George R. R. Martin's new book, "A Feast for Crows"
- Thread starter John Reynolds
- Start date
Was doing more re-reading of the Martin books and hit the infamous Red Wedding scene and realized something for the first time: it was Roose Bolton who drove a sword through Robb's heart, killing him. I never caught this before, and it explains the "Jaime Lannister says" comment, because the captivity/release of Jaime played a direct role in the Karstarks and Boltons betraying Robb.
Also read that Martin pretty much has the 3rd Dunk & Egg story finished but isn't sure how to publish it.
Also read that Martin pretty much has the 3rd Dunk & Egg story finished but isn't sure how to publish it.
chavvdarrr
Veteran
just to sign as "SoFaI" fan also 
, actually i'm reading WOT11 prologue now... finalllllly some action there... maybe (just maybe) last 2 books will be worth reading, in last 4-5 books only the few episodes with Mat were fun to read IMO
btw any release date for FfCrows?
, actually i'm reading WOT11 prologue now... finalllllly some action there... maybe (just maybe) last 2 books will be worth reading, in last 4-5 books only the few episodes with Mat were fun to read IMObtw any release date for FfCrows?
chavvdarrr said:
October in the U.K. and Nov. 8th here in the States.
Alejux said:
Publishers are more flexible overseas since their markets are smaller. From my understanding Bantam told Martin he had a small "window" if he wanted to see AFfC published this year in the States, thus the agreement for splitting the book.
I've ordered the Malazan books from Amazon.ca, since the shipping is much cheaper than from the U.K. Haven't read the 5th one yet, though, but enjoyed the first four quite a bit (really liked the 3rd book).
Ok, I've just finsished Book 3... read all of them in about a week. First time I tried it a few years ago I got stuck near the end of book 1 but this time I simply couldn't stop reading. Great stuff, even better than I remembered. Can't wait for Feast of Crows.
Only thing I dislike is the very end of book 3... bringing Catelyn back as some sort of zombie kinda sucks, the character deserved better. I'm also not sure about Jon being elected head honcho of the Night's Watch, IMO it would have been more interesting of he had taken Stannis' offer. This makes me worry that he's setting up things to culminate in some sort of Men vs Others showdown which I'm not really that interested in - it's been done before a million times. Oh, and what happened to Osha and Rickon?
What I did like is the fact that GRRM is not afraid of moving the plot forward, unlike Jodan. He snuffed out half of House Lannister in a couple of pages, he wrapped up the King in the North plot line in even less pages and finally killed off Lysa who was a secondary character that really wasn't going anywhere.
I just hope GMMR doesn't make a habit of wrapping up story lines by simply killing the people involved. It's a bit of a cheap way out and sometimes I have the impression that GMMR started plot lines but had no idea what to do with them so he killed off the characters. Robb Stark (as perceived from the Catelyn POV) is such a case. If you think about it, the Red Wedding really just neutralized one of the strongest plot lines in the books and leaves me wonder why it was introduced in the first place.
That being said, I'd really be pissed if the Hound is dead for good. There are just too many loose threads with this character.
Only thing I dislike is the very end of book 3... bringing Catelyn back as some sort of zombie kinda sucks, the character deserved better. I'm also not sure about Jon being elected head honcho of the Night's Watch, IMO it would have been more interesting of he had taken Stannis' offer. This makes me worry that he's setting up things to culminate in some sort of Men vs Others showdown which I'm not really that interested in - it's been done before a million times. Oh, and what happened to Osha and Rickon?
What I did like is the fact that GRRM is not afraid of moving the plot forward, unlike Jodan. He snuffed out half of House Lannister in a couple of pages, he wrapped up the King in the North plot line in even less pages and finally killed off Lysa who was a secondary character that really wasn't going anywhere.
I just hope GMMR doesn't make a habit of wrapping up story lines by simply killing the people involved. It's a bit of a cheap way out and sometimes I have the impression that GMMR started plot lines but had no idea what to do with them so he killed off the characters. Robb Stark (as perceived from the Catelyn POV) is such a case. If you think about it, the Red Wedding really just neutralized one of the strongest plot lines in the books and leaves me wonder why it was introduced in the first place.
That being said, I'd really be pissed if the Hound is dead for good. There are just too many loose threads with this character.
