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I read the first four books in a span of two months and I've rarely felt so ambivalent about a series. On the one hand, I can appreciate the complexity of the world, the tremendous badasses some characters are, the way magic is treated and much more. On the other hand, the more visceral experience of reading these books could really frustrating. Especially when you come to a character you like, but then its just a really long chapter of reading about fatty capons, boiled leather and blue axes on fields. And then comes a Sansa chapter. I mean, Sansa chapters are fine. She's young and naive, so it's only right that she perceives things different than others. But drat, it's just so unrewarding.
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# ? Jan 20, 2012 20:44 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 12:21 |
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Kung Fu Jesus posted:I agree with nuncle. It just does not sound right. The weird thing is, he uses these words or phrases over and over in one book, then its gone. "Leal" came out of nowhere for me in book 3 or so, and it took me a second to figure out what he meant. I thought about going through the previous books to see if it was used there too, but never got around to it.
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# ? Jan 20, 2012 21:09 |
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Kung Fu Jesus posted:I agree with nuncle. It just does not sound right. The weird thing is, he uses these words or phrases over and over in one book, then its gone.
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# ? Jan 20, 2012 21:27 |
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Duncle seems more appropriate in this world.
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# ? Jan 20, 2012 21:29 |
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Kung Fu Jesus posted:The weird thing is, he uses these words or phrases over and over in one book, then its gone.
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# ? Jan 20, 2012 21:35 |
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The only word that threw me was 'leal' in ADWD. Hadn't heard that before, so I assumed that GRRM's editor had done a lovely find and replace with the word 'Loyal.'
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# ? Jan 20, 2012 22:10 |
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I did pick up the first book based on the recommendations here. Since each section is basically a different character's narrative, am I correct in that the story isn't exactly linear?
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# ? Jan 20, 2012 22:23 |
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actionjackson posted:I did pick up the first book based on the recommendations here. Since each section is basically a different character's narrative, am I correct in that the story isn't exactly linear? You are indeed. And it gets progressively less linear as things go along.
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# ? Jan 20, 2012 22:30 |
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actionjackson posted:I did pick up the first book based on the recommendations here. Since each section is basically a different character's narrative, am I correct in that the story isn't exactly linear?
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# ? Jan 20, 2012 22:31 |
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Conduit for Sale! posted:
Long story short the lack of testes leads to a lack of hormones, making the cock: 1. Less active, leading to it's muscles being less developped and more fat. 2. Taste different due to lack of said hormones (This is why hunters try to avoid shooting moose and deer during mating season, because the meat ends up strongly flavoured as a result.
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 01:44 |
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Nine of Eight posted:Long story short the lack of testes leads to a lack of hormones, making the cock: I told all this to my boyfriend but he still refuses to cut off his balls. BLAMMO
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 01:52 |
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Did all the spoiler-y discussion threads get closed or do I just suck at searching? I just put down the last book and I desperately need to vent or at least read other people's venting. And of course the most important question: Are his publishers hounding him for Winds of Winter or will this be another massive gap like the one before Dance with Dragons? Should I even be expecting anything other then more of the same cockteasing? I'm very afraid at this point that the series will just fizzle out into more and more sudden deaths and plot-lines to nowhere
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 04:50 |
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Also gonna need a new low fantsy something ANYTHING to soften the sudden withdrawal
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 04:51 |
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Mr. Wynand posted:Did all the spoiler-y discussion threads get closed or do I just suck at searching? I just put down the last book and I desperately need to vent or at least read other people's venting. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3422738
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 05:04 |
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Mr. Wynand posted:Also gonna need a new low fantsy something ANYTHING to soften the sudden withdrawal Check out the Malazan books. I think they're fairly similar (in tone at least) to ASoIaF, and personally I'm enjoying them more. The first book is pretty rough - it was written like 10 years before the 2nd one - but I still liked it a lot. Lots of people love Joe Abercrombie's stuff and say it's similar to ASoIaF, but I haven't read any of his books yet so I dunno. I probably should at some point, but I really want to get through Malazan, and I also kinda want to start the Wheel of Time series.
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 06:19 |
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Joramun posted:http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3422738 ahhh I was ctrl+Fing for "fire" and "thrones"...
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 06:40 |
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Conduit for Sale! posted:Check out the Malazan books. I think they're fairly similar (in tone at least) to ASoIaF, and personally I'm enjoying them more. The first book is pretty rough - it was written like 10 years before the 2nd one - but I still liked it a lot. Cool I'll give it a whirl.
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 06:40 |
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Meltathon posted:Because it's just really really annoying, nuncle adds nothing more than uncle would, only to make things more confusing. GRRM pulls it out of nowhere, uses it for random characters (sometimes Jaime uses, sometimes not), and then starts overusing it. I just feel like he's trying way too hard to write "ye olde" words that don't really belong. I think GRRM uses it specifically for father's brother to differentiate it from mother's brother, which is where he uses the standard "uncle". Or the other way 'round.
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 08:50 |
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Conduit for Sale! posted:Check out the Malazan books. I think they're fairly similar (in tone at least) to ASoIaF, and personally I'm enjoying them more. The first book is pretty rough - it was written like 10 years before the 2nd one - but I still liked it a lot. I don't know that I'd consider Malazan low fantasy. I mean there's no shortage of gods meddling about in human business, people can ascend to godhood or at least become demigods at the drop of a hat, and there's way more magic than asoiaf. Just cause there aren't dragons or elves around doesn't make it low fantasy.
