Is the Game of Thrones Books Worth Reading
The new Game of Thrones Telly serial is coming out. This got me thinking about how my opinion of the franchise has changed over the years. Mayhap, y'all feel the aforementioned? Is Game of Thrones worth your time?
Let's find out.
The Distant Past
When I was young and poor, and living on a burrow in London, I had a two-hr commute to work. Luckily, it was on a train so I could read. Later on giving up on English language newspapers and their baroque class dynamics, I started to read fiction on these trips.
London beingness London, I was spoilt for choice. At the time, I loved comics and manga but could not bring myself to read them in public.
Too, comic books are expensive. At ii or three pounds for 20 pages of recycled paper it would cost £xx a trip to keep me occupied.
Resolving to detect a ameliorate bargain, I left the best comic volume store in the world, Forbidden Planet London, and spent my dejeuner breaks walking through endless new and used volume stores. The expanse was the strangely named Dragon Courtroom near Covent Garden.
London really is the all-time place to buy books. It seemed to my young self that every street had a multi-storey bookstore with a bargain bin.
So, partly because I liked information technology and mostly because it was the virtually discounted genre at the time, I read suitcases total of fantasy books.
2008: Priced Per Pound
I day I came upon a prepare of four books for £x. At the time, it was the entire Game of Thrones/A Song of Water ice and Fire 
I remember looking at the generic cover, skimming the text, so tossing the book in my hands to test the weight. Deciding that this was a goodly heft for train trips, I happily bought them.
And over the side by side few weeks, I consumed them avariciously. I call back liking them.
And then, something inverse when I didn't have several hours to kill in a metal box every day.
Years Later on
I had moved to a sunnier climate and had a motorcar so my reading habits changed. I was in a smaller bookstore in Johannesburg milling effectually waiting for ane of those things one waits for in bookstores.
Then, on a prominent shelf in the front end of the store, in the acknowledged section, was a new George R. R. Martin book. A Trip the light fantastic toe with Dragons, I think it was chosen. With nostalgic optimism, I snatched it down and spent the adjacent 5 years reading it.
I don't recollect I'll go the new one.
The strange thing is that I watched the last few seasons of the testify and actually liked it.
And so What Happened?
The books had become, to me, unreadable. They seemed so tiresome paced. The writing seemed dense and redundant. Which is why I bought them in the fist place.
Information technology made me recall about what I looked for in a book and how the world around me affects my enjoyment of it.
Back so, before the cyberspace was just e'er everywhere, I really appreciated the slow-paced writing style. What did it matter to a young me if a writer wrote a full folio description of each meal?
I had time.
Now, I accept a list of objectives. I always have something I should be doing fifty-fifty if I don't go them done on time. I don't accept a forced time for doing nothing. There is no infinite left to fill with something I don't already know is going to be proficient.
This is sad now that I write this.
While Game of Thrones is a fine example of late nineties fantasy, it was written for people who didn't accept the distractions we have today. Sure, phones had the internet back so but it didn't intrude on life similar it does now.
At present, I become withdrawal if I can't stream something in the background at all times.
It'southward not a bad series. It's very much like a gritty reboot of The Lord of the Rings. Or a tame version of Dune. And it is perfect for someone looking to swoop into something that consumes their free time.
Simply, it's not something I can read to relax. I don't desire a complex, decades-long experience of following a series I don't know volition have an finish.
A good book for me today is one with six characters, 300 pages, and a beginning, eye, and stop.
Which has not been truthful for me in the past. After all, I spent 20 years reading Robin Hobb'southward Farseer books, which began with Assassin'southward Apprentice. Although, I think they are a masterwork past the best living fantasy author alive.
Also, she wrote fifteen books in that time every bit opposed to six.
What People Thought of Game of Thrones When It Came Out:
Information technology was a bit mixed. Some people thought it was childish while others thought information technology was masterful. But, most agreed that given the author's past releases, information technology would likely never have a determination.
A review from The Guardian past Sam Jordison called it:
"…daft. Information technology'due south unsophisticated. Information technology'due south cartoonish."
That is unfair. It's crude and violent, ofttimes graphically, just not stupid.
Another critic inKirkus, July 1, 1996 said:
"A vast, rich saga, with first-class characters and an intricate plot flawlessly articulated confronting a properties of existent depth and texture. Yet, after 672 dumbo pages, were yous expecting a satisfying resolution? You won't get it: Be prepared for a lengthy series with an indefinitely deferred conclusion."
Conclusions, That'due south What I Want
I think that's what I craved – an ending. Some satisfaction.
The TV show is delivering on this currently. We can look to see the decision days from now on TV.
This happens often in Japan where Idiot box outpaces the original textile. It's a relatively unprecedented thing for a Western testify. Later on all, we waited for Tolkien to die before we made the Lord of the Rings movies.
Every bit of now Game of Thrones exists in a infinite where you can't argue if the books are meliorate than the Telly prove. At this bespeak information technology feels similar the show became the source material and Martin's books are an reconsideration adaptation.
It'south A Matter Of Time
When I think about all this, it shows me that there actually is such a vast spectrum of what can make a book good to a person.
I think our tastes age with usa. I might grow into A Vocal of Ice and Burn again as I grow old and take more time.
However, what if the generations now also young to call back a time before eBooks and calorie-free novels simply don't want to spend the fourth dimension on stories that don't come up in short monthly instalments?
It keeps me up at dark.
It may well be worth your fourth dimension to consider who has the time to read your fiction before writing that thousand-pager.
[Superlative Tip: Learn how to write fantasy. Buy The Fantasy Workbook]
[Featured Epitome past HBO]
past Christopher Luke Dean (slowly becoming distant from himself).
Christopher writes and facilitates for Writers Write. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisLukeDean
If you enjoyed this postal service, read:
- Mary Sues & Why They Might Brand The Best Protagonists
- Harry Potter And The Not Very Proficient Writing
- 3 Things Authors Of The Gilded Age Of Sci-Fi & Fantasy Did Amend
Things to read or sentry herein contained:
- George R R Martin's A Song of Ice and Burn Serial: A Game of Thrones, A Disharmonism of Kings, A Tempest of Swords, and A Feast for Crows
- Robin Hobb'due south The Farseer Trilogy
[Top Tip: Acquire how to write fantasy. Purchase The Fantasy Workbook]
Source: https://www.writerswrite.co.za/is-game-of-thrones-worth-your-time/