John Suburbs Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Is anyone else in this situation? I've never picked up a series before completion -- everything from JC of Mars and Foundation to Dune and LOTR -- I've always had the next book ready to go whenever I was ready. This five+ years to see what happens is killing me! And now it looks like we're getting yet another short story set before TPatQ... I'm in the middle of Abercrombie's "The Blade Itself" which I'd heard was very Martinesque, but it has nowhere near the depth and subtlety that I'm used to now. Is there anything out there that can tide me over until ol George wraps things up or am I doomed to walk the Earth as a literary wight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cubarey Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 You are lucky, I started reading Robert Jordon's Wheel of Time series in the early 1990's. Not only did I have to wait almost as long and deal with prequels but Jordon died and Brandon Sanderson had to step in to finish the series). Just pray every night that GRRM's health remains good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Blizzardborn Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I don't think you're doomed unless this is the only genre you read. I like to read multiple genres so I have something to switch to between books by favorite authors without experiencing what you are going through now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gneisenau Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Imagine what those OGs wouod read GoT in 1996 went through... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregg22 Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I only read non-fiction prior to this. Now I'd rather re-read this series than get into any other work of fiction. I feel the same way.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo cool Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I think a LOT of us know how you feel. I read "World War Z" soon after aDwD but failed to appreciate it despite the good reviews. May I recommend "The carpet makers" by German author Andreas Eschbach. It's a powerful story that should make a big impact on readers even after asoiaf. Or try "House of leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski. Weird but very creative and entertaining. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seaworth'sShipmate Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 GOT certainly raised my standards. I mean it seems so hard to find a good decent sci/fi fantasy series in a bookstore. So many seem so dated and mediocre, it is hard to make a good decision... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metopheles Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Cloud Atlas. blew my mind. Both as movie and as book. But for me it's the same. But has been before. It's hard to watch a movie or read a book, when after watching seven minutes of it you know how it will end. A good thing is to "escape" into foreign literature. Millenium series by Stieg Larrson or japanese books. or movies. They are hard to predict who they'll end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bennis of the Brown Shield Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 GOT certainly raised my standards. I mean it seems so hard to find a good decent sci/fi fantasy series in a bookstore. So many seem so dated and mediocre, it is hard to make a good decision... Maybe it would be possible to lower your standards again if you read some truly shitty fantasy books, to cancel ASOIAF out and put you back at an equilibrum? Try some Eragon, or why not the supreme High King of bad fantasy, the Eye of Argon! It's even free and pretty short http://www.ansible.co.uk/misc/eyeargon.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NettlestheDragonrider Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Try the Gentleman Bastards trilogy (Locke Lamora) by Scott Lynch, they're pretty good! 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronn Urgandy Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I have to look for something a little bit different. Terry Pratchett fills the void nicely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twatbeards conspiracy Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Me personally, I can't do it. I re read my old favorites from time to time and it all seems simplistic. I kinda feel like Stan in South Park when all he sees is shit lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stannis Eats No Peaches Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 The problem is that ASOIAF is unfinished. Once we get the resolution, you'll be able to move on (mayhaps... :leaving:). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metopheles Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 We could always start writing our own novels, now that we have read from the Master ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Alysanne™ Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Try Brandon Sanderson's new series, the second book comes out this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twatbeards conspiracy Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 The problem is that ASOIAF is unfinished. Once we get the resolution, you'll be able to move on (mayhaps... :leaving:).Not only that but even with the novellas I feel we are ALL extremely antsy at this point for TWOW... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petyr Patter Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 No. I read Tolkien when I was in the fourth or fifth grade, and haven't really stopped reading since. If you like fantasy, you'll still like the stuff that lacks Martin's depth and imagination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the trees have eyes Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Possibly. It's two and a half years since ADWD was published and probably two years at least before TWOW is released. There isn't any new material to discuss, just the same plot lines and character arcs to be re-examined and debated. If you're on here posting during this dead period it suggests nothing else has been able to grab your intention and keep it in the same way. And you surely aren't alone here... I would recommend Julian May -The Saga of Pilocene Exile - written in the 1980s it's an interesting take on future earth and time travel into the past with a twist, Intervention - a bridge novel between The Pliocene quartet and the following trilogy (The Galactic Milieu Trilogy) but itself a magnum opus dealing with some wonderfully dark or idiosyncratic characters and the development of the human race in a prelude to galactic civilisationThe Galactic Milieu Trilogy - interstellar society and conflict on a massive scale It's sci-fi not fantasy but there are swords as well as lasers (in part) and its played out well. It's aged well (and some imagined cold war stuff is pretty interesting to read) and the characters still engage. I first read it over 20 years ago and I'm rereading it now to fill that GRM void.... Stephen DonaldsonThe Gap Series - a space opera with some incredibly dark, devious and desperate characters in a quintet brimming with betrayal, conflict and a nice dash of heroism amid the gritty nastiness of human nature. Each book expands the scope of what is at stake and ratchets up the tension for the main characters to fever pitch. Again, it must be 20 years since I first read it but when I first read it I was astonished by how he kept the dramatic tension and the stakes spiralling and moving in directions I hadn't seen coming. I reread it last year, again to fill that GRRM void and it retains the tension and the craftsmanship but, damn you GRRM, some parts feel a bit drawn out compared to GRRM's sharp endings (Red Wedding, Sack of Winterfell, Nedbert RIP, etc). If you want something in the same genre, well, nothing quite matches up I'm afraid. The above will occupy you for quite a while if you get into them but heroic fantasy is a pretty difficult market to stand out in. Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time should keep you busy to TWOW at any rate if you haven't read it. I was recommended it 20 years ago and read through the first six books in six months. Huge story line and multiple characters, really astonishing ambition, but it slowed down and took another twenty years and eight more books to finish. You have to love it to want to finish it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esa1996 Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I certainly though I'd never enjoy a book again after reading ASOIAF. Well, I got bored while waiting for TWOW, so on the 7th of February 2014 I got myself book one in the Wheel of Time series. At the moment I'm a third through book 10. That's 165 pages a day (300 words per page). What does this imply? It means that "I'd never enjoy a book again" is bullshit. I've found Wheel of Time to be just as good as ASOIAF. There are also all these funny similarities that alone make it worth a read. Most of them are probably just coincidences, but they're still there. For example, people have an occasional habit of saying that something will happen "when the sun rises in the west and sets in the east" (Dany's prophecy), there's a guy called "Lord of the Morning" (Sword of the Morning) a political game called "Game of Houses" (Game of Thrones) and lots of others but I wont spoil anything so I'll just end it here.Basically it's ASOIAF without descriptions of sex, no swearing, less character deaths, more basic fantasy tropes and loads of magic. (What I'm trying to say is that the plot is just as f***ed up/complex)Next I'll be reading Malazan Book of the Fallen, unless TWOW will be released before I finish WOT (Which is impossible as I don't think it'll take more than perhaps a month for me to finish WOT) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteWalder Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I thought the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind was good. The I cannot describe the writing style as great, but I thoroughly enjoyed the story. There are plenty of those books to keep you busy. Read the books- stay away from the Legend of the Seeker tv series. It was dreadful, although worth seeing Tabrett Bethel in full red leather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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