Hi! I’m in a bit of a weird situation.
I really don’t want to read A Song of Ice and Fire, especially with how GRRM treats his writing. (Anybody remember that South Park episode on GoT?)
Recently however, I had the sudden urge to read them - conspiracy-laden gritty fantasy with deep characters. I’ve only seen the first few seasons of the show like ten years ago, so that’s all I have on the series, apart from reading some online discourse.
What could I read to scratch that itch? I already read The blade itself as it was mentioned time and time again together with ASOIAF, and I liked it, but it felt a bit… shallow, maybe? Granted, I only read the first book, but the characters felt not that deep and the worldbuilding didn’t impress me all that much. The dragonbone chair is also on my reading list, once I’m done with the first law.
Do you guys have other recommendations? Or should I just read the actual ASOIAF while “this will never be finished” will gnaw in the back of my mind and I know some spoilers already? Thanks!
It’s very worth reading, even unfinished, and even if it never gets finished. That’s heresy in some quarters, I realize, but the story is brilliant. It’s a work of art and nothing I have read in the fantasy genre touches it.
It’s complex, gritty, and multi-multi layered, with great lore and world-building, explorations of politics and war, deeeeeeeep characters, heartbreak, revulsion, and things you absolutely do not see coming. Really gets to the heart of human behavior in all its potential nobility and ugliness and highlights how nearly everyone has shades of both packed together within themselves.
Even if you have already seen the Game of Thrones series, there is a LOT more to uncover and much deeper explanations for everything. Well worth the time invested.