Calax Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 I tried reading it a second time, but ended up just putting it down because I'd often just kinda go "Ok, I know this... Yeah, that too... OH COME ON PICK UP THE PACE!" You would hate the saga of recluce. I really don't know how the hell L.E. Modesitt Jr can make buying boots and cleaning sewers so fascinating. I can do it the first time in books, but when you're going through a second time on a book and know that there's this major turning point around THERE, you really get annoyed at slogging through the roticery chicken discussion and the discussion on how person A is sleeping with Person B and Person C is unwittingly being lesbian. Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off.
Tale Posted July 15, 2011 Posted July 15, 2011 Kind of a minor point here, but anyone else annoyed that they started changing the cover designs? It ruins the whole set look I was wanting. Or am I the only guy bothered by that kind of thing? :/ "Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
Deraldin Posted July 16, 2011 Posted July 16, 2011 Kind of a minor point here, but anyone else annoyed that they started changing the cover designs? It ruins the whole set look I was wanting. Or am I the only guy bothered by that kind of thing? :/ No, you aren't the only one. I hate it when they do that. I always try to get the same cover style for any series I buy. It doesn't help that I have this set of covers.
Hell Kitty Posted July 16, 2011 Posted July 16, 2011 Kind of a minor point here, but anyone else annoyed that they started changing the cover designs? It ruins the whole set look I was wanting. Or am I the only guy bothered by that kind of thing? :/ No, you aren't the only one. I hate it when they do that. I wish to join your club. I'm fussy about covers in general though. I recently bought this version of Blade Runner over this cheaper version, not because of any difference in special features, but because it had a better cover. I haven't read any George R.R. Martin books, but that will change as I just ordered this box set (though not from Amazon).
Nightshape Posted July 16, 2011 Posted July 16, 2011 I cant believe someone would comb throught six years of search history just to reply to this. Purkake linked this thread more than once in the Books thread. You better believe it I came up with Crate 3.0 technology. Crate 4.0 - we shall just have to wait and see.Down and out on the Solomani RimNow the Spinward Marches don't look so GRIM!
Calax Posted July 16, 2011 Posted July 16, 2011 See, the ones I have are just the title on a colored backround with a crest. Those covers remind me of the covers of the Eddings books that I have where it's obvious there is a MUCH larger painting that they just didn't want to show you because the title and authors names have to be 1/3rd of the cover each. Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off.
Gfted1 Posted July 16, 2011 Posted July 16, 2011 I like it when the spines form a picture when placed next to each other in order. Funny that HK's book purchace has the actual actors for the series on them. "I'm your biggest fan, Ill follow you until you love me, Papa"
Purkake Posted July 19, 2011 Posted July 19, 2011 Digging up the oldest non-TV-related Song of Ice and Fire thread is not useful? Are you not entertained!?
Nightshape Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 Digging up the oldest non-TV-related Song of Ice and Fire thread is not useful? Are you not entertained!? I came up with Crate 3.0 technology. Crate 4.0 - we shall just have to wait and see.Down and out on the Solomani RimNow the Spinward Marches don't look so GRIM!
Purkake Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 Speaking of George R. R. Martin books, Dance With Dragons is pretty cool, but it's spinning its wheels in places as well. Hopefully the next one won't take 6 years.
Maria Caliban Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 Speaking of George R. R. Martin books, Dance With Dragons is pretty cool, but it's spinning its wheels in places as well. Hopefully the next one won't take 6 years. I've only read the first 200 pages, but GRRM doesn't seem to have much if anything going on. Lots of lengthy descriptions, people reflecting on their past, and conversations about the history of their current location. I pointed that out on one of the fan sites and was told I don't get the brilliance of his writing. GRRM is 'weaving a rich tapestry.' I remember in book one when he was weaving a rich story. "When is this out. I can't wait to play it so I can talk at length about how bad it is." - Gorgon.
Purkake Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 There's some cool stuff coming up, but this really is AFFC part 2 and not the next book that many people were probably hoping for.
Slowtrain Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 I pointed that out on one of the fan sites and was told I don't get the brilliance of his writing. I have no particular dislike for GRRM, but that anyone would consider his writing brilliant is just pretty sad. His writing is functional and does what it needs to do, which for this kind of fiction is more than good enough. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
Purkake Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 Being able to distinguish between personal likes/dislikes and objective judgements seems to be a gift given to very few.
Slowtrain Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 The last 2000(+) years of human history are filled with writers who could possibly be labeled as brilliant, depending on one's preferences or beliefs in the art of the written narrative. GRRM isn't one of them, not even by the longest, remotest, most questionable stretch of the word brilliant. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
Purkake Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 How does that judgement work anyway? Do remove all of the content from the equation? How? If not, won't that affect the "pure" writing based on your biases?
