(no subject)

[geekchick]

29. A Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin


30. A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin. Okay, I've got about a hundred pages left to go in this one, but I think it's close enough to count as finished when you're talking about an 1100 page book and you read 500 pages the night before. Sadly, I've only got one more book to go before I have to join the hordes waiting anxiously for the next installment to come out. Curse you, quasigeostrophy and kmusser. ;)
    
    One of the things I particularly like about this series is the way that many of the major characters get fleshed out in such a way that it seems few of them fit neatly into "hero" or "villain" boxes. Not that all of them get this treatment, of course, because there are roughly 4,030,127 characters that put in appearances of varying lengths and most of them don't get particularly well-developed. Okay though, for those of you who've read up through the latest book, here's a spoiler-filled question: Does he end up killing off everyone? Sheesh! I peeked at the last few pages of this one and noticed one of those characters puts in a reappearance, but I didn't see enough to figure out the circumstances yet. I've also read a few comments in Amazon reviews that tell me my favorite characters are "glaringly absent" in the next book, which irks me. [Edit: not that I think they necessarily get killed off, just that they're filling the role of "Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Book".] The car salesman saw my copy of A Clash of Kings I was reading while waiting to give them a check and he voiced a similar complaint about character treatment, so it's not just me. ;)
    
    [Edit: There aren't (as of now) explicit spoilers in the comments, but there are some general hints as to plot points that you may want to avoid if you're rabid about not getting anything resembling spoilers.]
    
    

I know there's one more I've finished since the last book post, but it's not here with me and I can't remember what it was right now. Will update when I get home.

Comments

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

I am fond of George R.R. Martin's writing - I love his book Tuf Voyaging. Have you read that one?

[geekchick]

Nope, this series is the first of his work I've read.

[penk.livejournal.com]

I won't give away 'killing everyone', but actually that's one of the things I found most fascinating about this series. The first book starts out with a mostly stable society, one that's held for a couple hundred years,and bit by bit, one step at a time, the entire country descends into anarchy.

I must admit when I got 2/3rds through the first book (you know where I mean), I was like "WHAT? WAIT! But I thought! AAARGH!"

I'm really holding off reading A Feast of Crows... I know there's 2 more books after that, and I really feel like I shoudl go all the way back to the beginning and re-read to set the stage for reading Feast. But that's a helluva lot of paper :)

GRRM has a quasi-LJ, btw. It's grrm. The other half to the book that was split to make Feast of Crows is called A Dance with Dragons, which makes sense considering the subject matter.

(then The Winds of Winter, then, tentatively, A Dream of Spring. One would hope the series end on a slightly positive note. :)

[geekchick]

(you know where I mean)

Yep. And I had at least one of those moments in this last book too.

I'm really holding off reading A Feast of Crows...

I'll probably hold out until the second half (by which I mean the next book) is published, because I can envision getting very frustrated by it.

[geekchick]

Well, I say I'll hold out, but I will be shocked if I actually manage it.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I'm holding out reading my actual printed copy until I start commuting to Purdue in August (since I don't have time, anyway), when I plan on renting the audiobook. Good for that 73-mile one-way commute. :-)

[kmusser]

Well the 4th and 5th books are seperated geographically rather than being sequential timewise, so most characters are only going to be in one or the other depending on which part of the world they're in - nothing to do with killing folks off, not that that means anyone is safe *grin*. Feast of Crows did feel a bit like filler as most of it is obviously set-up for Dance of Dragons - though it does point towards Dance being awesome.

[geekchick]

I knew it was basically half the next chunk of story, but damnit, Jon and Tyrion are the only ones I particularly like at the moment. ;) I'm tempted to wait until the second half gets published and read it all at once (or as "all at once" as one can read a couple thousand pages), but I'll be shocked if I can hold out that long.

not that that means anyone is safe *grin*
Given the number of "Wait, WHAT?! Augghh!!!" moments so far, I have taught myself to remember that basically nobody's safe. Heh.

[kmusser]

Aw, but you get to have Cersei as a POV, that's should be worth it all by itself.

Also if you haven't read it yet the sample chapter from Dance up on GRRM's website is a Tyrion chapter.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

A Feast for Crows ended up being longer than he intended, so, in order not to be killed by angry mobs who had waited too long, he split it up by point-of-view character. Most of AFFC is in the south of Westeros, the Iron Islands, and a couple of other places. No Wall. No Jon. No Dany. He has said that his decision to split it into two volumes means A Dance with Dragons is already half-finished and will start off taking place concurrently with what's in AFFC.

I don't think he'll kill everyone, but he certainly isn't afraid to kill off anyone. I hit a certain scene in ASOS and, IIRC, cursed aloud for some time. :-)

[geekchick]

being longer than he intended

Given that ASoS is over 1100 pages, I shudder to think what counts as "too long". ;) I'm reminded of To Green Angel Tower, which was too big to be published in paperback in a single volume. Yeesh. That also reminds me I want to re-read that series, and that I should get the first book back from the person I loaned it to.

I hit a certain scene in ASOS and, IIRC, cursed aloud for some time. :-)

I believe I know the one of which you speak. AAAUUGGGHHH!!!!!