Friday, June 22, 2007

One of my favorite books is…

G.R.R. Martin’s, A song of Ice and Fire.
Mass doesn’t always equal excellence but the awesome heft George R.R. Martin’s A song of ice and fire (4 books with two more to come!) at least indicates a significant amount of time to be spent comfortably wasted indoors ignoring the sunshine. Set in a quasi-realistic medieval world including, but not restricted to, princes, dragons and knights, the heart of the action unfolds in a series of epic political upheavals spanning several generations and involving a generous cast of characters. In breadth The Song of Ice and Fire excels. The heroes in the seven kingdoms traverse huge distances and encounter vivid, detailed civilizations. Nomadic horsemen, seagoing reavers and undead zombies all present themselves, undaunted by the size of the narrative and content to inhabit their own specific sections. Long books often suffer from a glut of weak material on the periphery of the action. The song of ice and fire, against all odds, avoids this fate. Despite the sheer mass of his repertoire, Martin’s reach never encroaches on the vitality of his characters and his imaginative force rarely degenerates into clichéd or shallow characterization; all the components of his books are as captivating and as convincing as the center. So read it bitch.

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