A Dance with Dragons
 

So George R.R. Martin's latest book finally came out. I pre-ordered it and got it on day one... and then got stuck doing overtime at work all week. :(

Anyone started reading it yet? It is any good? :D

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

All I know is I LOVE Game of Thrones on HBO. My god, I was so surprised at how good it was. True Blood then this, HBO is really stepping it up these last few years. I was considering reading the books - but now I don't want to ruin the series : -/

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

I preordered from Amazon, maybe it will get here today(it has shipped) though I did use the free shipping option which takes longer. Can't wait! I dont have HBO but will be renting the dvds when they come out. And SW, READ THE BOOKS! YOU MUST!!!!

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

The books are a lot better and complex than the series. But the series is nice too and it has naked women. ;)

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

Naked women and a ton of gore. My god some of the shit they show on there. It's more gorey than True Blood.

And I know, I know the books are always better. I am kicking myself now. I always saw "A song of Ice and Fire" in stores but passed it by. I wish now I had read them before because I really do not want to spoil the surprises and know what is coming. I may go back and read them after I see it on tv. Since you guys have read the books am I to understand the entire first season spans the length of the first book and only that? You know, ending with the princess and the dragons?

Since the entire series - even those that go beyond the first book - is gonna continue to be called "Game of Thrones", I am unsure where the first book ends on the HBO series.

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

OMG FINALLY out? I will go get it tomorrow then.

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Yeah the first season of the series is the first book. But it is heavily compressed so you only see maybe 20% of the book.

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Really, that little in a whole season.

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My copy just arrived today. :)

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

Need to go out and buy!

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

My copy is on the way, giving me just enough time to re-read the summaries, lol, it's a complicated story.

I still subscribe to the following belief:
- Jon Snow is a Targaryen. He's the son of Ned's sister, by Rhaegar.
- If Jon Snow and Danny get together = Targaryens reborn.

I still think that's where this is headed.

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

Yeah me too. And they each get a dragon. But who gets the third?

Just read half the prologue. It gives some interesting info about what some characters might be able to do eventually.

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

The books are amazing I am actually waiting a bit before I read this one. I have waited so long for it I can wait a bit more. I will be reading it before they show any of this book as part of a season on HBO. Right now reading In the Name of the Wind, and waiting for the last book in Wheel of Time series to come out.

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

Not only do I dislike this book in particular, but I have come to see through Martin's style and identify him as a hack. A clever hack, upon first read, to be sure, but a hack nonetheless.

Let's look at his formula.

Step 1 to a GRR Martin book: Diagram out 15-17 plot points. Simple plot points. At least 6 of these plot points should involve "Surprise buttsecks!", "Surprise Amputation!", "Surprise Beheading!", or "Surprise getting shat or pissed on!"
Step 2: Pick a character from each of those plot points who can witness the plot point. 7-8 characters total should cover all the bases.
Step 3: Expand each plot point into a chapter, told from the assigned character's point of view.
Step 4: Make sure to kill off at least 2-3 of the 7-8 POV characters. Readers just loooove this.
Step 5: Come up with a shitty short story about someone dying to attach as a prologue.
Step 6: Steal a draft chapter from your next book, and call it an epilogue.
Step 7: PROFIT!!!

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

Why do you dislike this book? Is it because of the newest death? :p

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I actually loved this book. Then again I think it was because I waited so long anything would have been awesome lol.

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

Partially, but not mainly. Yes, I was irked that one of the few remaining original "protagonists" got axed... or knifed, rather. Killing off all the original protags kills continuity for me. Only one is left, and I find her very uninteresting, frankly.

But, the whole chapter where that "newest death" occurred irked the hell out of me. First of all, he used a raven's letter to skip whole chapters of plot development. He took around 500 words of prose to wrap up about 3 different plot issues I was interested in hearing about. Second, it was an all-too-common foreseeable plot hack of his: to wit, any time you read a few chapters with someone "doing the right thing" or "getting things back on track as they should be," you know they're about to die -- 100%. Which has become about 90% boring.

Yes, I'm irked that every Stark seems destined to be living their life as a tree or wolf, if at all. But, moreover, I'm more irked about the rote methodology than I am the outcome. I was irked about 1/3rd through, long before the "newest death" became an issue.

My 2 coppers.

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

Major piss me off moment for me too at the time.

But the character in question only got knifed - is not confirmed dead.

here is what GRRM had to say about that character's death in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So why did you kill xxxxxxx?
GEORGE R.R. MARTIN: Oh, you think xxxxxx's dead, do you?

Edited to remove any possible spoilers.

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

As is fitting for the tech level of the time, people who take a knife in the gut and one between the shoulders don't tend to recover in these books. Well, unless a certain priest is around, who isn't in this case. I'm sure GRR says he's not dead, the prologue chapter of this book tells us exactly what we can expect to become of him.

Re: A Dance with Dragons
 

Hopefully we won't have to wait as long to see.

I agree that this latest one felt more formulaic. You can see the plot threads coming toward an end and as such it feel much more like a regular, plotted novel than the other ones. But I'm hoping he still has something interedting and original planned for us at the end.

I haven't finished the novel yet. I'm reading 3 other books at the same time. But personally what really annoyed me was the direction Daeneris's chapters took.

And I was happy to get Tyrion back but I'm not certain I like how things are going for him so far. We'll see.

Re: A Dance with Dragons