George R. R. Martin Question/Advice - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

MahlerIsGod · 01-28-2006, 03:40 PM

Greetings All,
Over Christmas vacation, I told Robert Jordan to kiss my ass. It was me third time through and I was on book 9 (1st time: 1-4, 2nd: 1-7, 3rd: 1-9ish) and I just had enough of the endless descriptions of zippers, endless tangents, etc. (Though I will really miss certain characters like Mat Cauthon, Jordans version of Silk). A friend recommended Mr. Martins book, A Game Of Thrones. I read it and liked it a lot. Now I am in the middle of the second book and Mr. Martin is slowing but surely becoming more Jordan like. Mr. Martin constant interrupts what semblance he has of forward momentum by inserting these incessant Bran and Arya chapters which I am almost to the point of skipping. I guess what I am looking for is some assurance that things wont denigrate into two page descriptions of a button or that these tangents (now and future ones) will be resolved and have meaning or value? Sorry if this sounds like bitching or whining . Thanks

Hat · 01-31-2006, 04:36 PM

That's crazy talk dude, to even compare the first three books in the Song of Ice and Fire to the Wheel of Time (which stopped turning at around book 6) is just...wrong. Stick with it, of course there's a point in the Arya and Bran chapters. Jesus christ on a stick.

Xazy · 01-31-2006, 09:19 PM

Martin rules, his books are incredible, well written. I do not even mind the delay between each book, since when they come out they are huge and awesome. Best charachter creation you really KNOW each person.

Only one piece of advice do not fall in love with ANYONE since they may die.

paddyjoe · 02-01-2006, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xazy

Only one piece of advice do not fall in love with ANYONE since they may die.

HA! yes as in life, my friend.

Sgoilear · 02-01-2006, 10:29 AM

Stick it out. It's well worth the read and his tangent chapters do have a point. I quit reading Jordan for the same reasons you did but I didn't make it past book 6.

Martel · 02-01-2006, 11:33 AM

Maybe I'm just weird, but at this point in the story Arya is one of my favorite characters...

I won't say that you should keep reading if it's getting to be boring to ya, but for what it's worth the Martin series is my favorite fantasy series ever.

MPower · 02-01-2006, 03:19 PM

I thought the last book wandered a little, little bit. But still awesome. Waiting impatiently for book 4.5.

Kadath · 02-02-2006, 06:40 AM

I got A Feast For Crows for Christmas and I'd never even heard of George R.R. Martin before. My fantasy days are sort of behind me, and I don't know if I want to get the first book and start this series. Robert Jordan is my idea of fantasy nightmare; endless sprawling books. A trilogy is the right length -- three acts! Weis and Hickman's Death Gate cycle was good for the first 4, but then the last 3 just dragged. Feist's Magician novels were good for the first two but then wandered off. It sounds like that's what Martin is like.

docbungle · 02-03-2006, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kadath

I got A Feast For Crows for Christmas and I'd never even heard of George R.R. Martin before. My fantasy days are sort of behind me, and I don't know if I want to get the first book and start this series. Robert Jordan is my idea of fantasy nightmare; endless sprawling books. A trilogy is the right length -- three acts! Weis and Hickman's Death Gate cycle was good for the first 4, but then the last 3 just dragged. Feist's Magician novels were good for the first two but then wandered off. It sounds like that's what Martin is like.

He wrote a great horror novel also: 'Fevre Dream'

spindles · 02-12-2006, 04:58 PM

he says in the epilogue that he was writing a lot about jon Snow and Dany, but realised he ended up with too much stuff for one book, so book 5 will focus away from the characters in 4. Comparing this to Jordan is just so wrong - this is definitely top on my list of favourite series.

Tophat665 · 02-12-2006, 07:25 PM

My advice is, if you're having a problem with Jordan, wait until Martin finishes. He's talking 6 books now, and it was supposed to be a trilogy. (Jordan's talking 12, but pretty much everyone who has stuck with it is betting 13.)

