Karsa Orlong

It might

A Dance With Dragons by George RR Martin The long, long, long, long (did I mention long?) awaiting fifth instalment in Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire series, I found this to be a disappointment. It's a huge book in which it takes forever for virtually nothing to happen. I think this is largely down to the fact that, in order to get the previous book (A Feast for Crows) out in reasonable time, Martin extracted certain plot lines from that book and put them in this one, the theory being that roughly the first half of ADWD runs in parallel to AFFC. The problem is that he then has to fill up a lot of space, and some of the story arcs seem to tread a lot of water as a result. One character spends most of the book travelling from point a to point b. He could have got to point b a lot earlier but, because his story has to fit in with the others, Martin chucks obstacle after obstacle in front of him, rather than just absent him for hundreds of pages. Another character - probably the most powerful character in the story - is trapped in a city under siege and their story goes nowhere until a particular event at about the 700 page mark - and then they disappear almost completely! Even the books big 'shock' is telegraphed hundreds of pages before it happens. I did like it, I just wanted more. It's written with Martin's usual flowing style, and the characters themselves are rich and engaging. But this feels like 1,000+ pages of moving pieces into position, rather than actually progressing the story in any noticeable way. It's nowhere near as good as the first three books in the series. And now, with Martin hinting that the series may run to eight books, the next book is really going to have to be something special. And therein lies the question: how long will it be before we see it? Another six years? I look at those other authors writing long series: Steven Erikson wrote an entire ten book series in eleven years, and the quality is, imo, higher than Martin's work. Brandon Sanderson has written his Mistborn trilogy, finished Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and started on another epic ten book series of his own. At this rate, they'll both have written ten more books before A Song of Ice & Fire is completed. 6/10

Yeah, probably not a good time to be trying to find them in those places, what with the success of the tv show and all. They're a bit cheaper from Amazon if you buy them individually.

I send birthday cards to my mates <<shrugs>> They are always rude ones, to be fair

I've just lost all respect for him

I've seen it twice and it still scares the hell out of me, to the point where I actually don't think I'd want to watch it again Have you read the book? I watched The Two Towers extended edition on blu-ray. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would - it's my least favourite of the LotR films. For some reason I also found myself watching Tremors, Jaws and Jaws 2, all on ITV4, despite the fact I've seen them loads of times. Can't believe I sat through adverts when I own the first two films on dvd

I think we can play (and have played) even better, and there's no doubt India will improve, especially if they get players fit and aren't hamstrung by mid-game injuries. All good signs for a great series. I would've given man of the match to Broad, myself - 8 wickets and an innings- (and possibly match-) saving partnership with Prior. It's time the ICC sorted out this DRS business. The fact that India have vetoed the 'predictive' part of it (apparently just because Tendulkar doesn't like it!) makes it a bit of a joke, imo. I think it should either be used in every test match, in every country, or it shouldn't be used at all. Edit: D'oh - 7 wickets for Broad

Yep, must be read in order: A Game of Thrones A Clash of Kings A Storm of Swords A Feast for Crows A Dance with Dragons

Since you posted that we've dropped a catch and Billy Bowden's missed the most obvious lbw I've ever seen But we have just taken number 7

Ooh, good call, it's a fantastic book

I picked The Dead Zone, Salem's Lot and The Shining, although my favourite wasn't on the list - Cujo.

Jolly good. It's just the way the internet works, isn't it? Those with complaints will shout loudest, whilst the ones who are happy are busy getting on with reading their books (or whatever they ordered)

Not that I'm cynical or anything, but I have no doubt he was paid vast sums of money to say that

Finished A Dance With Dragons. Now trying to decide between Hyperion and The Man In The High Castle for my next read.

