[Cygnus]

Hi all! This is going to be similar to the Fantasy: What does it do to you? topic posted by Timoni. I just finished Storm of Swords and it was just so wonderful, but...

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I'm tired of all my favorite characters getting killed!! I know it makes the book less predictable and more real, but therein lies my problem. I don't know about you all, but books are my escape, my antidepressant, my way to experience things I'll never see in the real world. So, when all these awful things are happening to "good" characters, I feel...well...bad I guess. If I want to see unjust acts of violence and hatred, I could just turn on the news, right?

I don't know.. I really like GRRM's writing style. In this book, he at least left some rays of hope. And, I'm all grown up now so I should be able to deal with the darker side of human nature even when it is in works of fiction.

This is something that I've been mulling over for the past year or so as I've been reading books by different authors. Perhaps I'm just naive or hopelessly childish, but I really love happy endings. But, I want something more dark and complex than Brooks or Eddings. Robin Hobb was a perfect balance for me.. especially the Ship of Magic series.

I hope this makes sense.. I don't know anyone who reads fantasy, so I haven't had to try and verbalize this whole train of thought! Has anyone else gone through this?

[Erebus]

Hi Cygnus, I guess I can see where you're coming from, and yes, it's human nature I suppose to crave for happy endings. But perhaps if they were all like this, Fantasy and Science Fiction would end up as little more than Fairy Tales instead of the great works we are treated to by the classic authors whom we all love.

Sometimes the death of a major character is necessary in the story development or to drive home a particlar irony in a tale. And let's face it, many times, death is not always an unhappy circumstances, although it may appear that way initially given the loss experienced by those they leave behind.
In my fantasy series, The Erebus Equilibrium www.wn.com.au/clubclad/erebus/ (http://www.wn.com.au/clubclad/erebus/) death is not always a bad thing, or indeed a finality. But, like everything in fiction, everyone will see things a little differently, that's the wonder of our own imaginations, as well as the authors!

Cheers, Neil

[This message has been edited by erebus (edited March 06, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by erebus (edited March 06, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by erebus (edited March 06, 2001).]

[Rhaegar]

When I first started ASoIaF I was somewhat overwhelmed by the negativity and harshness of the story. This was not the fantasy I was used to reading.

It took awhile, but eventually I embraced the ugliness and horror. It didn't exactly make me feel good inside, but I knew that GRRM was writing "truthfully" about war and betrayal. War is hell, and people are capable of evil deeds, and GRRM does not shy away from showing us this. I think this is what medieval warfare was really like.

Personally, after reading Martin, I now find it harder to enjoy the "happy ending" type books. It is tough for me to get involved emotionally with characters who are really never in any peril. There is always some kind of "miraculous" escape (yawn...). Its so painfully predictable.

I guess I enjoy a dose of reality in my fantasy (is that an oxymoron?).

For whatever reason, I didn't find ASoIaF depressing, but actually found it inspiring (don't ask me why).

[Pluvious]

Its kind of like Clint Eastwood a.k.a. William Money says just before he kills Gene Hackman in Unforgiven..."Deserves got nothing to do with it."

[Erebus]

Rhaegar, some would argue that all fantasy contains contains a lot of "reality", but I guess that's another topic entirely, and one that's already being discussed on these pages I see!

Clint Eastwood??