Posted on 05/31/2013 12:43:32 PM PDT by nickcarraway
With the end of the third season of Game of Thrones in sight (June 9th), a global audience of over 5 million is debating whether or not George R.R. Martin is the rightful “American Tolkien.” I argue that while The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones have striking similarities, Martin is actually pioneering a distinct genre—a new kind of fantasy novel informed by historical fiction and politics. Martin admits that he was influenced a great deal by Tolkien, and mirrored the structure of his novels off of Tolkien’s work:
“Tolkien begins his story in the Shire with one group of inhabitants, hobbits, but eventually expands the tale in ever-widening orbits to cover many races and huge tracts of land. That’s what I wanted to do too. I wanted to start with a tight focus on a few characters and one place in the world, and as the story is told, the world will continue to get bigger and bigger and more people get drawn into the conflict,” Martin told the Detroit Free Press.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Game of Thrones Author Blasts ‘Racists and Oligarchs’ Who Support Photo ID Voting
Have they read “Bored of the Rings?” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bored_of_the_Rings
I will take your word for it, as I am judging by what I have seen on HBO.
If what you say is true, than HBO is doing a grave disservice to the author by changing the entire tone of the work.
I think my 16-year-old has. It’s on a shelf at the top of a closet, with other books we either don’t want them to read, or don’t want them to destroy (like the complete set of Horatio Hornblower novels).
I’m currently reading Tolkien to “teh byos,” who are 11, 9, 7, and 4. Sometimes the teenage girls (13 and 15) show up, too, if they’re not being allowed on the computer at the time. I tell them that every page has at least one word they might find on the SAT.
Hmmm...
“who thinks Obama is “the most intelligent president we’ve had since Jimmy Carter,”
“and yes, angry I’ve become as I watch the ...other states where Republicans and their ‘Teabagger’ allies control key seats of power.”
Great guy! Good person to support with money. The second coming of Tolkien, only without morality!
Yech...
I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy over thirty years ago, and have forgotten most of it. I only saw the first of the three movies, and wasn’t interested in seeing any more. I’ve been watching the Game of Thrones series, and am enjoying it, but have not been moved to read any of the books. About 10 years ago, I read an older novel of Martin’s titled “Fevre Dream.” It’s about vampires, and set on the antebellum Mississippi River. I thought it was a pretty good book, and plan to read it again once I get through all the other books on my shelves.
I can’t say on that comparison, vet, because I have not read or heard of the Wheel of Time series.
Regarding martin’s books though, my brother bought me the first 4 of the available 5 for my birthday, and I thought to myself, dammit, I do not want to read this, the author is some idiot liberal.
But knowing he would make sure I read them, I began to force myself to read one chapter per night so as to not be rude to him by rejecting his gift.
By the end of book three, I had to find ways to prevent myself from reading more than 6-8 chapters a day so that I would not consume them too quickly, and then when I got to the end, I started over at the beginning and began to buy the HBO series on blu ray.
The books are a long, slowly developing arch about a number of people who desire the power of a throne but are unfit to wield that power, and about the schemes and plots they devise to acquire that power.
The beauty of the books lies in the staggering depth of the characters. I have never come across characters this well developed in any book that I’ve ever read. The way the chapters are presented lends to this in that each chapter is seen through the eyes of one of the key characters with each chapter being named after one of those characters.
If you ever read them, vet, I highly recommend doing so in a digital format such as Kindle, because while the novels are cheaper, the print is small and compact, and it is not easy on my aging eyes at all. The Kindle has a space between each line of text which makes reading it so much easier.
They are considerably better. I say that as a one-time huge fan of Jordan who became incredibly disappointed at the way he lost his way in too many irrelevant plot lines after the fourth book and also the way he depicted all of his female characters into perpetually angry harridans, as if that was supposed to be some sort of feminist statement. Actually, I think he was just writing down the way his wife talked to him. :)
Brandon Sanderson made a heroic effort to salvage the Wheel of Time series, but fell short - as there were just too many plot lines and no real way to end them all satisfactorily. After hearing for years from Jordan that the first thing he wrote was the final scene of the final book, we were expecting it to be something epic. Nope...
George R. R. Martin is a different kind of writer - no artificial politeness or fake chivalry from him. He spares the reader nothing of the human experience, though HBO adds some gratuitous sex scenes that go beyond what Martin actually wrote in the books. Still, and despite some minor plot changes, the HBO series is a nearly miraculous adaptation of a huge work of fantasy - something I never thought I would see attempted by a major cable network.
My only warning would be - if you are the kind of reader (as so many FReepers seem to be) that requires black-and-white characterizations of good and evil in you fiction, then go watch a John Wayne western, instead. Martin's characters defy classification, and even the "heroes" have significant flaws. If not, then I encourage you to read "A Song of Ice and Fire" - just be warned, that the rest of the fantasy genre will seem trite and insipid by comparison when you are finished!
It’s pretty obvious that he’s read none of the books.
Five books in and I'm not even sure what the story is! A Song of Ice and Fire? Winter is finally coming (the title of the first chapter of the first book) and the fire is still half a world away, although it was revealed in the first book. And these two stories half a world apart have barely connected; instead, we get everything in between!
Yeah, I'm still reading them and watching the show. Why do you ask?
We stopped watching “Thrones” this season. Bloated, confusing, self-congratulatory, scenery-chewing, repetitious. Martin’s “Earth Abides” is his masterwork.
I agree that the "Name of the Wind" is a good, bordering on great book, I'm not sure what happened with "The Wise Man's Fear". It didn't outright suck but it wasn't at the same level. Of course Rothfiss is even more annoyingly liberal than Martin and that is saying something.
I read BoTR in the mid ‘70s. I’m inclined to think that one would have to have actually experienced the late ‘60s and early ‘70s to fully appreciate it. Haven’t picked it up since, so don’t know for sure, and don’t know how well it holds up.
I think that the Wheel of Time was uplifting, interesting and came alive. Martin is dark and disturbed. If there are 3 directions the story can take, he will take the worst path. The one thing I will say in Martin’s favor is that I think that he is very compelling. Once in the story, no matter how disgusting, it is hard to put it down, kind of like looking away from a train wreck.
Is Martin the next Tolkien? In my opinion a big No.
How does it compare to WOT? Not nearly as good.
I really enjoyed book 4. I would say that it is the weakest of the 5 in terms of what actually happened in it event wise, but it was till very entertaining.
I did not have to wait to read book 4 though as many of his fans did. If I had waited a long time for it’s release, perhaps I would have been put off by the geographic split in it. But having read them all at once, I found myself unaffected by any of the negative things people said about it.
I think it’s funny when you’re a teenager.
Great. When they are pulling into port the townspeople start to flee, “viking invasions!”
zing
ping
You wrote:
“There is no way that a “Song of Ice and Fire” has a greater scale and scope, greater character development, richer characters, and more plot twists or more outright suprises than “A Wheel of Ice and Fire”.”
Since you can’t even get the title of the series (Wheel of Time) right, I think I can’t take your input too seriously.
“You need to read more than the first book in a 14 book series to really make a judgements like that don’t you think?”
No, I don’t think that.
“It didn’t outright suck but it wasn’t at the same level.”
True. The problem with Rothfuss is that he is self-indulgent in his writing. That only showed up in the second book, so it doesn’t have the same tightness of pacing and focus of the first book.
“Of course Rothfiss is even more annoyingly liberal than Martin and that is saying something.”
Yes, it is.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.