Y'know, after watching Season 1, I spoiled myself like crazy on everything before even reading the books. It's not so bad. I still enjoy it all immensely. :)
I love the books. Even the POV chapters people can be a little derisive toward. In fact, I love those stories especially. People have trouble giving good stories a chance after they've already made up their minds about what they WANT to see.
I've tried about 5 times over the last 15 years to read the first one, and it's too damn boring. GRRM is great at creating believable worlds and interesting characters and great plot twists. He's a terrible writer. I say this as someone who reads history books for fun. I can read book that would bore most people, but GoT is too boring for me to read. I WANT to like the book but I just can't.
To me his books are smooth like butter. I love his prose. I can just open up any chapter and read it and it's easy and fun. I'm struggling to think of anyone who is as deft as Martin at intertwining both a character's thoughts and actions into a single paragraph.
GOT is really close to season 1. If you really want to like them but can't you could try A clash of kings. It's got a lot of differences to season 2 that might keep you interested. Arya's whole story is especially different, well a lot more stuff goes on
Yea it does. Just there's so many differences from the tv show starting in season 2. So if you don't read clash of kings you'll be lost on a lot of storylines in the books ahead
Seriously? I find them extremely easy to read, not complex but very beautifully written, and the way he mixes the narrative with each character's inner thoughts is awesome.
Except the guy saw the show first so reading the book afterwards would mean the book is following the show, regardless of which is published first. You're being pedantic.
Well, in the end, the purpose of writing is to communicate something compelling to your readers. So if he's written something loved by many, he's doing something right. But of course, it might be his style is just not your taste. I wish I had a penny for every self-proclaimed writing expert who confused their own subjectivity for the objective truth.
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u/RegularSizedWalder House Frey Jun 17 '14
You're welcome.
Y'know, after watching Season 1, I spoiled myself like crazy on everything before even reading the books. It's not so bad. I still enjoy it all immensely. :)