MechanicalLemon Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 There's some cool stuff coming up, but this really is AFFC part 2 and not the next book that many people were probably hoping for. It really is. Dany, Tyrion, and Jon are supposed to be the highlights of the novel but of the three, Jon's chapters were by far the most interesting. Dany and Tyrion felt a lot like Brienne's chapters in AFfC...lots of traveling, infodumping, and not a lot of progress. It's the minor character POVs where ADWD really shines, I think. Davos and "Reek" had really good chapters.
Purkake Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 Winds of Winter is going to be a mess unless he manages to clump all the characters into 4-6 groups or just ignore half of them. That or a major culling of the main cast... Speaking of series with a billion characters, I'm always amazed at how Peter F Hamilton manages to have seven or eight totally unrelated plot threads that come together seamlessly in the end.
Slowtrain Posted July 21, 2011 Posted July 21, 2011 How does that judgement work anyway? Do remove all of the content from the equation? How? If not, won't that affect the "pure" writing based on your biases? GRRM is sufficient at what he does. I've got no problem with it/him/his writing. As I said before he's better than most who work in that genre. To some degree he's simply hamstrung by his apparently preferred choice of genre; high fantasy is pretty moribund in general. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
Purkake Posted July 21, 2011 Posted July 21, 2011 I wasn't trying to criticize your points, it was a more general off-topic rambling. I guess maybe you could get a bunch of writers together and tell them to write about their day and then have a pretty equal ground to judge the actual writing.
Slowtrain Posted July 21, 2011 Posted July 21, 2011 I wasn't trying to criticize your points, it was a more general off-topic rambling. I guess maybe you could get a bunch of writers together and tell them to write about their day and then have a pretty equal ground to judge the actual writing. I dunno. I think if one reads a fair bit, not everything that's ever been done, but just enough to get a sense of the possibilities within the field of written narrative, I think it becomes possible to get a sense of when a writer is doing (or has done) something different from normal or somethig worthy of notice. It's not even a matter of like or dislike really: there are probably more writers that I think are brilliant who I really don't like than writers who I do like that I think are brilliant. And a lot of writers that I like who I don't think are even remotely brilliant. To your point about having writers write about their day: a lot of writers do in fact write about the utterly mundane and turn it compelling or at least intriguing. Not that such is better than writing epic imaginative fiction, of course. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
Nightshape Posted July 21, 2011 Posted July 21, 2011 (edited) How does that judgement work anyway? Do remove all of the content from the equation? How? If not, won't that affect the "pure" writing based on your biases? GRRM is sufficient at what he does. I've got no problem with it/him/his writing. As I said before he's better than most who work in that genre. To some degree he's simply hamstrung by his apparently preferred choice of genre; high fantasy is pretty moribund in general. I have a problem with his poor use of language, and his prose. He can string a good yarn, but he sure a **** can't write it in a way that flows, isn't jarring, or just plain bad. It's like he's got these wonderful concepts, he just fails to get it onto paper in a way that isn't disturbingly cack! Edited July 21, 2011 by Nightshape I came up with Crate 3.0 technology. Crate 4.0 - we shall just have to wait and see.Down and out on the Solomani RimNow the Spinward Marches don't look so GRIM!
Slowtrain Posted July 21, 2011 Posted July 21, 2011 How does that judgement work anyway? Do remove all of the content from the equation? How? If not, won't that affect the "pure" writing based on your biases? GRRM is sufficient at what he does. I've got no problem with it/him/his writing. As I said before he's better than most who work in that genre. To some degree he's simply hamstrung by his apparently preferred choice of genre; high fantasy is pretty moribund in general. I have a problem with his poor use of language, and his prose. He can string a good yarn, but he sure a **** can't write it in a way that flows, isn't jarring, or just plain bad. It's like he's got these wonderful concepts, he just fails to get it onto paper in a way that isn't disturbingly cack! I don't recall it being that poor, but you never know. If I can dig up my one and only GRRM book, maybe I'll give it another try. This would be like the fourth time I've tried to get through it. Maybe this is the one! Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
Nightshape Posted July 21, 2011 Posted July 21, 2011 I don't recall it being that poor, but you never know. If I can dig up my one and only GRRM book, maybe I'll give it another try. This would be like the fourth time I've tried to get through it. Maybe this is the one! Best of luck! You'll need it. I came up with Crate 3.0 technology. Crate 4.0 - we shall just have to wait and see.Down and out on the Solomani RimNow the Spinward Marches don't look so GRIM!
Slowtrain Posted July 21, 2011 Posted July 21, 2011 I can't my copy of Game of Thrones. I probably threw it away. Now I'll have to see if the library has it. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
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