Gen-X said:
I hated that book and was amazed any editor would publish it. . .it's utter shit. I won't touch Eddings' new stuff after reading it.
http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/questofthrones/
My keyboard is pledged to Dany, Queen Across the Water.
My keyboard is pledged to Dany, Queen Across the Water.
Sxotty said:I quit reading him b/c I think they are extremely boring.
If anything interesting happens, you will have to let the rest of us know who have given up
You write as if you're in some perceived majority. I don't know, considering the popularity of these books among fans of the genre I wouldn't make too strong an assumption.
And these books are far from boring. My biggest complaints are really just minor nit-picks over what I consider to be poorly written scenes, such as one of the dragons milking from Dany's breast (ewwww) or the Lord's Kiss when Jon goes down on the wildling girl (though I can't recall if she gave him her typical "You know nothing, Jon Snow" after his performance <g>).
I am, however, concerned about this fourth book. I don't expect it to advance the main plot (the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy, of which we still know so little since Rhaegar had to get himself killed at the Trident), but I'd better see some serious stage setting for a future direction for the series. Martin is going to really need to get his # of POVs under control in the 5th and 6th books or the story is going to get away from him.
Hugo winners:
Novel: Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
Novella: The Concrete Jungle, Charles Stross
Novellete: The Faery Handbag, Kelly Link
Short Story: Travels with My Cats, Mike Resnick
Short dramatic: 33, Battlestar Galactica ("Smile Time", Angel, came in second, damnit)
Long dramatic: The Incredibles (yeah!!!)
Editor: Ellen Datlow (a WEB editor, b'gawd!!)
Artist: Jim Burns
Website:SciFiction (www.scifi.com/scifiction)
Edit: Oh, and to keep this almost on topic, we had chili with GRRM and AgBob at Keith Kato's 31st annual chili party afterwards.
Novel: Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
Novella: The Concrete Jungle, Charles Stross
Novellete: The Faery Handbag, Kelly Link
Short Story: Travels with My Cats, Mike Resnick
Short dramatic: 33, Battlestar Galactica ("Smile Time", Angel, came in second, damnit)
Long dramatic: The Incredibles (yeah!!!)
Editor: Ellen Datlow (a WEB editor, b'gawd!!)
Artist: Jim Burns
Website:SciFiction (www.scifi.com/scifiction)
Edit: Oh, and to keep this almost on topic, we had chili with GRRM and AgBob at Keith Kato's 31st annual chili party afterwards.
Heh, just ordered AFfC from Amazon.co.uk since it's released on Oct 17 compared to Nov 8 States-side. With current exchange rates and shipping it'll cost me around $40, but I'll have time to actually read the entire 800-page book before Martin arrives at my local bookstore on Nov 10th.
Ack! Feast is going to be released in Australia in late September. Choices, choices.
I stopped reading monumental fantasy for this exact reason. It was simply too hard separating the gems from the dirt without reading through n^∞ pages to find out. I enjoyed many of them to begin with, but sooner all later they all (read: the successful ones with several sequels) seemed to get all too self involved: Long running plotlines left unresolved, apparently unnecessary plotlines or segments that could (and should) have been cut, sections of trite exposition of mundane details that serve no useful purpose other than padding the length of the book further. The apparent inability to say to themselves: “There. I’m done telling my story.†Words and more words, causing me to stop caring about the characters... Doesn't any of these people have editors that could tell them that they should cut 40% and have a better (cheaper to publish as well) book for it?Sxotty said:You see I think surivor is boring as hell as well, I am obviously in the minority, I am just not a fan of what I percieve as soap operas...more action less drama
To be fair, several genre can fall victim to this phenomenon (hello Tom Clancy), but Fantasy seem especially prone to it.
That being said, I'm out of reading material as soon as I finish American Gods (Gaiman rocks), and I'm always open for suggestions. John: Given how I got 'burned out' on fantasy do you think there's a chance I might still enjoy George R. R. Martin? I'm a bit skeptical about the fact that what apparently was billed as a trilogy from the start already have four books published (to be fair this include a two-parter) with at least two more (one of them being another two-parter) to come.
Zaphod said:
Martin's series really isn't fantasy since it's modelled on the War of the Roses (York vs. Lancaster). There are fantastical elements in the books, such as the dragons, the Others, unCatelyn, etc., but the series definitely isn't about elves and dwarves running around Pixie-Fairy Land to combat the Dark Lord (probably a Republican <g>) who wants to enslave them.