re: #135 goddamnedfrank

The whole thing is turning into a slog. All I really care about at this point is dragons burninating the countryside, Crows vs. White Walkers, Winter finally coming and Arya turning into a fucking goddamned super-ninja and killing every motherfucker on her list. Everyone else can just die right now and make way for that shit to happen.

Well, that’s the problem with multi-volume fantasy novels. Many characters, subplots and story arcs that for a lot of viewers/readers quickly bore them to tears. Tolkein managed to squeeze a lot of detail into LOTR, without bogging the main plot down, but even then, some readers give up the trilogy after a few chapters. I read The Silmarilion to get a sense of the “ancient history” of Middle-Earth, but he was wise to leave all that detail out of LOTR.

I got 3.5 books into The Wheel of Time series before I gave it up. Likewise, the Thomas Merchant (?) series (forgot the name and too busy to look it up — the guy with leprosy in our world who saves another world).

Creating believable worlds is an art and a craft, and I understand why some fans really enjoy being immersed in a new literary universe, and why some authors (and their publishers) are willing to cater to them. But jeez louise, can we move the story along a little faster? Can we have at least some hint of a final resolution? Right now, GOT is a confusing mess of political warfare and random acts of violence with no apparent end in sight.

That said, I still enjoy the series, especially the acting and the sets/costumes. I’m going to try reading the first novel again, and maybe I’ll get further than chapter five this time.