Now this is not to say that these aren't awesome books. I was disappointed in the last one, but the first is one of the single best epic fantasies I've ever read, and I have read a ton of them.

Zotz · 05-28-2006, 12:16 PM

I'm reading A Feast for Crows and it seems to be the worst of the 4. The story seems to drag on. I agree with Martel in that the Arya storyline seems more interesting that the others.

leftwingx · 05-29-2006, 05:21 AM

I've only finished the first three, but Martin's series is an amazingly engrossing read. It's not really anything like Jordan's 4,000 character epic, it's quite a bit smaller in scope
allowing Martin to focus on the main characters (which tend to change...). Martin's writing is certainly a welcome change after reading Eddings and his cast of indestructible superheroes.

guthmund · 06-06-2006, 06:02 AM

I thought I was going to stick with Jordan, but now he's sick, which will only add to the delay (I know, I know...it's all about my inconvenience...) so, I'm about halfway through Game of Thrones.

Very good book. I like how it's centered (for the most part) around one big family. I don't really need to be in everybody's head, yes? It's more fun for me to read if I'm not privy to every motivation or thought.

The only problem I have with it...Well, sometimes I feel like quite the pervert. I mean, in one instance he describes a brother chastising his sister by twisting her nipples. In another he talks about the new Dothraki bride, Dany, having sex with her husband in the Dothraki style, which, Martin describes, is similar to herd animals. Later on he writes about Dany slipping off her robe and leading her new husband outside to have sex with him under the open sky.

All that is fine, but Martin goes to great lengths to explain that this girl is all of 14. So there I am reading this and trying not to imagine a big smelly warlord having sex with some young girl....a 14 year old girl.... from behind....which makes me feel like a great, big pervert.

It's a good read other than the uncomfortable shame....

01-28-2006, 03:40 PM	#1 (permalink)
MahlerIsGod At The Globe Showing Will How Its Done Location: London/Elysium	George R. R. Martin Question/Advice Greetings All, Over Christmas vacation, I told Robert Jordan to kiss my ass. It was me third time through and I was on book 9 (1st time: 1-4, 2nd: 1-7, 3rd: 1-9ish) and I just had enough of the endless descriptions of zippers, endless tangents, etc. (Though I will really miss certain characters like Mat Cauthon, Jordans version of Silk). A friend recommended Mr. Martins book, A Game Of Thrones. I read it and liked it a lot. Now I am in the middle of the second book and Mr. Martin is slowing but surely becoming more Jordan like. Mr. Martin constant interrupts what semblance he has of forward momentum by inserting these incessant Bran and Arya chapters which I am almost to the point of skipping. I guess what I am looking for is some assurance that things wont denigrate into two page descriptions of a button or that these tangents (now and future ones) will be resolved and have meaning or value? Sorry if this sounds like bitching or whining . Thanks __________________ "But a work of art is a conscious human effort that has to do with communication. It is that or its nothing. When an accident is applauded as a work of art, when a cult grows up around the deliciousness of inadvertent beauty, we are in the presence of the greatest decadence the West has known in its history."

02-01-2006, 10:29 AM	#5 (permalink)
Sgoilear Tilted Location: Colorado	Stick it out. It's well worth the read and his tangent chapters do have a point. I quit reading Jordan for the same reasons you did but I didn't make it past book 6. __________________ "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them." -George Bernard Shaw

02-01-2006, 11:33 AM	#6 (permalink)
Martel Insane Location: Sage's bed	Maybe I'm just weird, but at this point in the story Arya is one of my favorite characters... I won't say that you should keep reading if it's getting to be boring to ya, but for what it's worth the Martin series is my favorite fantasy series ever. __________________ Anamnesis

02-02-2006, 06:40 AM	#8 (permalink)
Kadath Muffled Location: Camazotz	I got A Feast For Crows for Christmas and I'd never even heard of George R.R. Martin before. My fantasy days are sort of behind me, and I don't know if I want to get the first book and start this series. Robert Jordan is my idea of fantasy nightmare; endless sprawling books. A trilogy is the right length -- three acts! Weis and Hickman's Death Gate cycle was good for the first 4, but then the last 3 just dragged. Feist's Magician novels were good for the first two but then wandered off. It sounds like that's what Martin is like. __________________ it's quiet in here

