George Martin: Feast for crows
Aug. 16th, 2010 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackAfter really loving the first two books, I was somewhat disappointed by the third and fourth. Thinking about it, I think the third was still good, but the fourth wasn't as engaging.
There was originally going to be several (internal) years between the third and the next, partly to allow the young characters to grow somewhat older, but Martin decided he needed to fill the gap. I hypothesise this is why the released fourth novel was less fulfilling than the previous ones, because Martin had to write it without an overall structure in mind from the start of the series, and why the fifth novel (partly concurrent with it) is five years overdue.
During the first three novels, the vast majority of complexity is a natural consequence of the premises. There are _some_ misfortunes, misunderstandings, and bad choices, but most of the time, you think "what else could they have done?" even if it leads to general doom and the fall of thrones.
In the fourth book, there's a greater proportion of new characters with new problems (Dorne and Iron Islands), and long traipsing quests that go nowhere and end extremely depressingly (Breinne and Sam). Only the King's Landing events really move the existing plot forward, and they're very depressing as well.
There was originally going to be several (internal) years between the third and the next, partly to allow the young characters to grow somewhat older, but Martin decided he needed to fill the gap. I hypothesise this is why the released fourth novel was less fulfilling than the previous ones, because Martin had to write it without an overall structure in mind from the start of the series, and why the fifth novel (partly concurrent with it) is five years overdue.
During the first three novels, the vast majority of complexity is a natural consequence of the premises. There are _some_ misfortunes, misunderstandings, and bad choices, but most of the time, you think "what else could they have done?" even if it leads to general doom and the fall of thrones.
In the fourth book, there's a greater proportion of new characters with new problems (Dorne and Iron Islands), and long traipsing quests that go nowhere and end extremely depressingly (Breinne and Sam). Only the King's Landing events really move the existing plot forward, and they're very depressing as well.