SBD: A Game of Thrones
May. 23rd, 2011 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jmc_bksToday's SBD: A Game of Thrones. High fantasy.
In case you've missed it, HBO is currently airing a miniseries based on George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. I haven't been watching, but I have seen all of the chatter on the InterTubes about the series, as well as screen caps of favorite actors and characters. So I picked up a copy of the book -- due to the miniseries, there were no used copies to be found, but plenty of reissues at B&N.
It's 800 pages. Which would be fine if it told the whole story. But no. The series (originally envisioned as a trilogy) is going to be seven books, of which only four are currently published. In fact, the last book is actually half of one book, split because it was deemed too large. Apparently Martin fans have been unhappy with him because he keeps pushing the publication date back.
I get that a lot of people love this series; it's won awards. But I am not joining the legions of fans. I trudged through the 800 pages and all could think for the vast majority of them was FFS, drop the puck, Martin. And become less enthralled with your own voice. Too many POVs, too slow yet simultaneously too busy. One note characters for the most part. By the end of the first installment, I wanted everyone except Arya Stark and Jon Snow to just die already. Not prepared to invest any more time in the series, or even to watch it on HBO, despite the pretty pretty eye candy.
In case you've missed it, HBO is currently airing a miniseries based on George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. I haven't been watching, but I have seen all of the chatter on the InterTubes about the series, as well as screen caps of favorite actors and characters. So I picked up a copy of the book -- due to the miniseries, there were no used copies to be found, but plenty of reissues at B&N.
It's 800 pages. Which would be fine if it told the whole story. But no. The series (originally envisioned as a trilogy) is going to be seven books, of which only four are currently published. In fact, the last book is actually half of one book, split because it was deemed too large. Apparently Martin fans have been unhappy with him because he keeps pushing the publication date back.
I get that a lot of people love this series; it's won awards. But I am not joining the legions of fans. I trudged through the 800 pages and all could think for the vast majority of them was FFS, drop the puck, Martin. And become less enthralled with your own voice. Too many POVs, too slow yet simultaneously too busy. One note characters for the most part. By the end of the first installment, I wanted everyone except Arya Stark and Jon Snow to just die already. Not prepared to invest any more time in the series, or even to watch it on HBO, despite the pretty pretty eye candy.
See, I loved this book
Date: 2011-05-24 12:46 pm (UTC)Anyway, I too liked Jon and Arya best. But I still liked the other characters too - I think you have to enjoy awful people to enjoy the books. Vive la difference and stuff!
~Beth
Re: See, I loved this book
Date: 2011-05-25 01:32 am (UTC)I don't have HBO either. I'll probably end up watching it through Netflix, and enjoying the TV version. I think my attention span is too short for the books though.