A Game of Crap

[jchrisobrien]

I spent the majority of yesterday drawn into A Game of Thorns, and then it happened.  Two of my favorite characters killed in one chapter (I later found that one of them wasn't killed, but they weren't mentioned for the rest of the book).  A Game of Thrones started out like a taut intrigue or thriller, and halfway through it became Requiem for a Dream:  "Let's have really horrible things happen over and over to all the characters you like.  Let's see them make major sacrifices in everything they do, and nothing go right for them anyway."  I started hoping more characters would die, just to put them out of their misery.  The last quarter of the book I just skimmed, I didn't care about the details or imagery, I just wanted to see how badly people got screwed over.

Today I checked wikidpedia to get some ideas of what is coming in the future:  more of the characters I liked die, more of the ones I hated lived, or screwed over the characters I liked more.  Some of them just get ignored and do random stupid things for the rest of the series. 

Thanks for all the crap, George.  Maybe I'll get around to finishing the series some decade, or I'll just read all the capsule reviews and get my anger out in one day, rather than wasting the next few weeks.

I hope Kushiel's Dart is a step up from this.

Comments

[silentq.livejournal.com]

You probably shouldn't read Jacqueline Carey's newest book - it's all from the villains' points of view.

[photiq.livejournal.com]

Is this the sequel to the Kushiel's Legacy trilogy, or something entirely new?

[silentq.livejournal.com]

Entirely new. I ranted about it after I read it, I can dig up a link for you later if you want.

[silentq.livejournal.com]

Mini review of Banewreaker. She's got a new trilogy starting in Terre d'Ange: Kushiel's Scion, hopefully it will be a return to her good writing and not a quick cash cow that makes me want to throw it across the room.

[silas7.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should borrow your copy of Banewreaker before I buy it. :)

I'll try Kushiel's Dart, then see if I want to go back to more Martin.

[silentq.livejournal.com]

Heh, I didn't even buy Banewreaker, I got it from the library. :)
There's some hard stuff in the Kushiel trilogy as well, I'm pretty sure it made me cry a few times (but I like that in a book).

[silas7.livejournal.com]

If a book moves us to tears, or anger, then the author is doing something right!

[talesinsdaughtr.livejournal.com]

She has a new one?!

[silentq.livejournal.com]

Yup, a new series called The Sundering, that starts with Banewreaker. W00t, there's going to be a new one in the Kushiel series as well:
http://www.jacquelinecarey.com/books.htm

[talesinsdaughtr.livejournal.com]

hah, there goes all the time I was going to devote to assigned reading.

Thanks!

[silas7.livejournal.com]

I think I'll get a taste of her current one's first. After A Game of Thorns, I've learned to be cautious with my reading :)