Swag.

[lightofdaye]

Should not have open b-day presents while work still needed to be done. I feel like I might be on a GRRM kick for a while. Given the size of  A Dance With Dragons. Which like Storm of Swords is split into two volumes for paperback publishing. Making it like the hardback so expensive i'm glad i got it as a gift.

Also got the first season of Game Of Thrones on DVD. So I'll finally be able to see if its as good as everyone says. Again struck by the size of the set. It one of those really bulky fold out sets with really nice big pics of the cast on it. But really the 10 55 minute episode boxset? That's larger than DS9 slimline boxset with 26 episodes on it. So dang, lot of packaging.

Last Cool gift was a copy of Turn Coat by Jim Butcher. The eleventh (out of 13 for now) book in the Dresden Files. Which aren't epic fantasy like aSoIaF but more light hearted fun kind of urban fantasy novel about a professional wizard named Harry. (after Houdini) Dresden 

Any way, uni work calls....

Comments

[lightofdaye]

I'd actually find that quite a high compliment for it. I think Clash Of Kings along with Storm Of Swords are the two best book thus far. Possibly because the strong characters for Tyrion, Jon and Davos. Some of my favourite characters.

Still I've heard Dance is very much like Feast Of Crows in suffering from being a middle volume and thus less arcy. I found Feast quite weak. With the existing character being buried into the new points of view. Those new people weren't bad exactly but still... You begin to wonder if GRRM needed a stricter editor to ask questions like; 'whats the point to these Brienne chapters?'

I'm wondering if I'll find Dance a lot stronger for feature Tyrion, Jon and Davos again...

[luna-plath.livejournal.com]

I guess I view Clash as weaker than SoS, but that's just because there's more action in the third volume, which makes it a faster-paced read. Feast definitely suffered from clunky-middle-of-the-story issues, combined with too much Brienne and not enough of the reader favorites (Tyrion/Jon/etc.). Grrm totally needs a better editor who will make him cut down the wordiness we saw in the middle volumes.

Dance had the same mid-story sluggishness in certain places, but I feel like the POVs made up for it. I enjoyed ADWD, but I know there are some people who really didn't. I suppose it depends on your taste.

[lightofdaye]

I really love Clash but I guess your right. The action is all concentrated in the Battle of The Blackwater at the end. On the other hand is a book of Tyrion being on top of his game. And it to probably one of the best scenes in the series for me.

Which is the confrontation between Tyrion and Tywin at the start of Swords. It's heart wrenching because when Tywin plays down Tyrion's part saying that Cersei order the wildfire and weapons and it was his flanking attack on Stannis that saved the day you can see that is technically true. But it Tyrion's taking of all those elements that others had done and turning into a coherent strategy that saved the day. Tyrion's right when he claims that he saved the city.

As tor Brienne I like her character its just her arc in the book led almost nowhere. In fact in the end the point basically seemed to be rehash of the epilogue of Storm: to introduce a certain character.

Probably the best part of that arc for was the shield Brienne picks to bear in place of her own. Which the design of Ser Duncan from the Dunk and Egg prequel novellas. I don't know if you've read those.

[lightofdaye]

I obviously don't talk enough AsoI&F cos man am I going on and on whenever it comes up. lol.

[luna-plath.livejournal.com]

I typed up a comment earlier but LJ ate it. Sorry if this one isn't as put together : (

I'm totally fine with talking about these books! I don't have any friends who read ASoIaF and most of the online communities are show-based so I'm glad to have a chance to discuss different things.

I thought Clash was slow in the beginning, but the battle scenes at the end were really well done. I loved seeing Tyrion as the hand, but I felt like a lot of his work was undone by other people. I agree on Tyrion basically saving the city; I didn't think his father gave him enough credit, but that seem par for the course where those two are concerned.

I love Brienne's character, but I thought she was a weak POV. I prefer seeing her through the perspective of others, i. e. Jaime. I hadn't read Dunk and Egg at the time, so I didn't notice the shield bit until afterwards when I read The Hedge Knight and I had a moment of recognition : ) She seems like the perfect person to take on Dunk's design/colors. I've read the first two Dunk and Egg stories but I haven't gotten to the Mystery Knight. I'm looking forward to it though.

[lightofdaye]

I actually got into ASoI&F through a copy of the Legends anthology with A Hedge Knight in, in my school library. Its also the reason I had a couple of Pern books at one stage.

So whenever references to the Dunk n Egg time period pop in the main book i mentally squee (in a manly way) and its a very good story in its own right. Not quite so dark as the main series as it gets to be a bittersweet ending instead of just grim and depressing all the time.

It also serves as great demonstration of that line Barristan has in Storm where he says every Targaryen is either great or mad. Hedge Knight shows us examples of both. The great man Baleor and the insane Aerion.