Genre: Epic Fantasy Author: George RR Martin Title: "A Game of Thrones" Series: Book 1, A Song of Ice and Fire
OPENING IMPRESSION: Pretty good, so far. Huge cast of characters. GRRM should have put a genealogical chart at the beginning to help keep track of characters. Good worldbuilding, believable characters, but i wasn't expecting descriptive sex scenes. Kinda surprised me, b/c most epic fantasy isn't known for that. Puts the book at an "R" rating. I wouldn't feel comfortable giving this to a 12-16 to read like i would the Wheel of Time.I've got the next two books on hold at The Next Chapter (770-233-0578), and i look forward to building a matched set. (If you call them, make sure you tell them I sent you !)
AFTER THE FINAL CHAPTER: Wow, what a good read. GRRM does a few things that most epic fantasy writers don't, but i won't mention them here, for fear of spoilers. Things really pick up after the 1st half of the book; more things happen, people go places, and you finally figure out who everyone is and what they are doing.
RATING:Matched hardbound set! Better than Terry Goodkind, not quite as good as Robert Jordan. (but ask me again after i read a few more)
Genre: Epic Fantasy Author: George RR Martin Title: "A Clash of Kings" Series: Book 2, A Song of Ice and Fire
PRE-READ:
Even though I decided to read WarDay before this one, I'm excited about it. GRRM ended book one with a pretty good cliffhanger, so I'm interested to see what he does with this one. Does he jump all around, like L.E. Modesitt, or is it more linear like Poalini or Jordan? We'll see.
OPENING IMPRESSIONS:
Oh, of course! You already have 100+ characters, but you start this one with a new batch. Just to keep us readers on our toes, of course. Good thing it only took me 3 pages to figger out who they were.