For my first actual blog post I figured I'd post up about something I have been waiting a while for: the fifth in George R.R. Martin's heptalogy, A Dance with Dragons, due to be released 12 July this year. I am generally suspicious of fantasy, having been disappointed once too often by low grade Tolkien knock-offs during my youth. However, when my friend Elijah was telling me about reading the first book in the series (A Game of Thrones) back in September 2008, he piqued my curiosity. As it turned out he bought me all four books that had been published so far for Christmas and I devoured the series in a few months and then I went back for seconds.
A Dance with Dragons was slow in coming, but I am sure it will have been worth the wait. Mind you the fan chatter surrounding the wait time was annoying. Every fan of a series should pay attention to the example of Douglas Adams - harass a writer to write more and you get crap. Yes Martin is older, yes he is heavier, but reminding him of that fact isn't going to ensure his best feelings for his fans.
If you haven't read the books, read them. But if you are the impatient type and you want another way into the series, you may consider watching the series A Game of Thrones starring Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings, Sharpe, Patriot Games might be his best known works here in North America)is set to premiere on HBO and HBO Canada on 17 April this year (which means I'll be waiting for the DVD release) and the next day on SKY in the UK. You can view the trailer on YouTube.
I'm POd he split it up like 2 towers.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to wait a whole book to see how things are with certain characters...
Well I think he wrote enough material for two books and decided to put it in the sixth book. I believe much of "A Feast for Crows" was intended for "A Storm of Swords" but he decided to split them in two. Elijah may know more about this.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I'm with Geosomin, splitting it up was an annoyance and I found the fourth book the most disappointing so far. I sure hope he doesn't pull of "Wheel of Books" and decide to expand the series out to an infinity of garbage.
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