Fire:


Ice:

quote:

Originally posted by Big Worm the first 3 books are really good... somewhat ponderous reading at times, but good nonetheless. george rr martin spares no detail, i promise you that. the series starts to go downhill somewhat in book 4. i still haven't gotten my hands on the 5th book (a dance with dragons) primarily because my sister has said it "sucks total donkey dick." ultimately, the series is supposed to go 7 books, but fans are unsure whether or not grrm will live long enough to finish it off.

No offense but your sister doesn't get it. The first 3 are without a doubt the best of the series thus far (with book 3 just being an epic roller coaster from start to finish) but books 4 and 5 are the necessary to slow the pace down before the madness. I compare the series to a hurricane, with books 4 and 5 (which happen at the same time primarily, keep in mind) being the eye of the hurricane and 6 and 7 (and if any follow that) being the tail end of the hurricane.

Obviously I'm not going to spoil anything but there's some great revelations in book 5 and engrossing character arcs. The thing that really held the book back from being as memorable as the first 3 is that the story dragged on a bit, but that's necessary given the location of certain characters and where they're travelling. Give GRRM credit for not sacrificing logic for writers convenience. Everything has to fit into a timeline. Because of that, it drags and isn't on the same level as the first 3.

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Originally posted by Sushipunk Is this good, or bad? I mean, I really like fantasy novels - LOTR is a pretty good story and all, but JESUS FUCKING CHRIST so much irrelevant detail. Family heritages, etc. Too damn dry. I'm a pretty big fan of Terry Goodkind, even though he gets pretty fucking preachy in his later books, but whatever.

He tends to delve into a little too much detail about insignificant shit like what some meat tastes like, the smell of the air, etc etc. I found myself skimming certain parts of chapters when he would go on like that.

However, the strength of these books are the characters, their personal stories, and the overall plot of the series. Family and world history are incredibly interesting as well because it's all relevant to the present (in the books) in one form or another. The only similarities between LOTR and ASoIaF are that they're fantasy, and even that's a stretch because the fantasy aspects of ASoIaF are kind of in the background. People in that world don't really believe in it because it ceased to exist a long time ago (as far as they know).

It's WAY more mature than LOTR, and much more complex.

Last edited by infinity HiGH on Sep-08-2012 at 22:52

I've always heard the phrase used to describe people who dwell in extremes of temperament or inner-personal intensity. Fire is typical of someone when their anger rises or when they become passionate about someone or something. Ice indicates apathy or aloofness pertaining to the individual's theoretical focus. It indicates that there is no middle ground to the gamut of attributed emotion experienced by the individual.

The stereotypical coquette, who seems to fluctuate between arousal and ambivalence concerning her suitors, runs hot and cold. I've had bosses who idolize specific employees, in a phenomena those of us who had worked under them regarded as the "golden boy syndrome". Inevitably, the golden boy (or girl) would do something to disappoint them and then there were grumblings about the necessary paper-work needed to terminate them. That pattern of ideation and devaluation is something I would describe with this phrase.

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my old stuff, not quite up to snuff - but I still dig it - UPDATED 9/23/2012