# A Song of Ice and Fire



## Infanteer (14 Sep 2005)

Anybody else get into this series?  I picked up some fiction just to get away from all the heavy history texts I usually read, and I thought this series was awesome (well, Martin has only just completed the 4th of 7 novels).  I was hooked from the start - it took me about 3 weeks to blaze through the first three 1000 page books and now I have to wait for the next one to come out in a month or so.

I guess he researched the War of the Roses and the Hundred-Years War for his setting - everything from the gritty battle scenes (and the wanton brutality after) to the Machiavellian politics was pretty intense.  As well, nobody is perfect, and things never turn out the way you hoped (which becomes apparent when the guy you expect to save the day gets beheaded out of nowhere).

Take a gander if you want something different than "Chosen One is in a sleepy village - wisked away from impending danger - knows not of his task, but saves the rhelm from ancient evil".


----------



## AmmoTech90 (14 Sep 2005)

Friend of mine put me on to it last spring when he lent me the first one.  As you point out it's a lot more interesting than a lot of the normal fantasy series.

I'm just wondering when he run out of protagonists.  Just as it seems someone is going to become a major figure and save the day, boom! off with their head!

Definately a good read but I have met two people who couldn't finish the first or second book because they were so depressing.


----------



## paracowboy (14 Sep 2005)

I thought we'd discussed the recommendation of books, the purchasing of dish washers and the anger of spouses?


----------



## meni0n (14 Sep 2005)

Excellent series. If you like Martin, give Erikson a read too. First book is Gardens Of The Moon. It's very complicated so it'll be a hard read in the beginning but it gets easier with each novel. Plus, he writes pretty fast so expect a book every 6 months or so. Unlike Martin.


----------



## Gunnar (14 Sep 2005)

New book is out in Early November...about the 3rd or something...

Like the books, but find that after he wrote the first one and it was successful, it seemed to get a little more needlessly vulgar in some of the descriptions.  Probably because you don't edit a successful author as heavily...

Still looking forward to it.  After all, Winter is Coming.


----------



## Infanteer (14 Sep 2005)

Yeah, some of it reads like a soft version of penthouse letters, but oh well - I can take it.  It's funny that the sex and violence inspires some pretty serious dissention; some call it gritty and real, while others call it immature and aimed at juveniles; oh well - whatever tickles your fancy I guess.

I like it for the greyness.  I doubt people were sitting through the Thirty Years War (which, socially, the book reminds me of) and thinking of great things - the world can be a shitty place, and Martin laps all that up.


----------



## MdB (4 Oct 2005)

This series is VERY addictive. I've already read the first 3 books. The 4th comes out in North America on 8th of November.

I would even dare that it is better than Tolkien's LOTR, but it's more a personal feeling when you come to that. These are such titans of fantasy literature.

Next year, it will be 10 years since he started the series. If it's difficult to wait for the next, as I have waited more than 2 years now for the 4th, it must be said that quality takes time. Martin doesn't take his time though. Just for you to know, the 4th and 5th part were supposed to be the 4th book of a total of 6. After fans asked him not to jump 4 years in the story and drop parts of the story, the series is even longer now.

I like his reality approach to fantasy. It has not to be all pink and princesses and blood flows when it's a matter of power. Be it in Martin's world or ours. As the 4h book title says it all: A Feast for Crows!


----------

