Books: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin (2000)

At this point in time, George R.R. Martin has to somehow keep this massive series from collapsing in on itself. In A Storm of Swords, the third volume in his Song of Ice and Fire, he takes well over a hundred pages just to get caught up with all his characters. As I read this book –I actually decided to read two other books before picking up this third one- it occurred to me that while Martin is trying to create a real world, in all of its sometimes tedious detail (why we need every room, every outfit and everyone’s history spelled out in such detail is beyond me) there comes a point at which this sort of ennui slows the story down to a snail’s pace. And in a book –at least in its mass market format- 1128 pages long, readers can become frightened to read it. I mean, as any reader, who has more books than wits, a 1000 plus page novel is daunting. 

The length, in the end, could be the doom of many of these series. I've mentioned before that three-volumes is pretty much a good length for most series (and I loved Harry Potter, but taken as a whole, at 7 volumes, it probably will be a daunting task for future readers). To me, Robert Jordan stumbled when he decided to expand his Wheel of Time series from the initial 7 to the 14 (and my understanding is, had he not died in 2007, his series would have continued beyond the conclusion with three planned prequels) that will complete it sometime this year. With so much to read these days, committing your time and years (oh so many years) to a series longer than 3 volumes is asking a lot. I look at what Tolkien was able to with the Lord of the Rings trilogy (although he wrote them as a single volume), the world he created with Middle-Earth, the languages, the back-stories of a lot of the characters, yet able to keep it contained in three books -of course he published more back-story stuff and history in other volumes over the years after he completed The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Still, either he knew (or through publisher's insistence) that to keep the pace of the series going, some stuff would need to be dropped, not because they weren't necessary, but because they could distract from the main story (though Tolkien still wandered here and there). Martin has to balance his desire to tell his story with such great detail, without sacrificing pace. He succeeds, somewhat, but I still think he could have cut hundreds of pages from the volume and not lost the thread of his story. Fans and Martin might not agree, but he truly needs an editor willing to stand up to his obvious bullishness.

Martin is a great writer, though his savage blood-letting I find hard to read after a while. Still, he creates great characters, humanistic (even in their barbarism). They all have issues in which the reader can identify with. Which is, perhaps, what makes this series so different from the average fantasy series. You can believe these people exist.

Still, the line between good and evil is not so easily identified here. With this volume, Martin throws much of what the reader assumed into the air, and sees what happens when what we assumed would happen, doesn’t. Shifting loyalties, death and destruction are mixed with such vigor, the tale does not become that slow, even in the painstaking detail the author is doing it in. 

Still, with so many deaths in this volume, I’m wondering how many will be around for its conclusion. I like that Martin changed the assumption of who was the heroes of this series, and has turned the idea that all of us are many shades of grey, but some deaths were painful to read. Sometimes, the enemy does live. 

As mentioned, the bloodletting gets extraordinary here, and at times it seemed very cruel. I was unsure several times if I wanted to complete this series (and I’ve read book 4 is tedious, so I’ve decided not to read it next. Yet) due to the violence. I find myself at a crossroads with this horror. I like Martin’s style, but life is treated with such senselessness, that it turns my stomach to think I’m enjoying the series. 

It’s a conundrum I’ll have to weigh before continuing on.

Books: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin (1999)

A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who hold sway over an age of enforced peace are dead, victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

In the second volume of Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, your senses are sent reeling as the scope of the story grows even larger. I'm impressed that the author has made this long book sweep by like the wind, as he expands his universe by introducing new characters and brutally killing off many old ones from the first book (which I'll get back to in a bit).

As I've mentioned before, the fantasy novels that have broken out of the three volume set that I grew up with in the 1980's have a tendency to wander from main story, introducing us to elements and characters that distract from the main story. Robert Jordan did this, and while some welcomed the expansion, others felt that these new tangents were designed not to enhance the series, but to supplement the authors pockets.

While A Clash of Kings has some problems (really, do we need to know the names of every ship in everyone's fleet?), George R.R. Martin has found a way to move the plot forward at a pace that leaves the readers little time to whine about some the pages devoted clothes people wear. That is, in my opinion, that makes this series work for many.