Finished A Dance With Dragons. It was alright, not as good as the first three, not as average as the last one. Having re-read the first four books and now read this one, all within a month or two, I feel I can now forget about it for a while. Then I'll have to re-read all of them in six or seven years time to refresh my memory before the next book comes out

I've had quite a few things from Amazon delivered by HDNL without any problems at all

Some catching up to do ... A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin A Storm of Swords is another huge book. In fact, it's so big that publishers in the UK decided to split it in two (which had nothing whatsoever to do with being able to charge twice for one novel, of course ). Picking up directly after events in the previous book (A Clash of Kings), Westeros is in the grip of war over the Iron Throne, whilst events beyond The Wall and across The Narrow Sea are gathering pace. It follows the same format as the previous books, with each chapter focusing on a particular character and their part in the larger scale of things. A lot of the old favourites are here, and also some new. To cut a long story short, the second 'part' of this novel is stunning. Seriously, if you were shocked by events in the Game of Thrones tv series, you ain't seen nothing yet. There is one particular event in this book that is so shocking I still can't quite believe he did it, and, even after all that is out of the way, there are still major revelations to come in the final pages. It's an awesome, awesome book. Part 1 - 9/10 Part 2 - 10/10 A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin I don't think this one could ever live up to the expectations set by A Storm of Swords. For many reasons, Martin decided that the next book was becoming too long and unwieldy, so he decided to deal with one particular aspect of the story (mainly events in King's Landing) and shift the rest into A Dance With Dragons. The result is a book where some of his greatest characters are missing entirely, and where - to be honest - there are few of the truly major, jaw-dropping moments that highlighted the previous books. This doesn't mean it's a bad book (some of my favourite characters are still here, after all) it just feels a little ... incomplete. It's like the sandwich is there but the filling is missing. It's still well written, and what is there is very good, don't get me wrong, it's just not as good as the previous entries in the series. 7/10 A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay Reading one of GGK's books is always a special event for me. I have to put everything else aside, sit down and lose myself in his world. His wonderfully lyrical writing style always takes me a few pages to get my head around, because it is so different and - imo - so superior to other writers in the genre. Another thing I like about GGK is that, although he writes in the fantasy genre, most of his books are stand-alone novels that require no prior knowledge to be enjoyed, even though many of them are set in the same world (but on different continents). A Song for Arbonne is another jewel in GGK's crown, I think. It is his version of Medieval France, starting 23 years before the main text as the heir to the country's throne rides out to meet with her lover, and then jumps ahead to tell of the feud between her husband and lover, interweaving this with religious intolerance and political struggles between the Arbonnais and the neighbouring Gorhautians. As always, GGK keeps the action on focused on his characters (who are - again - wonderful) and builds layer upon layer of complexity into their relationships which always has some emotional pay-off in the end. I think, if it wasn't for the genius of Steven Erikson, Kay would be on his way to becoming my favourite author, and this is just another wonderful novel. 10/10

Good question! I don't think they're anything like Porcupine Tree, but they are a little like older Radiohead at times, I suppose. Put it this way - I don't like Radiohead, but I like TPT. Try these: Run Me Through

Watched the extended edition of Fellowship of the Ring on blu-ray. The Mines of Moria and battle of Amon Hen sequences are still awesome.

Maybe they'll get some Oompa Loompas to play the bad guys?

Good! Let us know how you get on with the book

Someone Here Is Missing by The Pineapple Thief

Tangled - I know I shouldn't have, but I loved it

Did you watch the tv series? The only thing I'd add to Kell's excellent post is that the characters as portrayed in the books are actually a few years younger than how they are shown in the tv show, which may make it seem worse, although it is in keeping with Medieval times. I agree, though, that he takes great delight in making his readers feel uncomfortable about the things he puts his characters through. It's not easy reading at times. I think the most important thing to say, though, is that he does include some incredibly strong female characters - in fact, they're invariably stronger than the men. They may not seem like it at the early stage of the book you're at - they take time to develop and grow, and what they go through early in the story has great bearing on who they become later on. I think/hope your enjoyment of it will increase as you go along. If not, don't give up on the fantasy genre - it's huge, and I'm certain there are other series out there that might be more to your taste. And your English is very good, too