A Song of Ice and Fire: The Complete Series
Right up front — no spoilers, here or bite-sized impressions…
This morning, I laid down the last volume of George R.R. Martin’s great opus, A Song of Fire and Ice. After reading the first volume, ushered in (for me at least…) through the graces of HBO’s series, A Game of Thrones, I decided to read the series in hardbound version (probably to add some help for my tired, old eyes, as newsprint covered with small point sized type is not something I can easily settle into). And settle in, I did. My wife remarked more than once how distant I seemed while immersed in each book. She was right. I don’t remember being so absorbed in any reading since I was fourteen and had just discovered a newly published English writer named Tolkien.
Thinking that I would want to write a review once I finished each book, proved impossible as one dissolved into the next. It became clear that the only review I could offer would cover the series. With a fervent wish for a cathartic revelation, I plowed through each volume, until it became clear to me that this was not a typical story, writ large. 3,969 pages large, not counting the many appendices and maps to which I made frequent side-trips.
The rest of my review is on my blog site: http://www.sailletales.com
(1 vote)
Reviewed by Richard Sutton
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The title is a Song of Ice
The title is a Song of Ice and Fire, just saying.
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So it is! I'm an IDIOT! My
So it is! I'm an IDIOT! My reading comprehension scores weren't all that good either...
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Happens to the best! I love
Happens to the best!
I love the Song a lot. Some of the charachters have aquired a sort of fmaily status in this household and are regularly quoted. Tyrion is probably my favourite, followed by Arya, Daeneris and James (husband claims I always like handsome bad guys... but he is not that bad, is he?). I haven't got the new volume yet (which is why I am not really reading all the replies, don't want to discover things!).
I am in Awe of the complexity of his world.
I bought all his books three times, in Italian, in English, and on Kindle. I think he should send me the last volumes for free.
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There just isn't a substitute
There just isn't a substitute for his words. I'm still feeling a bit empty, but at least I'm writing again.
Here's a recomme4ndation for those who might need a tie-over read: This is a Fantasy/SciFi Classic, winning the Hugo Award in 1961, but it is as important now as when it was first published (1959), and clearly an influence on GRR Martin's work.
A Canticle For Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
He was quite an unsual fellow, never allowing his agent to even meet him face to face! He almost completed the sequel before his death in 1996 (completed and published posthumously), but aside from his short stories, this was his only novel.
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I think there are another two
I think there are another two or more to come. I too, read them all (so far) as a result of the recent TV series. Got quickly totally hooked, but struggled through a lot of the second last one (found myself skimming a lot, till we returned to real-time action) and by the end of the last one was getting impatient and wanting it to be tied up. But I don't think it will be, until people like Arya are grown up (unless he kills them off prematurely - which he's quite fond of doing - in which case I'll be really angry). It really is a tale of epic proportions though.
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Oddly, the new scenes and
Oddly, the new scenes and characters introduced in Feast worked for me as blessed relief! I also was really taken by some new concepts introduced towards the end -- things I felt that would be absolutely great as tie-ups in the last book, but Dance w/Dragons only opened up new potential threads and he dropped the tantalizing stuff from Feast, such as the Maesters Interview in OldTown. Oh well. I can wait along with everyone else.
It's funny, instead of bringing the story to a close, he seems to have set up launches for six or so stand-alone novel series. He must enjoy his craft!
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Two more might not be enough.
Two more might not be enough. Book Four contains the beginning of a very disturbing thrread at the very end, when Sam is being interviewed by the Holy High Maester, implying that the death of the remaining dragons was not just an accident of war, but much more. This alone could make a complete additional series, not just another book!
Then there are the dangling threads I'm titling, The Song of Arya, The Snows on the Wall, Sansas Sorrows, Hodor & The Flying Bran, and last, but not least, Pigs, Gold and Crossbows, or Sarcastic Small Folk -- but there are many others.
It is interesting just how much of "current editorial thinking" is thrown out as an author progresses through a series of successful novels.
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Hang on, the COMPLETE
Hang on, the COMPLETE series?
Does that mean he's not going to write more?
I thought it was unfinished. Granted, I haven't read the last book yet, but there was so much left unsaid, I rather doubted he'd manage to tie it all up in one book.
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I'm with you, but I think he
I'm with you, but I think he could do a much better job if each coming sequel was a stand-alone for tyher particular character's story. Arya's tale, Jon's tale, Tyrion's tale, etc.
A few months out now, and the urge to retrun to Westeros is slacking. I can actually think about a whole range of other subjects!
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From where I sit, you're
From where I sit, you're still right, although that's not what he says himself. ON his own site, the tab that holds update information about the staus of ASOIF shows an image of A Dance With Dragons cover and one word: Done.
On the other hand, maybe he just needs to clear his brain out for a spell. There are at least five important threads left dangling, each of which could be the basis fpor a complete novel, so I hold out hope that Westeros will be revisited. At least before HBO runs out orf script material...
Now my wife and I get out to Santa Fe regularly, so I may actually lurk in the alleys in case he slips into sight. Have any choice requests of him?
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Additional Warning: I'm one
Additional Warning:
I'm one day out, and the withdrawl symptoms are really tough. I actually found myself on fan boards, adding to the sorrowful, plaintive discussions of what Might Happen Next. Oh, I'm so embarrassed to admit it. I went on one and posted a list of possible titles for individual novels that might tie up the most critical threads that were left dangling. I know, I know. Oh! Oh! Oh!
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