I read somewhere that this series is like The Sapranos (with dashes of The Tudors), and I can see how one might look at this as a medieval version of that famous HBO series. Like that mob story, people die horribly, and life means little in a game of power and riches -though I often think its not about money, but pure power.

People die here, usually in some gawd awful way, losing heads, arms, eyes and sex organs. The violence is, at times, stomach churning. Never a huge fan of this, I have found myself rather disturb by Martin's glee at the way he kills these people.

Still, there is one clan that seems destined to be the moral compass of this land, but treachery hounds them. And while it took a long time to get to the end, I'm none the less willing to take on volume three, which is well over a 1,000 pages. Martin is a good writer, and he balances a lot of balls in the air to keep the story moving. We'll see if this continues.

Books: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (1996)

Why, fifteen years after its publication am I finally getting to A Game of Thrones, the first book in George R.R. Martins epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire? After all, I’ve been a fan of epic fantasy for nearly 30 years. I’ve read so much of the genre, why not this?

As I’ve written before, part of the reason I’ve sort of abandoned the genre is due to its length, and the number of years between volumes. It started with Robert Jordan and his Wheel of Time series. Begun in 1992, Jordan said the series was to be seven volumes- I’m of the opinion that most series should be only three volumes. Anyways, after a year between books, the publication dates got longer and it became clear Jordan had no intention of making the Wheel series 7 books. And tragically, Jordan would never live to see his series end, as he passed away in September of 2007, even though he was –supposedly- one volume away from finishing it. When Brandon Sanderson was chosen to finish the series, using Jordan’s copious notes, he realized that it could not be done in only one volume. Yes, the final book would be split into three.

But even Sanderson ran into some problems finishing it. The first volume was released in November 2009, the second a year later with the last planned for November 2011. But now the final volume will be released in March of 2012 -20 years after it began. 

That, to me, is way too long to wait for a conclusion. 

And I think, Martin’s series will take just as long, but will only be (supposedly) seven volumes. Between 1996 and 2005 he put out 4 books in the series. It took 6 more years for book five, to finally  find its place on the bookshelves, which was released this past July. With 2 more books to go –and Martin recently said he’s at work on book six, and is estimating it will be about 1,500 pages- and even if it takes him another five years between each, he’ll finish them in 2021, some 25 years after it began. 

Again, that is way too long to force fans to wait. 

Of course, the HBO series based on the first book also spurned an interest to finally begin this series. I’ve yet to see it, but I thought this first book was good, and I’m kind of excited to see. After all, the series has gotten a lot of praise, including a few Emmys. But here lies a problem. Season two, which launches in 2012, is based on book two of the series. A third season, while not confirmed with HBO, is already in the works for 2013. If the cable net wants to continue to the end, theoretically, season 4 would air in 2014, season five in 2015, which means Martin would need to get book six out by 2015 -just four years from now- to be ready by 2016. And the span between book 6 and 7 gets shorter to be ready to air on HBO by 2017. It's all speculation, for sure, and interest of viewers have a tendency to wane, so who knows if HBO will want to finish the novels.

So, A Game of Thrones is well written, despite its length and 500,000 characters you are desperately trying to remember (this was what eventually caused me to put Jordan’s series down) and the multiple names of Gods and objects. If anyone has watched The Tudors, this series is just like it – except it’s a dysfunctional family multiplied by 7 kingdoms. Everyone is out for power, for glory and will kill as quickly as they breathe. It’s extremely violent, with enough spouting blood to fill a few Stephen King novels.

But that being said, Martin has created a very real world of say 13th Century England. It’s not a pleasant place to live, and treachery, faith and great river are never far away. But he balances the violence with humor –the character of Tyrion appears to be Martin’s favorite (and the fans love him, and actor Peter Dinklage won an Emmy for portraying him as well). 

So book two looms next, though I might skip it to finish Tad Williams Shadowmarch series.