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nymeria_dwAfter the long summer marathon in which I re-read the first four books of GRR Martin's saga, I finally tackled the long-awaited fifth book and finished it yesterday.
It's difficult to say how I feel about it: the long months of full immersion in the realms of Westeros left me a little unsettled, as if I just woke up from a convoluted dream and were still trying to regain a foothold in the normal flow of life. There's a part of me that needs different "pastures" for the brain to explore, and another that's longing for more of that story.
It was a satisfying read, of course, the thousand-odd pages a welcome find after the six years long drought between this book and the previous one: several questions on the whereabouts of a few characters, totally absent in A Feast for Crows, were answered; new characters were added to the mix and older ones were presented in a different light, making me change my mind about them. GRR Martin often surprises us with these turnarounds, and it's one of the marks of how good a writer he is.
Yet it was not an "easy" read: the first half of the book suffered a little from the slowness many perceived in Book 4. These events ran in parallel with the story-arc of A Feast for Crows, so the feeling of having gone back and retraced one's steps must have been responsible for this sensation.
Once the story picked up again toward further developments, though, the pace did not greatly improve and the feel that some of the characters had lost momentum became too strong to ignore.
Daenerys is the one who suffers from this "illness" more than most: after having stormed through Slaver's Bay and taken over city after city, she stops at her last conquest, Meereen, and here she seems to get frozen in amber. Or rather, to be wading through molasses. Only toward the end of the book something changes - finally! - but we are left in the lurch thanks to a massive cliff-hanger. Thank you very much, Mr. Martin!
Something similar happens to other beloved characters, like Tyrion, or Jon: their last pages see them on the brink on something, with no clear indication of what will happen next. That is all right, of course: readers must be left hungering for more - it's a law of story-telling, and also a sound commercial tactic… But did we really need to suffer through pages and pages in which *nothing* happened at all to get to this point? I'm not too sure.
I've often read that sagas suffer from "sagging-middle syndrome", and ASOIAF seems no different: I hope that the next two books, which should see the conclusion of this huge story, will get back to the breath-taking, blood-racing pace of the first three instalments. It would be sad if this particular mountain were to give birth to a puny mouse, after all…
It's difficult to say how I feel about it: the long months of full immersion in the realms of Westeros left me a little unsettled, as if I just woke up from a convoluted dream and were still trying to regain a foothold in the normal flow of life. There's a part of me that needs different "pastures" for the brain to explore, and another that's longing for more of that story.
It was a satisfying read, of course, the thousand-odd pages a welcome find after the six years long drought between this book and the previous one: several questions on the whereabouts of a few characters, totally absent in A Feast for Crows, were answered; new characters were added to the mix and older ones were presented in a different light, making me change my mind about them. GRR Martin often surprises us with these turnarounds, and it's one of the marks of how good a writer he is.
Yet it was not an "easy" read: the first half of the book suffered a little from the slowness many perceived in Book 4. These events ran in parallel with the story-arc of A Feast for Crows, so the feeling of having gone back and retraced one's steps must have been responsible for this sensation.
Once the story picked up again toward further developments, though, the pace did not greatly improve and the feel that some of the characters had lost momentum became too strong to ignore.
Daenerys is the one who suffers from this "illness" more than most: after having stormed through Slaver's Bay and taken over city after city, she stops at her last conquest, Meereen, and here she seems to get frozen in amber. Or rather, to be wading through molasses. Only toward the end of the book something changes - finally! - but we are left in the lurch thanks to a massive cliff-hanger. Thank you very much, Mr. Martin!
Something similar happens to other beloved characters, like Tyrion, or Jon: their last pages see them on the brink on something, with no clear indication of what will happen next. That is all right, of course: readers must be left hungering for more - it's a law of story-telling, and also a sound commercial tactic… But did we really need to suffer through pages and pages in which *nothing* happened at all to get to this point? I'm not too sure.
