Acceptance of "A Song of Ice and Fire"

[nikolai]

I've been thinking about A Song of Ice and Fire. It's made a pretty big impact on the fantasy scene. Does anyone have any idea how this happened? Has it become bigger (more popular) recently? I have to say that I first heard of it on the boards. What were people saying several years ago when Game of Thrones first came out? Are there any signs of it being noticed outside of the genre? And how does it match up in terms of "brand recognition" with other fantasy series?

nikolai.

P.S. I hope the thread title's not too strange, I couldn't really think of anything else to call it.

 

[stevelabny]

I had previously heard it mentioned. Don't remember exactly when it started.
A few months ago, I started hearing more about how great it is and how to get it. It REALLY started getting alot of net-talk around when the latest Harry Potter came out. So I got the three books and read them around July. Loved them, been trying to get others to read them since. Seems these books are just being pushed by "word-of-mouth" and like all pyramid schemes, its finally getting to the point where you will hear about it from more than one other person.

If he can sucessfully get the next book out any time within the next year, methinks you will hear it talked about in some media circles as "the next big thing"

 

[Eosin the Red]

It has always been popular by wordof mouth. I started reading the series about 2 months after the series started cause several of my friends were talking about how different the series was.

It does seem to me that aSoF&I did jump up on the "hit o' meter" several months ago. It could be when Harry Potter came out but I could also be when Jordan's stinker came out?

 

[paulewaug]

I'd say that due to word of mouth it has been growing and growing.

I picked up the first book when it came out because I saw this really cool cover on the new release section and the overall plot sounded kind of cool to me.

I think some, if not many of, the earleir readers were the same way.

Then when ever a topic of "good fantasy" "good writers" kind of thing would get started someone would bring him up and people would check it out and it grow.
As the fan base grew and dedicated fantasy fans praised the work more people would check it out and it would move up the chart.

I'm sad to say I have not picked up the most recent book yet, it has gotten to be a bit Too gritty and, well "nasty." That Is one of the draws of his writing, that he doesn't pull any punches but I have little to no interest in the outcome of people that, imo, are pure scum so I have lost ome of my interest in what's going on. It's a bad place full of bad people. But....he is a great writer and I feel I will need to get latest book and continue the story.

At least the characters have motivation and the story is, if anything, too true to life! And Anybody character is fair game, No "Oh he's special, nothing bad will happen to him."

 

[The Fool]

...

Word of mouth is still the best way to find
quality, in anything your interested in...

Thats why the internet is a good thing

With regards to GRRM, i actually stumbled onto him...

I used to have this condition, that everytime i
walked into a bookstore, i just had to buy anything
new regarding fantasy

That all changed after i finished George's first 3 books,
90% of what i tried to read after ASOIAF just didnt
cut it for me, i ended up throwing out over 50 brand
new novels (most unread) and now i do alot more
homework before i walk into a bookstore and hand over
my dollar...

After JRRT, i think if george can finish off the series
in a fine fashion, GRRM might just be the 'new' Tolkien...

Here hoping we get a huge 10 season series of ASOIAF
after he is done


The Fool

 

[jdavis]

The big news lately around here is because the book was slated to come out last fall and every time we get news another "I Love Martin" thread pops up. I'm sure the internet has been a big boon for the word of mouth on Martin too. Myself I picked up the first book when it was released mainly because it had a cool cover and I noticed it in the book store (it was on the shelf under the wheel of time books). I have been telling everyone I know to try it ever since.