Next GRRM Book?

Cor Azer said:

GRRM needs to learn some railroading

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My wife (formerly an editor for a book publisher) had the opinion that he more needed an editor who could keep him on task. Editors-turned writers more than straight writers seem to think they don't need an editor.

takyris said:

I didn't offer to do a mocking summary of the New Testament. You're confusing cause and effect.

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What I read is you saying he could have cut it down to one page per person. I was just noting that's no biggie, every book can be, and easily, as long as you throw out the stuff that makes it a book, like you did in your mock. Easier pointing that out than pointing all of the interesting and important details you glossed over for effect.

Nifft said:

QFP.

Also, I want to hear Arya's sentence.

Thanks, -- N

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Meh.

The Brienne part is pretty true and sorta funny, the rest is just 'trying too hard to be funny.'

Personally, I enjoyed reading about Cersei being a bitch and screwing everything up. It was immensely satsifying watching as SHE proved to be her own worst enemy, not all these other people that she never trusted, pathetically plotted against, and (most likely) had carnal relations with. Hah, take that Cersei.

I really enjoyed Jaime's chapters. Especially his last few when he left King's Landing.

Sam's and Brienne's chapters were, mostly, the low points of the book. Brienne wandering around aimlessly was pretty pointless, however it did allow us to see what the kingdom was like from the poor's perspective. So much of the book focuses on nobles ripping at each other's throats that the common folk were ignored. Sure, there were the occasional 'hey, the Mountain killed 80 people and raped 130 corpses over here' but aside from some of Arya's chapters in the last two books, none really gave much of an 'aftermath' picture of how the kingdom is.

I could've lived without the Dorne chapters or they could've been cut down in size. As it was, for what 'glimpse' they offered of Dorne, they didn't offer much.

Sansa and Arya's chapters were overall, pretty good. I enjoyed Arya's more than Sansa's but they were both good.

The Iron Island's chapters were pretty cool too. As opposed to the Dorne chapters, these chapters felt like they 'progressed' forward a reasonable amount rather than just sort of... wallowing in a semi-stagnation.

Overall, not as good as the other 3, nowhere near as good as Storm of Swords, but I still enjoyed it. I've read far, far worse and aFFC still beats them out, along with a lot of other 'good' novels.

I'll see how my opinion changes when I reread the series again.

Fast Learner said:

What I read is you saying he could have cut it down to one page per person. I was just noting that's no biggie, every book can be, and easily, as long as you throw out the stuff that makes it a book, like you did in your mock.

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Yes. He could have cut it down to one page. That is indeed what I'm saying. If you'd prefer that I say it without a big mocking post, I can say it without a big mocking post.

He's said on the forums that he wanted to skip ahead the five years, but that he couldn't because it was too hard to explain what happened in those five years quickly and easily. So instead, he opted to write an additional novel. Or, in fact, two.

My response to this, as nobody in particular, is, "No."

I see nothing in this book that couldn't have been easily worked in as a brief explanation at the beginning of his next book or left on the cutting room floor. Nothing.

Don't get me wrong -- the man writes well. I enjoyed individual lines, I enjoyed some of the plots, and any one of the three identical power-grab plots would have worked well for me. This book, as a side anthology of short stories or novellettes, would have been nice. But it's a few pertinent points stretched out to 700 and disguised with enjoyable writing.

Easier pointing that out than pointing all of the interesting and important details you glossed over for effect.

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The effect being humor. If my post fell flat for you because the book wowed you on a profound level and didn't seem like filler at all, then you win, because you got a truly enjoyable reading experience, while I got a frustrating structural stall in a series I'd been enjoying, as well as some material for a mocking post.

That said, "Interesting", I will give you, because it's subjective. Some of what I read was interesting. Some of what I read bored me to skimming.

Important is a) impossible to tell given that the series isn't over, but b) incredibly unlikely. Again, I see nothing in this book that couldn't have been a) cut or b) worked easily into the beginning of the next book. Given how willing he was to hit us with the warhammer of exposition in the prologue (three kids expositing in a bar with a minor tie to the end of the book so that it's not quite as obvious that the entire thing is a massive "for those of you who didn't reread the first three books" infodump), I see no reason that he couldn't do the same thing at the beginning of his next book.

And again, againagainagain, two salient points:

1) Unnecessary does not mean unenjoyable. There's a difference between a book with tone problems and a book with structure problems. This one had structure problems as part of the series, which irked me. The writing itself was fine, and as additional world-filling stuff written on the side, I'd have loved it. (Like a companion anthology released after the fact, or stuff posted online to build suspense for the next book like those Battlestar Galactica webisodes or the Clone Wars cartoon.)

2) The fact that this bugged me does not mean I'm going to stop reading and go sulk in the corner. I'll read the next one, and sigh and rant again if it's an infodump, but the real test will be the next NON-infodump book he writes.