Aemon Stark Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 ASOIAF is perhaps not the "best" from a literary perspective, but I can think of few other series that have had me as invested. This was particularly so when I read ACoK and ASoS practically inside a week. I don't really agree with many of the criticisms levelled at AFfC or ADwD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horselover Fat Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Black company is pretty awesome, I like "Feel Like Makin Love" and "Can't Get Enough" or really anything off the Straight Shooter album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Ent Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 As to whether ASOIAF is the best fantasy series....I think it is, personally, of what i've read, for my own use of best.You’re not making sense. By your own admission, spaceships are an important parameter.Here’s the score:Second Apocalypse: 1 spaceship.A Song of Ice and Fire: 0 spaceships.What am I not getting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I'd argue ASOIAF has more meaningful trees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Ent Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I'd argue ASOIAF has more meaningful trees.No longer true.My constant ranting about the absence of sentient trees on this forum has had a clear effect on volume 5. (Nice proof that Bakker reads this forum.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Censorship!!! How dare you influence a writers output! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 You’re not making sense. By your own admission, spaceships are an important parameter.Here’s the score:Second Apocalypse: 1 spaceship.A Song of Ice and Fire: 0 spaceships.But neither series features jet-pack wearing hippopotami. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearly Headless Ned Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Its top tier but not the best I reckon. Great plotting,wonderful larger than life characters and completely addictive but I find that the writing is a little inconsistent. ADWD is a good example. There were passages that were perfunctory and basic, but also others that were rather atmospheric and evocative (his descriptions of the freezing weather in the north) without being overly detailed as to slow the narrative down. I found his sf and horror fiction more impressive to be honest,I'm just a few pages into 'Dying Of The Light' and already I can tell its more my cup of tea as far as writing style goes.The real elite of fantasy I believe are people like Robert Holdstock,Mervyn Peake and Gene Wolfe (though I find Wolfe a little difficult at times). I firmly believe you can compare them to any great writers of past and present without unduly embarrassing them. Ursula Le Guinns Earthsea is also excellent and I've often heard that Patricia K Mckillip is excellent though I've never read her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fryie Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 I never understood the hate that seems to be heaped on Rowling, particularly the writing. It's not the best in the world, but its certainly not Twilight bad. And I don;t think excellent prose is what she was going for anyways.It's just that I found the last book to be so incredibly bad (not bad compared to the other books, but bad on an absolute scale) that I cannot find it in my heart to ever reconsider reading the series again or even to think about what has, could and might have happened, even if the other books weren't maybe as bad. And that's even ignoring the cheap teenage fanfiction that that goes by the name of "Epilogue"!Almost everything about that book was either boring or incredibly clichéd, and most was both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 You know the Epilogue was the first thing she ever wrote right? Before she wrote the first book even. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 I defend her for a lot, but I still firmly beleive she has been telling us that for years and lying through her teeth the whole time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord O' Bones Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Ya I love Rowling's use of language, especially the fifth book where we FEEL the EMOTION because EVERY other WORD Harry says is in ALL CAPS!!! WITH LOADS OF THESE!!!!You sure you weren't reading L. Ron Hubbard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horselover Fat Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 One does not simply "read L. Ron Hubbard". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord O' Bones Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 One does not simply "read L. Ron Hubbard".FAIR ENOUGH!!!/kicks someones face off/fucks a lesbian straight/wins a NASCAR race for good measure/invents a bunch of SCIENCE! and proves psychology is evil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horselover Fat Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Read away sir, read away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 You know the Epilogue was the first thing she ever wrote right? Before she wrote the first book even.Irrelevant. She should have developed sufficiently as a writer to realise that the Epilogue was crap, and either left it out, or gone back and revised it. It's basically the problem with the later Harry Potter books, especially 5 and 7: Rowling became too famous to edit, so they let any old stuff through. Books 1-3: awesome children's fantasy.Book 4: more adult, darker fantasy, that could have done with a bit of an edit.Book 5: a waste of space that could have been cut from 750 pages to 250 quite easily.Book 6: some good ideas, but soured by deus ex machinae.Book 7: badly written, badly edited, and contains The Epilogue of Eternal Doom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Huh. You know I actually agree with most of that, except that I really liked book 6.I actually have no idea wtf I'm defending it for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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