02-12-2006, 04:58 PM	#10 (permalink)
spindles Mine is an evil laugh Location: Sydney, Australia	he says in the epilogue that he was writing a lot about jon Snow and Dany, but realised he ended up with too much stuff for one book, so book 5 will focus away from the characters in 4. Comparing this to Jordan is just so wrong - this is definitely top on my list of favourite series. __________________ who hid my keyboard's PANIC button?

01-31-2006, 04:36 PM	#2 (permalink)
Hat Tilted Location: Adelaide, Australia	That's crazy talk dude, to even compare the first three books in the Song of Ice and Fire to the Wheel of Time (which stopped turning at around book 6) is just...wrong. Stick with it, of course there's a point in the Arya and Bran chapters. Jesus christ on a stick.

01-31-2006, 09:19 PM	#3 (permalink)
Xazy People in masks cannot be trusted Location: NYC	Martin rules, his books are incredible, well written. I do not even mind the delay between each book, since when they come out they are huge and awesome. Best charachter creation you really KNOW each person. Only one piece of advice do not fall in love with ANYONE since they may die.

02-01-2006, 03:19 PM	#7 (permalink)
MPower Psycho	I thought the last book wandered a little, little bit. But still awesome. Waiting impatiently for book 4.5.

02-12-2006, 07:25 PM	#11 (permalink)
Tophat665 Minion of the scaléd ones Location: Northeast Jesusland	My advice is, if you're having a problem with Jordan, wait until Martin finishes. He's talking 6 books now, and it was supposed to be a trilogy. (Jordan's talking 12, but pretty much everyone who has stuck with it is betting 13.) Now this is not to say that these aren't awesome books. I was disappointed in the last one, but the first is one of the single best epic fantasies I've ever read, and I have read a ton of them. __________________ Light a man a fire, and he will be warm while it burns. Set a man on fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life.

05-28-2006, 12:16 PM	#12 (permalink)
Zotz There's someone in my head, but its not me	I'm reading A Feast for Crows and it seems to be the worst of the 4. The story seems to drag on. I agree with Martel in that the Arya storyline seems more interesting that the others.

05-29-2006, 05:21 AM	#13 (permalink)
leftwingx Upright Location: Calgary, AB	I've only finished the first three, but Martin's series is an amazingly engrossing read. It's not really anything like Jordan's 4,000 character epic, it's quite a bit smaller in scope allowing Martin to focus on the main characters (which tend to change...). Martin's writing is certainly a welcome change after reading Eddings and his cast of indestructible superheroes. __________________ Happiness is just a roughing penalty away.

06-06-2006, 06:02 AM	#14 (permalink)
guthmund big damn hero	I thought I was going to stick with Jordan, but now he's sick, which will only add to the delay (I know, I know...it's all about my inconvenience...) so, I'm about halfway through Game of Thrones. Very good book. I like how it's centered (for the most part) around one big family. I don't really need to be in everybody's head, yes? It's more fun for me to read if I'm not privy to every motivation or thought. The only problem I have with it...Well, sometimes I feel like quite the pervert. I mean, in one instance he describes a brother chastising his sister by twisting her nipples. In another he talks about the new Dothraki bride, Dany, having sex with her husband in the Dothraki style, which, Martin describes, is similar to herd animals. Later on he writes about Dany slipping off her robe and leading her new husband outside to have sex with him under the open sky. All that is fine, but Martin goes to great lengths to explain that this girl is all of 14. So there I am reading this and trying not to imagine a big smelly warlord having sex with some young girl....a 14 year old girl.... from behind....which makes me feel like a great, big pervert. It's a good read other than the uncomfortable shame.... __________________ No signature. None. Seriously.