George R.R. Martin novel news

[Dark Jezter]

Actually, the violence is to be expected a book such as this, and a lot of the gory details were fairly glossed over. Catelyn's throat cutting may have been excessive perhaps, but by then I truely hated Catelyn's chapters and nearly cheered when I thought they were over.

And I thought I was the only one.

Yeah, Catelyn really started to grate on my nerves after a while. By Book 3, I was so tired of Catelyn's constant angsting that her death came as a relief. She was easily my least-favorite of the POV characters.

 

[Vocenoctum]

And I thought I was the only one.

Yeah, Catelyn really started to grate on my nerves after a while. By Book 3, I was so tired of Catelyn's constant angsting that her death came as a relief. She was easily my least-favorite of the POV characters.

For me, it was worse than that, not only did I hate Catelyn, but everyone in her chapters seemed diminished by it.

 

[Pants]

Hm, I never really felt the Catelyn hate. True, she was one of my 'least favorite characters' (okay, maybe she was my least favorite, though I never cared for Bran much...), but a lot of her actions felt justified by what was happening to her and her family...

I REALLY, abosolutely hated and loathed Sansa up until Storm of Swords somewhere. Ugh, prissy little princess and her fawning over Joff made me hate her. Especially how she took almost every chance to lash out at Arya and blame her for stuff...

Then again, her last chapter in Storm of Swords was heartbreaking...

 

[ShadowX]

I am slightly irked both by the explicitness of the sex scenes and their frequency. Someone mentioned Gavriel Kay as using such scenes similarly. Both authors spend too much time on gratuitous details that are ultimately trivial to the story. However, Kay only uses, at most, two or three such scenes in his books and nearly every one has some ulterior context or significance. In contrast, Martin abuses intercourse; the power is drained from it until it becomes trite and its efficacy is lost when it truly matters.

 

[Nifft]

I just love the GRRM perspective shift with each PC-- er, POV character.

Sure, some I relate to less than others -- Sansa and Catelyn rank high in not relating -- but still, I get the impression that I'm really seeing through the eyes of someone who's strictly honor-bound like her late lord father, but in severe denial about what's going on around her (Sansa) or someone who's severely depressed by the loss of her children, her father, and her lord husband's death (Catelyn) and is seeing the world colored by thick, grey despair.

I most closely relate to Jon Snow and Arya.

-- N

 

[Captain Tagon]

I most closely relate to Jon Snow and Arya.

-- N

Yeah, Jon is easily my favorite character.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Before his death, Ned Stark was my favorite character. Now, my favorite character is probably Tyrion, followed by Arya.

Of course, there are some non-POV characters I really like, too: such as the Hound, Bronn, Shagga, the Blackfish, and (of course) Hodor.

 

[Captain Tagon]

Before his death, Ned Stark was my favorite character. Now, my favorite character is probably Tyrion, followed by Arya.

Of course, there are some non-POV characters I really like, too: such as the Hound, Bronn, Shagga, the Blackfish, and (of course) Hodor.

I agree with all of that except Tyrion, lol. But it is all good. Bronn and the Hound are two that really intrigue me.

 

[takyris]

Its really hard to say whats going to have appeal 100 years later.

I agree. Which is why I didn't do so.

I make no claims of knowing what will be widely popular 100 years from now. I can, however, comfortably hazard a guess as to whether an individual work won't be widely popular 100 years from now.

Dragonlance won't be taught in schools -- which, while I accept and heartily endorse Voc's point that what's taught in schools isn't a mark of true quality any more than popularity is, still means that it won't get that university publicity that Virginia Woolf and Jane Austen are getting these days. And while the Chronicles are reasonably popular (and very well-known within the gamer-geek world), they don't have the mass of appeal that Holmes, Conan, Savage, Hobbits, or Aslan do -- heck, they might sell better, but the folks above are so well-remembered at least partly because they were the big fish in the little pond of the time, creating a new genre or showing themselves to be remarkably fine examples of a genre with few competitors. Dragonlance, on the other hand, is one fantasy series among a whole lot of other fantasy series. It's great that it's based on D&D -- that's why I read it -- but 100 years from now, that's not going to be a selling point for anyone but very old roleplayers. If it weren't based on D&D, what would differentiate it from all the other fantasy in the very big fantasy-fiction pond? (Sure, not as big as I'd like, but a heck of a lot bigger than it was 100 years ago.) What's going to make people 100 years from now choose these books instead of Tolkien, Martin, Gaiman, Hobb, Keyes, Modessit, Lackey, Britain, or anyone else? I'm not saying the aforementioned authors are better, but if you ask in general fantasy-reader circles and not gamer-specific-circles, I believe all of the above (except maybe Britain) outsell the Dragonlance Chronicles.

The only thing different about the Dragonlance books is the D&D basis, and I doubt that's going to keep it going for anyone but historical gamer-geeks a hundred years from now.

 

[Vocenoctum]

The only thing different about the Dragonlance books is the D&D basis, and I doubt that's going to keep it going for anyone but historical gamer-geeks a hundred years from now.

I think DL is a bit more well known than most of the D&D fiction, but hard to say. I wonder how the Young Adult series is going...
Anyway, I brought up DL, not to compare the books, but to credit the quote to Tracy Hickman about Boot Scenes.