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 08:53 |
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regulargonzalez posted:I don't know that I'd consider Malazan low fantasy. I mean there's no shortage of gods meddling about in human business, people can ascend to godhood or at least become demigods at the drop of a hat, and there's way more magic than asoiaf. Just cause there aren't dragons or elves around doesn't make it low fantasy. I was mostly just thinking of what I liked after I went looking for more fantasy like ASoIaF. I didn't really think of what's low or not.
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 09:38 |
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regulargonzalez posted:I think GRRM uses it specifically for father's brother to differentiate it from mother's brother, which is where he uses the standard "uncle". Or the other way 'round.
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 14:13 |
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Joramun posted:That's a pretty significant discovery, if true. Anyone here crazy/bored enough to go back and analyze all instances of both words for verification? The only time I recall Nuncle ever being used was by Tyrion (and maybe Jaime) talking about Kevan, so it could work
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 17:03 |
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ZenMasterBullshit posted:The only time I recall Nuncle ever being used was by Tyrion (and maybe Jaime) talking about Kevan, so it could work I'm pretty sure Asha Greyjoy tossed it around a lot, too.
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 17:12 |
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Ballz posted:I'm pretty sure Asha Greyjoy tossed it around a lot, too. She definitely did, and it was in regards to all her uncles on her father's side as well. I suppose looking for what Robb refers to Brynden Tully could prove/disprove. I really can't recall any other occurences of an uncle on the mother's side.
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 17:23 |
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lifts cats over head posted:She definitely did, and it was in regards to all her uncles on her father's side as well. Benjen was always referred to as Uncle if I'm not mistaken.
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# ? Jan 21, 2012 21:52 |
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Now you, too, can own the Seastone Chair for your home and feel like a real Greyjoy!
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# ? Jan 22, 2012 16:38 |
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Joramun posted:chair Unless you own firebox.com, I wouldn't hotlink that...
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# ? Jan 24, 2012 16:47 |
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Maybe he's just a Bolton?
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# ? Jan 24, 2012 17:19 |
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Picked up the first 4 books yesterday. Already got through around 400 pages, and aside from Sansa's chapters, the story is amazing so far.
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# ? Jan 25, 2012 18:32 |
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I'm only about 50 pages into the second book, but I just don't understand all of the Sansa hate.
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# ? Jan 25, 2012 20:19 |
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supersteve posted:I'm only about 50 pages into the second book, but I just don't understand all of the Sansa hate. As a pretty girl, she is pretty much unrelatable to this crowd
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# ? Jan 25, 2012 20:29 |
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wayfinder posted:As a pretty girl, she is pretty much unrelatable to this crowd
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# ? Jan 25, 2012 20:35 |
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supersteve posted:I'm only about 50 pages into the second book, but I just don't understand all of the Sansa hate. Sansa owns. I finished AFFC. Now just waiting for ADWD soft cover to arrive in 2 months.
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# ? Jan 25, 2012 20:58 |
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Joramun posted:IKR, personally I can only relate to Samwell's chapters, being a goony goon myself. Fixed that for you.
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# ? Jan 25, 2012 22:21 |
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Sansa's chapters were hard to get through because she's a 13(?) year old girl with standard 13 year old girl characteristics like being superficial, ignorant of the world, and selfish. As a reader, you have to get past her character portrayal to enjoy her chapters. Because where she is in the story and what she is witness to are very interesting. Unfortunatley, its filtered through her lovely personality.
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# ? Jan 25, 2012 23:51 |
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Veg posted:Sansa owns. just break down and get the bulky hard-cover. It has sweet maps. and yeah, Kung Fu Jesus summed up Sansa's arc pretty well... Watching her naivete slowly crumble is great. She's been fed these gilded stories of knights and fair maids her entire childhood and took them on face value.
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# ? Jan 26, 2012 01:30 |
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ADWD Soft Back wasn't until July I thought?
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# ? Jan 26, 2012 01:37 |
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Iseeyouseemeseeyou posted:ADWD Soft Back wasn't until July I thought? For what its worth Im in New Zealand and its April 12ish
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# ? Jan 26, 2012 03:41 |
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Iseeyouseemeseeyou posted:ADWD Soft Back wasn't until July I thought? Japan is apparently getting it on March 29th, so I'm sure they'll be bumping down the US release date. Also, the (SoS spoilers) chapter with Sansa building the snow castle is probably one of my favorite chapters in the entire series. The way it was written was so whimsical, and so sad. Really great stuff.
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# ? Jan 26, 2012 04:02 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 12:21 |
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supersteve posted:I'm only about 50 pages into the second book, but I just don't understand all of the Sansa hate. I think it's that, for more than a whole book and a half, it was essentially the same thing over and over again. She's stuck in the Red Keep, people keep doing things she doesn't understand because she's had this fairy-tale image of knights and kings, and then she just says "yes, My Lord" and that's that. While I don't hate the Sansa chapters, I did find lots of them to be tedious and repetitive. (Spoilers up till the end of Storm of Swords) Even when things started to get interesting (Ser Donal wanting to whisk her away,) it took forever for it to finally go anywhere. Though, granted, it went pretty fast after that...escaping with Ser Donal, who gets killed, whisked away with Petyr, pretending to be a bastard girl, Petyr making out with her, then Petyr killing her aunt. Joramun posted:IKR, personally I can only relate to Jamie's chapters, being a dashing sex god myself So your sister's a pretty good lay, then? I just finished book 4, and so far I love almost everything...but I am curious about something regarding magic: I sort of get that the arrival of real magic is tied into the red comet and/or the birth of the dragons...but how is it all the people who do the magic can do it? That is to say, before the start of Clash of Kings, there wasn't any magic for them to really practice, so how did they get good at it if it just started to re-appear? Unless I am misunderstanding the magic, and it really was there all along?
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# ? Jan 26, 2012 20:50 |