MCB wrote:I have read many of them. Pretty rough stuff. No significant insights into human behavior-- other than ugly. Was a waste of time.Tyrion Lannister
LDSToronto wrote:I've read the first three twice, and am currently a third the way through the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons.
Perhaps you won't glean any insight into human behaviour, but I find Martin is a master at character development. And he anything but the typical fantasy author - no character is safe.
Plus it's great entertainment.
H.
Morley wrote:LDSToronto wrote:I've read the first three twice, and am currently a third the way through the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons.
Perhaps you won't glean any insight into human behaviour, but I find Martin is a master at character development. And he anything but the typical fantasy author - no character is safe.
Plus it's great entertainment.
H.
I've only read the first, but really enjoyed it. Some reviews suggest that Martin gets bogged down in the fourth and fifth books of the series. I'm gathering that hasn't been your experience?
LDSToronto wrote:The first three books are fantastic. The reason I read them twice is because there was such a big gap between book 3 and book 4 that I couldn't remember all the details.
The fourth and fifth book were supposed to be one book, but the story lines and characters are so unwieldy that Martin split them into two volumes. That said, I will admit that the fourth book was a little off the pace for my liking - somewhat slow, not as interesting as the others, but not torturous - definitely readable.
Book 5 is better. It picks up the pace and reintroduces favourite characters that were missing from Book 4 (Tyrion, for instance, is not in the 4th book, If I recall correctly). The biggest problem is that these books are immediately after a major set of wars and battles, and so there is something of a lull.
But, don't be discouraged - they are, in my opinion, the best fantasy works I've read. And, if you get through those, I'd recommend the Farseer Trilogy and Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb. Magnificent stories.
H.
Morley wrote:LDSToronto wrote:The first three books are fantastic. The reason I read them twice is because there was such a big gap between book 3 and book 4 that I couldn't remember all the details.
The fourth and fifth book were supposed to be one book, but the story lines and characters are so unwieldy that Martin split them into two volumes. That said, I will admit that the fourth book was a little off the pace for my liking - somewhat slow, not as interesting as the others, but not torturous - definitely readable.
Book 5 is better. It picks up the pace and reintroduces favourite characters that were missing from Book 4 (Tyrion, for instance, is not in the 4th book, If I recall correctly). The biggest problem is that these books are immediately after a major set of wars and battles, and so there is something of a lull.
But, don't be discouraged - they are, in my opinion, the best fantasy works I've read. And, if you get through those, I'd recommend the Farseer Trilogy and Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb. Magnificent stories.
H.
Excellent. And thank you for the recommendations. I've been burned by a few fantasy series-- I'll never forgive Terry Goodkind or Robert Jordan.
LDSToronto wrote:
I read the first few pages of Wizard's First Rule, and never picked it up again. I made it through to the fifth book of the Wheel of Time series, and just couldn't put up with the repetition and the one-dimensional characters and the same damned ending to every book!
H.
LDSToronto wrote:Perhaps you won't glean any insight into human behaviour, but I find Martin is a master at character development. And he anything but the typical fantasy author - no character is safe.
Plus it's great entertainment.
H.
Morley wrote:The worst book I've read in the last three years was Flaubert's Madame Bovary, one of the supposed 'greatest novels ever written' (I think it was a favorite of Henry James). Blixa could probably tell me what I missed and why I should reread it with greater care.