces all around Martin's fictional world tracking the adventures of its many leading characters, almost all of whom swept up in the bloody wars over the crown. Two of my favourite characters stand outside of the land of Westeros, exploring the fringes of the world and biding their time before a probable and powerful return to the forefront. In the middle of the steel and bloodshed, magic seems to be creeping into the world through the seems, as certain characters show off unexpected talents, changing the shape of the landscape and all the while building and building further plot and intrigue. Characters grow and develop, some meet their end. There are twists and turns with varying levels of surprise, and like the soap opera I'm determined to describe it as, it keeps on building to the next episode. The only criticism I have (which isn't really a proper one) is that the ending to this book is somewhat subdued compared to those prior, but then that's only because this is merely part one of two; the UK publisher split A Storm of Swords into two. This might seem a bit of a rip-off to some, but considering this book is about 600-pages long as it is, it's not much of a rip-off.

In terms of quality, this book isn't really any different to A Clash of Kings (which was better than A Game of Thrones, in my opinion). The writing style is unsurprisingly the same, including the sometimes hokey dialogue, and occasional snippets of sex and uber-violence. There's quality of consistency, which is obviously key to building a devoted fan-base as Martin has. There's perhaps less action in this volume than I might have expected, but that didn't really affect my reading. And that's about it. There's no real point in recommending this book to anyone because you either didn't like or aren't interested in the first book, or you do enjoy the series and you're going to get around to it anyway. It's quite good.

George R. R. Martin- A Song of Ice and Fire 02- A Clash of Kings

I'm unabashedly a worshiper of fiction, and it doesn't have to be a book or a comic book, I love films, TV shows and computer games too (although less and less of the latter as I get older). As a result I kind of swing between spending more time on each particular medium every so often, often to the extent where I leave one entirely, and true to that I hadn't seen a film in months. However, the three-headed pendulum has swung in the other direction and I'm back on the motion picture bandwagon. All of this is my long-winded reason for why I haven't written one of these in a short while, so here's a short but simple one to get me back into the swing of it. Get it? Swing, pendulum... I'll get my coat.

A Song of Ice and Fire: A Clash of Kings

Harper Voyager

George R.R. Martin

1998

Game of Thrones - A Clash of Kings - A Storm of Swords: Book One: Steel and Snow -  A Storm of Swords: Book Two: Blood and Gold - A Feast for Crows

“I will hurt you for this. I don't know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid."

With only a month or so to go until the second series of Game of Thrones arrives on television, I gave into the temptation to spoil the plot events somewhat by reading through the very long source material, A Clash of Kings. For me this was somewhat of a risk, because I have to admit that I enjoyed the TV version of A Game of Thrones more than I did the printed original. In hindsight, perhaps it was inevitable that the fantastic plot twists and turns that gave me so much enjoyment on screen would lose their luster once witnessed for the second time, effecting my ability to become emotionally invested in the characters when I already knew their fate. Then again, after reading this book I'm very tempted to settle on the alternative idea that A Game of Thrones just wasn't as good a book as it could've been, and that George R.R. Martin just needed more time to really get to grips with the huge universe he created. I suggest this because I think A Clash of Kings was far, far better than it's predecessor.

The second book in the saga takes the characters, plots and scenery from the first, and turns the intensity up a notch, making for an immensely more satisfying novel. Despite being a huge text, and despite containing its own fair share of page-padding (through the typical Lord of the Rings-esque inclusion of details about characters and places that have no bearing on anything), it was easy to get through in a relatively short amount of time. Martin's choice to focus each chapter on one particular character at a time is essential to this, as it constantly keeps things fresh by catapulting the reader back and forth over the fiction universe, adding layers of depth with each new development, and creating tension and anticipation as the reader waits for different characters to cross paths.

Ultimately this is a massive, bloody and brutal fantasy soap opera, full of adrenaline and it's own fair share of mystique. In this installment Martin advances the many plot threads of the first book to varying degrees, bringing forth the fantasy aspect of magic and mythology that was somewhat lacking before, but without going over the top. It's not exactly high-literature, but it is high-octane, and I can safely say that I've been fully converted to the series and will be reading it until the very end, whenever that might be.

George R.R. Martin- A Song of Ice and Fire- A Game of Thrones

A Song of Ice and Fire- A Game of Thrones

Harper Voyager

George R. R. Martin
1996

Game of Thrones - A Clash of Kings - A Storm of Swords: Book One: Steel and Snow -  A Storm of Swords: Book Two: Blood and Gold - A Feast for Crows

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."

Like many, many other people, I made the decision to read the first part of George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy (is there any other kind of fantasy?) series thanks to the fantastic television adaptation Game of Thrones. I'm not usually a fan of serious fantasy literature, so without the show it's unlikely I would've considered reading this book. Upon finishing it I must conclude that, again, without the TV show I probably wouldn't have finished it, either. That's not really a complaint, though, just a personal confirmation that I could have quickly lost interest in this book had I not already been guided through the plot, and I'm glad I had that mental assistance because it was ultimately worth it.

Martin is far from a prose stylist, and as a result I found it took some time and plot development for the characters to appeal to me. While Martins does his best to constantly present the viewpoints of a wide array of different types of people, their similarity did initially seem off-putting at first, but after time it does seem to come together to provide a coherant tone for this universe, and the author's efforts do eventually pay off. This is certainly a character-driven book (translate well on to the screen), and it's through caring for, or being intruiged by some, if not all of them, that the plot is driven forward with force. The more I read, the quicker my reading pace became, helped by Martin's straight-forward language and quality dialogue.

I can see why so many people have so quickly began to enjoy this series, although I'm not sure how long it'll take me to get through. I have the next book, A Clash of Kings, sitting on my to-read pile, and I should get around to reading it before Game of Thrones- Series 2 begins in April, although it's also tempting to watch the show first. Whichever happens, I'm pretty sure I'll read every book eventually, having been drawn in to this fantasy world by an author with a strong imagination and the impressive ability to open up the niche world of serial epic fantasy fiction to the widest audience since Lord of the Rings.