A Song of Ice and Fire (books)

[Marcus]

Is it finished? I thought there was to be one more book, at least.

The last book is currently being written. It should be out either next spring or fall.

Yes ... once it is out, I will drop my name on the (probably long) holds list at the library and read it sometime in 2013.

Kind of like the most recent Harry Dresden novel .. I'm #87 in queue on 25 copies.

I'm patient. Guess I'll give these Ice and Fire book-thingies a try ...

[LocoRon]

Is it finished? I thought there was to be one more book, at least.

The last book is currently being written. It should be out either next spring or fall.

Yes ... once it is out, I will drop my name on the (probably long) holds list at the library and read it sometime in 2013.

Kind of like the most recent Harry Dresden novel .. I'm #87 in queue on 25 copies.

I'm patient. Guess I'll give these Ice and Fire book-thingies a try ...

Forget the library. I've been following Brandon Sanderson's twitter, and the second I get word it's available for preorder, I'm placing my order. :]

Also contemplating a series re-read in preparation for the final novel...although I did a re-read just a year and a half ago, so I'm not sure I really want to invest that much time again....

[Marcus]

I sold off my copies of books 1-9. Using the library gives me a free way to re-read. I'm not going to own them.

[Mivo]

I found the Song of Ice and Fire books to be rather boring. They do provide some entertainment, especially in the beginning, but I could never shake the feeling that they were needlessly bloated. Slow and tedious. The "current" book I partly read vertically until boring passages, which spread over numerous pages, finally ended. The "addiction", for me, consisted mainly of the vain hope that something actually might happen some time soon. I also didn't enjoy the author's tendency to kill off so many plot characters (I also feel his characters are too flat.)

The comparison to Tolkien is correct in one way: They both had/have a boring writing style. Tolkien's story felt more meaningful, though. And yes, I realize these aren't popular statements.

I much prefer writers like Robin Hobb and the newly discovered Brent Weeks (the Assassin trilogy is frequently a little crude, but I actually care about his characters and the pacing is great). Then again, I also like David Eddings, so maybe I'm just a terribly shallow fantasy reader! Patrick Rothfuss' first book, The Name of the Wind, blew me away. I was so excited about the recent sequel, and what a disappointment it turned out to be. Not bad per se, but it consisted of endless pages of "nothing happening" and was the typical "filler" book that many trilogies seem to be plagued by.

[Archivist]

I'd agree with your assessment that you probably are more in tune with the faster-paced, shallower material. Not as an insult, mind. Just saying.

Whilst it is considered, at least in traditional fantasy, bad form to axe main characters, Martin's departure from that form gives his story a credible reality that others fail to achieve. His characters portray realistic flaws. They're not good vs evil as so often plagues fantasy writing. By no means, I should clarify, am I a fanboy of Martin. On the contrary, I put him below my favorite Gene Wolfe, UK LeGuin, China Mieville, and Pat Rothfuss.

[gurujeet]

I just read books 1-4 and wish I had the time back I spent reading them. By book 3 it was becoming clear that the narrative was spinning out of control but I read book 4 thinking he was going to pull it together. He didn't. Feast for Crows was awful. The author completely loses control of the narrative and appears to just be making it up as he goes along. No way I'll ever read book 5 or anything else he writes. Don't waste your time.

[Mivo]

... to axe main characters, Martin's departure from that form gives his story a credible reality that others fail to achieve. His characters portray realistic flaws. They're not good vs evil as so often plagues fantasy writing.

The bloodbath didn't strike me as "realistic", though, it struck me as being overly violent for the sake of violence -- and to "shock" the audience. His characters also seemed really shallow to me compared to, say, Hobb's creations, though I do appreciate his "world building" skill and liked the scale of his fictional world.

LeGuin is one of my favourites, too, and I had mentioned Rothfuss already as a new, rising star, if he doesn't stray from where he started with the first book. A true wordsmith (judging by the second book, he's also a Go player or at least quite familiar with the game). I've also come to enjoy the novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, but those have only been fully translated to German so far (from Polish). "The Witcher" video games are based on his fantasy writings (but don't compare, at all) and I hope that at some point more than his short stories will be translated to English (and in the same high quality as the German translation).

[amnal]

I'm starting to think that some people like the book for some reasons, and other people dislike the book for some reasons, where some reasons may or may not be the same for both groups.

I find this shocking.

[Mivo]

Although it has been many years by now, I still vividly remember the almost traumatic shock when for the first time I realized that people on message boards use them for discussing their views and expressing their personal opinions!