This book led to a slightly awkward scene yesterday; this is a re-re-re-read, and I was in the bookstore picking up the second book in this series with someone who's never book-shopped with me before. Not only did I have to explain the whole "our house's walls were literally made of paperback books for several years of my life, and therefore I have read EVERY SINGLE SCIFI AND FANTASY BOOK EVER" thing, I am also a hugely picky book shopper, and he had to listen to "And I hated that one, and I hated that one, and The Red Tent is the worst book I have ever read," and I think he was a little scared.
Anyway. This book. I have this theory that by the time I get through all the paperbacks in the series currently out, the new one will be in paperback, and I won't have to worry about buying the hardcover. [NOTE FROM 2016: HA HA HA HA HA.] I don't really believe in hard covers, except for Neal Stephenson and Harry Potter books. (And even then, I'd wait on the paperbacks if I had any kind of self-control at all.)
A note on the unexpected deaths; it's hard to re-read these books, because as near as I remember, everybody eventually dies. Becky and I had a long conversation where we tried to remember who survives, and we came up with three characters. Possibly four, although we're not sure. The first time someone important dies in the first book, I remember gasping -- this was years ago -- because killing off a major protagonist in this manner is just not done in Fantasylandia. Re-reading it, most of the people who die deserve to die, and that makes it easier.
I have a love/hate relationship with some of the conventions in the book, too. #1, they aren't really "fantasy" books, in that it takes forever for anything magical to show up; they're seriously more like Alternate Reality European history, which is great. Not so great is the fact that the history if fucking ridiculous; there has been more history in these books than in any real country ever. Back off the Wars and Usurpers and Great Battles and shit, dude. #2, every chapter is narrated from a different point of view, although there are a limited number of narrators. I love the way that gives the book sweeping scope and perspective on a huge amount of "historical" happenings. I hate the way that means the book really lacks a focus or one character to root for. #3, the tone is a lot like reading a late-Victorian novel, with that same sense of gravity and history, which is great, but Martin has this authorial tic where he starts lots of sentences with "Tall the towers were, and made of stone..." or whatever, which is so irritating gramatically. Plus, I get that it's fake English history; you don't need to be a jackass about it tonally.
These are almost the only fantasy books I bother to keep up with anymore. I have read thousands, and except for a few that I am emotionally attached to from when I turned 12, I totally stopped reading them at all about ten years ago. (I just glanced at my bookshelf, and sure enough, the only ones left are a couple of Terry Pratchetts I bought in Japan and Harry Potter. My father gave away twenty full boxes of old Andre Nortons and Anne McCaffreys and low-quality latter-day Mercedes Lackeys.) This is a fantasy novel written for grownups, which is a rare and beautiful thing. I could do with a bit less creepy sex and a little more emotional exploration of the characters over 15 -- also, a HERO would be nice -- but overall it has everything I demand; complicated yet logical plotlines, girls who kick ass, universes with internal logic which don't break their own rules just to make the plots work, logical bad guys, and satisfying plot twists.
Grade: B
originally posted in 2006 -- yes, I am still reading these books, although I now have some fairly different feelings about things here and there
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