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What Members Thought
George R. R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series is so good the New York Times has decreed him "the American Tolkien." Not bad, eh? Well, sometimes such lavish praise is deserved and sometimes not. Here, it is quite appropriate. I don't read a lot of fantasy like this, but what I enjoyed about this series is that it is about characters first. The fantasy elements(magic, creatures, etc.) are very sparse. Martin paints his characters with a depth that makes even the evil ones understandable. So
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I won't bother anyone with a synopsis. I am not a huge fantasy guy but like the basics. Lord of The Rings, The Hobbit, the first book to the Wheel of Time series before it got ridiculous, Phillip Pullman, Neal Stephenson, etc. I have to say that I enjoyed the book. I was bummed with the death of certain characters but I am looking forward to the next book. It took me a while to get through it. I stopped for a while then go back into it then really cranked out the last couple hundred pages. I sta
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Second Read: 5 Stars
I enjoyed this book a lot more on my second read and after having watched the tv show. I'm re-reading while I'm re-watching the series prior to the final season coming out. I think what Martin did the best in this book was to have numerous interesting plot lines. There are even parts of the plot that focus on characters I can't stand that I still find interesting because I'm interested in everything going on around them.
It helps a lot that I'm not overwhelmed by the world bu ...more
I enjoyed this book a lot more on my second read and after having watched the tv show. I'm re-reading while I'm re-watching the series prior to the final season coming out. I think what Martin did the best in this book was to have numerous interesting plot lines. There are even parts of the plot that focus on characters I can't stand that I still find interesting because I'm interested in everything going on around them.
It helps a lot that I'm not overwhelmed by the world bu ...more
Bleak, in spots, but brilliant.
Apr 27, 2008
Aaron S
marked it as to-read
