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Posted By : abraxas5 - 4/28/2006 12:14 PM
I loved Game of Thrones, but I'm half-way through A Clash of Kings and I'm getting depressed. Practically everyone who I don't hate is miserable and/or dead. Can somebody please assure me that if I keep reading this series that something - anything - good will happen to someone who's decent, while at least one sadistic madman will eventually be punished? And can someone please assure me that these characters will stop making such boneheaded decisions? I'm so frustrated by them! One person in the whole book seems to have a good head on his shoulders, but I keep waiting for someone to chop it off.
I understand that all Martin's characters are flawed in their own way and that makes for an interesting, complex story. Unfortunately it seems like the characters who are hideously flawed are the only ones who are getting anywhere. I feel like nothing good happens to anyone who's not a sociopath - unless you consider an ax through your chest good. Which I don't.
I'll admit to being a sucker for happy endings. I know it's overly simplistic and at least I acknowledge my failings, but this series is driving me crazy. Will it get better or will I live in perpetual darkness? skull
Kim

K. Osborn Sullivan
Stones of Abraxas
July 2006
Medallion Press
ISBN 1-932815-76-7

Posted By : von Darkmoor - 5/4/2006 12:17 AM
A Game of Thrones is a spectacular book.  I've read many comments that say it's one of the best fantasy books ever written - and many comments that say GRRM should have stopped at the one book.  I have all four books in the series and am glad that he did not stop after the first.  I highly recommend books 1, 2, and 3.  Book 4 is the weakest, both in content and writing.  However, it does deliver some terrific comeuppance to one or two characters and  provides some key plot advancements for a specific few others.  Does it get less depressing?  I don't believe it to be depressing, but more like frustrating.  And it is definitely not a 'feel-good' story.  Although there are triumphant moments of euphoric feeling!  GRRM's characters are strongly drawn and live intense lives.  They really live!  What's devestating to us readers is that he is so good at making us live their lives and experience their traumas that we become hooked on the adrenaline rush of living vicariously through them - and needing to know what happens to them (us).  Our desire to keep on reading is similar to that of those drivers who pass a 10-car crash on the freeway and break their necks checking for fatalities, blood and guts.  We can't get over the thrill of voyeurism.  And therein lies the key:  Martin has done a superb job of making me need to finish his series, whether I want to or not.  And I do.
 
Hope that helps :p

"You will obey the rules, won't you?" [Marius] asked suddenly.
"Of course!" Again [Lestat] shrugged.  "What are they, by the way?  I've forgotten."
- Anne Rice in The Queen of the Damned


Posted By : BethS - 5/4/2006 7:20 AM
abraxas5 said...
I loved Game of Thrones, but I'm half-way through A Clash of Kings and I'm getting depressed. Practically everyone who I don't hate is miserable and/or dead. Can somebody please assure me that if I keep reading this series that something - anything - good will happen to someone who's decent, while at least one sadistic madman will eventually be punished? And can someone please assure me that these characters will stop making such boneheaded decisions? I'm so frustrated by them! One person in the whole book seems to have a good head on his shoulders, but I keep waiting for someone to chop it off.
I understand that all Martin's characters are flawed in their own way and that makes for an interesting, complex story. Unfortunately it seems like the characters who are hideously flawed are the only ones who are getting anywhere. I feel like nothing good happens to anyone who's not a sociopath - unless you consider an ax through your chest good. Which I don't.
I'll admit to being a sucker for happy endings. I know it's overly simplistic and at least I acknowledge my failings, but this series is driving me crazy. Will it get better or will I live in perpetual darkness? skull
Kim

Well, the thing is...none of us know the answer to that yet. The series isn't finished.
I will say that there is much darkness, but there is also hope, and some characters do end up in a good position..at least so far. And I will also say that certain despicable characters get what's coming to them. Just wait until you get to the end of A Storm of Swords, and for that matter, A Feast for Crows.
I don't think the characters are always making boneheaded decisions. They make decisions according to who they are, for one thing, and for another, sometimes all they have to choose between is bad and worse.
Despite the darkness, this is one of the most fascinating, compelling, and deeply imagined fantasy series I have ever read. I am hoping that the ending will ultimately be positive for those characters I've grown to love (Tyrion, Jon Snow, and Arya are my favorites), because I'd hate to think Martin dragged us through the tunnel only to leave us trapped in the dark. I like happy endings, too.
~Beth

Posted By : abraxas5 - 5/5/2006 1:01 PM
Thanks for the encouragment. Despite its less than happy themes, I'm still up until way past my bedtime with this book. It makes for some pretty alarming dreams when I do go to sleep, though. When I finished this one, I may have to take a break and read something happy for a little while before delving into "Storm of Swords". Almost anything would seem upbeat by comparison: Naked Lunch, Moby Dick, Dante's Inferno, etc.
Kim

K. Osborn Sullivan
Stones of Abraxas
July 2006
Medallion Press
ISBN 1-932815-76-7
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