I've often read that sagas suffer from "sagging-middle syndrome", and ASOIAF seems no different: I hope that the next two books, which should see the conclusion of this huge story, will get back to the breath-taking, blood-racing pace of the first three instalments. It would be sad if this particular mountain were to give birth to a puny mouse, after all…
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-22 01:52 pm (UTC)(But I just finished the third of "Richard Castle"'s books - "Heat Rises" and I loved it! :)))
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-22 03:55 pm (UTC)Do the books reproduce the same kind of chemistry we see on screen?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-22 06:30 pm (UTC)For me - yes, they have a lot of chemistry though a little different, cause Nikki and Rook are both a little different people than Beckett and Castle. I would say - with less baggage, more independent (Rook doesn't have daughter). Of course romance moves more quickly, especially in the third book it's the big part of the story (ok, I liked it a lot :))). What is the most fun for me - it's all the "meta" you can find there - reading what Castle could write about people he worked with and seeing reflections of many episodes' storylines here and there. Especially if you let yourself believe for a moment that it's actually Castle "fantasizing" about Beckett while writing Nikki. It shows a vision of her (and the relationship Castle would like to have) that I'd say is quite believevable. Criminal plot wasn't interested to me too much in the first and second book, it was much better in the third, probably because the theme was much closer to the main characters. Though - this is where the illusion of Castle being the author of the book is rather thin for me. The plot leans heavily on the finale of the third season of the show and I don't think he would include some of the things in reality. (I still remember it's fiction inside fiction... I talk about it with the friend who like "Castle" and while discussing books I try to repeat from time time : Yes, I know Richard Castle didn't write it. But if he would...:)))
They are really quick and easy for reading books but I think they are quite fun and for "Castle" fans definitely interesting.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-23 03:43 pm (UTC)That's interesting! In a way it seems to take the "fanfiction approach" and try to look deeper into the characters.
Criminal plot wasn't interested to me too much in the first and second book, it was much better in the third, probably because the theme was much closer to the main characters
Mmmmm... Another good point. I did start the first book but I was distracted away from it by something else and - I have to admit it - because I did not find the criminal plot, as you call it, as gripping as it is on tv. So I might as well try again jumping directly to book three.
Thanks for the review and the info! :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-23 04:00 pm (UTC)But I'm not sure starting from the book 3 is the best idea, it can be confusing, considering the beginning, when you're not familiar with Rook-Heat dynamic. And book 2 has jealous Rook that reflects jealous Castle from the end of season 2:)) And has the most hilarious revelation about Rook's careeer choice :)))
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-23 05:11 pm (UTC)You're a good seller! ;-)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-28 07:48 pm (UTC)I agree about the sense of "retracing steps" in the first half.
What are your thoughts on Dany and how she "ruled" I-can't-remember-the-name-of-it? I know there was a lot of criticism but I think she has to make mistakes. She's young and if she's going to be The Ruler of Westeros, well, she's got to learn. I hated everything about the gold-toothed guy but maybe the point is that Dany is a teenage girl and they don't always make the best guy choices.
I only became aware of the existence of these stories in April. I'm such a newbie but I love it!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-28 09:33 pm (UTC)As for the golden-toothed guy I hope he's one of the bodies being thrown inside the city by trebuchet... *veg*
And... only April? Wow! Welcome to the addiction :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-28 09:38 pm (UTC)A reread is in the cards for me.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-29 04:47 pm (UTC)And he would be a great adviser, as well, crafty and subtle: with his help she could become so much more...
I'm a little fuzzy on the details. That's what I get for reading it in a matter of days.
This was my second re-read (I did another one when Feast for Crows came out), and if it's any comfort, I still have to look up details because the material is so HUGE that you can't remember everything. I guess you know http://www.westeros.org/ with its chapter-by-chapter forum discussions - if you don't, that's the place for a helping your memory, or http://towerofthehand.com/ where you can find books synopses divided by chapters.
How Martin keeps it all straight, I have no idea... ;-)