George R.R. Martin fans, rejoice! It's done! A Feast for Crows is done! (Well, with the provisions noted by the author here.)
I've checked this guy's web site probably twice a week for over a year, waiting for some word that book four of A Song of Ice and Fire was finally going to see publication. Well, here we are, five years after the publication of A Storm of Swords, and that word has finally arrived. I can't believe it. I was beginning to think they'd cure cancer before this book made it to print.
I guess that means it's about time to begin re-reading the first three volumes of the series. I want to have the characters and events fresh in my mind when I tear into volume four. In a way, this is a moment I've been sort of dreading. I loved the books, and will very much enjoy reading them again. But they're very long. Colossally long. Ridiculously long. I think A Storm of Swords alone is roughly the length of the entire The Lord of the Rings. So, this is likely to take me a while. Especially at the pace I've been reading books lately.
If you like fantasy books and you haven't read this series, then... well, I'd say "I can't recommend it highly enough." But there is a catch. It's an as yet unfinished series. When he began it, he said it would be three books. It grew to six. Now he's saying maybe seven. And, as mentioned earlier, it took him five years to write book four. In other words, closure and completion are not going to be in your immediate future if you start this series.
On the flip side, I can say nothing else negative about the books. And by now, you know how critical I can be, so I hope you understand what that endorsement means. These are the best fantasy books I have ever read.
And soon I'll be getting another one! I'm just plain giddy right now.
6 comments:
Sigh.
I read four novels last week, with a total of 1709 pages. I still don't think I'll ever get A Clash of Kings finished. I had the same problem with the last two Potter books.
The Martin book and a half that I did read I really liked. Some of the best fantasy work I've ever read. I just can't make it through these things.
I'm sure I'll try to pick it up again sometime.
Whoa, now that is marketing skarr, cool!
SoFaI books. Love em! Very excited. Someone tell Big Time.
I don't have anything negative to say, just that you probably shouldn't give these books to your 12 year old nephew, or you should expect some questions from your brother or sister!
I had given up checking the web site for updates...it moved from the front of my bookmarks, to the back, to out of the rotation...you have more faith than I Evan!
Oh, I'm right here. I'd been checking Martin's site once every month, but Heimlich got there before my next scheduled visit. Anyways, Whoopee! Absolutely my favorite books ever. This is largely because the characters are soooo good, and the plot so fitting for them. Like Tom said, lots of raw sexuality that seems a bit out of place at time, but whatever, you know. Get some discipline, Shocho, or you'll miss out!
Like Tom said, lots of raw sexuality that seems a bit out of place at time, but whatever, you know.
Couldn't the same be true of SF/F fans as well as many of its books? :)
Yay!
Sadly, GRRM has ruined me for just about all other fiction. It's so detailed and believeable and low-tech that I just can't buy the fantastic stuff anymore.
I found the sexuality to be a bit out of place at first too, but in discussing it with another friend of mine who loves these books, I believe I came to understand its role. Despite its fantasy elements, the books also read very much like historical fiction. And historically, in that kind of a society, the only power most women had to wield was the power of sex over the men in government positions.
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