A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

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Submitted by Anonymous 
(Sep 06, 2005)

Unimpressive. I read these books on the recommendations of many reviews, and now I realize the reviews are people who don't know great literature. They know mediocre literature and are amazed at someone who writes coherently. He does that, but a coherent description is not a great epic. Martin writes each chapter like it is an episode of a television series (that would only be aired on an adult channel). The risque portions are embarrassing, and detract from what little story there is. The youth of some of these characters being described in sexual scenarios is disturbing.
His characters fall into two categories. The killing of main characters isn't as bold as people think, and it is a device that has become cliche in the series.
The main problem is that there is no serious story here. There are a lot of vignettes that mostly go nowhere other than, tada!, the next death. And the bad guys win a lot. Big deal. The good guys struggle. Big deal. Hodor. In the end, it loses its effectiveness. He is far too wordy, and reuses phrases a lot. I don't need to know, each time a knight appears, that he is wearing boiled leather somewhere.
Hodor.
There is a lot less realism here than I was led to believe there would be as well. The fantasy element may be reduced and overridden by the vulgarity, but it is present, and it is unoriginal. A king dies, a bastard is running around, and lots of people are wicked and some are good, and they are fighting for a throne.
Hodor.
Some have even said this is better than The Lord of the Rings. The movies, maybe, but not the book. Tolkien wrote his epic over more than a decade, and was meticulous. In the end, his published work found a good balance between characters and exposition. And there was a story. He wrote well, and gave us just enough of the world around his characters to help us suspend disbelief and be drawn in. Martin fails miserably at balance, and overweighs it. He tells us the story, the path is set and straight, instead of letting us discern the path from the story. In the end, these books are nowhere near the praise level they have received though, as I said, Martin writes well.
But skill at phrasing and stringing words together is not enough to craft a truly fantastic tale. For that, he needs to write far less words, and use them better. Hodor.
At least it is better than Nightflyers. Ugh. Hodor.

I can only add this to what the other reviewers have already stated.....please indulge yourself to pick up this series and read it. You will not be able to wait for each chapter to finish to find out what happens to each character. I have never read a book that has me caring about every one of the characters within, good or bad. It is the best original fantasy series since LOTR. I guarantee if you have read all of the other big fantasy series out there, as I have, and try this one, you will call this the best!!!!

The best series I have read. Although I have encountered mixed reviews on this series, I will discuss some of the points I greatly enjoy about it.

The multiple points of view.

This is probably my favorite thing about these books. This fuels the magic, and helps the reader identify with the characters with greater ease. With books with a single POV, the characters and plot are usually black and white, there is a good guy and a bad guy. However, in this series, it is up to the reader to determine who they support because all characters are fighting for power.

It also lets the reader have easier access to what is going on in different parts of the world, and is a completely novel idea.

The lack of magic and other recurring fantasy themes.

Because of the originality of the techniques and plotlines used in Martin's books, I still remain interested in the series. As a huge fantasy fan, I get burned out after reading similar plotlines involving a young person rising to the occasion to save the world. Martin's ideas I had never seen before, and they captured me immedialely.

The cliches that pollute contemporary fantasy and epic fantasy writing get very redundant, and I was fufilled by his books, as they had the right mix of traditional fantasy and novel ideas.



I will also address some points that those who don't like the series frequently bring up.

"Nothing happens, it is too boring."

I get bored easily, but I have seen a purpose in every chapter of his books, as they build up to a climax, which is not necessarily the same for each character, or occuring at the same time. Every chapter brings something new, whether it be a turn in plot, a significant death, or even significant information. Which is more than I can say for the bismal that is the Harry Potter Series.

"He kills off characters I like."

All the more reason to read the books. Although this is an increasing trend, too many authors, such as J. K. Rowling, always promote the good guys and everything good happens to them, making the books laughably unrealistic, even if they are fantasy. However, Martin is unafraid to kill off characters that no longer serve a purpose, thus advancing the plot in a new way. Instead of complaining, think about what the character brought to the story and why he decided they should go.

"There are too many characters and plotlines going on at once."

At first, I also thought this. However, my mind immediately changed. For characters, use the geneology charts at the back of the books, that really does satisfy the need to know who everyone is.

For the plotlines, if you read one cycle of chapters at a time, it is pretty clear, as many of the chapters and character interactions are intertwined. However, if you simply skip chapters, then it does get confusing. I didn't find it muddled at all, it was not very hard to follow for me.



I loved this series, and recommend it to anyone who is not of a feeble heart. And for the count, my favorite characters are Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen.

The entire series for me was incredible. My brother suggested the series to me, (someone who has a hard time finding quality fantasy series), and in my opinion the literary strategies that went into creating this story are wonderful. The characters are real. There is a strong emotion that Martin creates towards every character, but then he twists your emotions towards those characters in inventive and exciting ways. The setting is believable and imaginative. The entire series is very unique and original. Five stars!

This is a quite stunning series, where the author has developed some excellent characters that you really begin to feel an affiliation for. At the same time, there has never been any hesitation in killing off characters at unexpected moments, which really keeps you guessing as to what twist is coming next.

Why after gushing praise, did I then only give this a 4 I hear you ask?

It's mainly a fear thing. I fear this series is going to go like Jordan and Goodkind, and go on, and on, and on, and on......

As you may guess, this kind of never ending series, does not rock my boat, and I lose interest after a while.

Hopefully I will be wrong, and this series will end as well as it has been written to date.