A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book Two
***Warning*** if any of my dear readers are watching the HBO drama Game of Thrones, and have NOT read any of the books don't read this post. It will contain spoilers.
Epic fantasy is a lot like getting married, it's a long term commitment. George R. R. Martin's epic is going to clock in somewhere around 7,000 pages (give or take). That's a lot of reading. So, dear readers, this begs the question, is it worth it? Is getting involved in an epic that's not even completed worth my while? The answer is, maybe. The first two books are page turners. I was able to get though each in under two weeks (baring the horrible head cold I'm dealing with right now), so they read quickly. The characters are well developed, entertaining, and surprising. For the first two books, most of the magic happens off stage, so it's not overwhelming to readers who shy away from that.
However, occasionally a character like Sansa Stark shows up, and every time her chapters come up I audibly groan. She's a gigantic pain in the ass. She seemingly cries at the drop of a hat, thinks knights are the BEST THING EVER!1!!, and wants to marry a gigantic asshole until she realizes the gigantic asshole really is a complete and total waste of space. Sansa is like the friend I have that laughs at the jokes ten minutes later because she's a bit slow.
With all that being said, it's rare that an epic of this scope comes along. Understand, that when the commitment is made it's something that can go on for years. Martin does his readers a great service by dividing his chapters into the POV of different characters. It's easy to get though a chapter or two a night. It's also easy to accidentally spend an entire Saturday reading the books. For those who may shy away from fantasy in general, this series is a good place to start.
This book closes out the month of May. Ya'll remember that June is Graphic Novel month, right? My first read of the month will be Bone by Jeff Smith. Can't wait to blog about this. It's one of my favorite comics of all time.
(Image brought to you by: Arch Daily)
***Warning*** if any of my dear readers are watching the HBO drama Game of Thrones, and have NOT read any of the books don't read this post. It will contain spoilers.
Epic fantasy is a lot like getting married, it's a long term commitment. George R. R. Martin's epic is going to clock in somewhere around 7,000 pages (give or take). That's a lot of reading. So, dear readers, this begs the question, is it worth it? Is getting involved in an epic that's not even completed worth my while? The answer is, maybe. The first two books are page turners. I was able to get though each in under two weeks (baring the horrible head cold I'm dealing with right now), so they read quickly. The characters are well developed, entertaining, and surprising. For the first two books, most of the magic happens off stage, so it's not overwhelming to readers who shy away from that.
However, occasionally a character like Sansa Stark shows up, and every time her chapters come up I audibly groan. She's a gigantic pain in the ass. She seemingly cries at the drop of a hat, thinks knights are the BEST THING EVER!1!!, and wants to marry a gigantic asshole until she realizes the gigantic asshole really is a complete and total waste of space. Sansa is like the friend I have that laughs at the jokes ten minutes later because she's a bit slow.
With all that being said, it's rare that an epic of this scope comes along. Understand, that when the commitment is made it's something that can go on for years. Martin does his readers a great service by dividing his chapters into the POV of different characters. It's easy to get though a chapter or two a night. It's also easy to accidentally spend an entire Saturday reading the books. For those who may shy away from fantasy in general, this series is a good place to start.
This book closes out the month of May. Ya'll remember that June is Graphic Novel month, right? My first read of the month will be Bone by Jeff Smith. Can't wait to blog about this. It's one of my favorite comics of all time.
(Image brought to you by: Arch Daily)
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