A Decade Under The Influence

Being a cack handed attempt to do something other than swear & moan online.
Don't worry, I'll still do swearing.







Those individuals unfortunate enough to know me in "Real Life" will know that occasionally (for occasionally read: Quite A Lot) my foul mouthed energy is directed towards things I like rather than things I don't like. It's just that like any sane individual the internet makes me quite cross so blogging is done about being cross and things that make me cross. Makes sense. So consider this an experiment.







A Song of Ice & Fire
George R R Martin


By any sensible individuals reckoning A Song of Ice & Fire (by chubbsy bearded peacenik George R R Martin) should be utterly & irredeemably shite. At the time of "writing" (cos let's be honest this isn't "writing" it's "ranting", actually that't way better anyways), sorry, at time of ranting it consists of four weighty (600 odd pages, series highlight A Storm of Swords is over 900 pages) books of what might be best termed High Fantasy. That is to say castles, kings, dragons and shameless Tolkien plaigarism. Borrrrringgggg.

Except... except it's not. Not at all. ASOI&F only bears a superficial comparison to LOTR , coming across like a mash up of Tolkeins Medieval Europe Rip Off, Lost (each chapter is viewed from the perspective of a core cast of about a dozen characters to ground the grand sweep of the plot to a more human level) and one of those daytime soaps if the violence and shagging was up front rather than just hinted at to titilate elderly ladies. More than anything it's the characters that make this story, Martin has a real knack for writing complicated human beings whilst remembering to keep things readable (there's no needless pages of info dump, Martin understands filling in the blanks yourself as you go along is far more engaging than a chapter long lecture on a made up world). No one is nessecarily Good or Bad, they're human, as flawed, relatable and complicated as that entails. Foul mouthed, whore loving, wall eyed midget Tyrion Lannister is the series undoubted star (my mum hearts him). And if you've read the preceding sentence & aren't at least tempted to give the series a go then you're simply not the person I fell in love with anymore. Sorry.

To delve too deeply into what makes the books worth reading will only wind up spoiling much of the fun, it's a testament to the series that it frequently blindsides you. Perhaps the best recommendation I can give is that my old mobile contained a series of texts from one of my best mates on his first read through of the series charting his reactions to specific events (musn't... spoil... plot....*choke*..). The only other writers who illicited this response were China Mieville & Mike Mignola, high praise indeed for anyone who knows my pop-eyed enthusiasm for those two.

Fair warning though: Song of Ice & Fire is STILL an ongoing series (& I'm not shitting you with that decade under the influence bit), essentially GRRM has lost momentum & it's increasingly unlikely he'll regain it. This does nothing to dissolve my love of the four books (I've re-visited them about six or seven times now) that have been published but several years ago I shrugged my shoulders & wandered away from any expectation of ever reading a final volume. My mother has asked that if this unlikely event occurs after she has passed away my sister & I burn any further books so she can read them in The Next Life. Really.
Then again Neil Gaiman release a solid gold book every other year, not everyone can.

I can really only reiterate my opening remark as a final recommendation: This sort of thing is almost always shit. This time it really isn't. Hell if that's not enough I'll give you the four quid you need to buy Game of Thrones on amazon myself (no I won't).

sjs