Her Book Self

George R.R. Martin's latest volume, A Dance With Dragons, was *the* most anticipated book of 2011 for me.  We all have that book, right?  The one you actually pre-ordered and counted down the days for.  The book that made you hyperventilate just a little when the cover art for it was announced.  The book that came in the mail and when you tore open the packaging, you stood there for a moment just reveling at the fact that you were actually holding it.  And the excitement when you first heard that little sigh of the spine when you gingerly opened the cover was indescribable. 

Despite my desire to chug this book down in a sitting or two, my hunger for the plot was tempered by the thousand pages of Martin's signature hefty and detailed prose that is better served chapter by chapter than in hundred page chunks.  I finished reading this one in the first week of August, and yet I've been sitting on the process of reviewing it because it is an immensely more difficult task than I first pondered.

On the one hand, I can evaluate this book as nothing more than the fifth Song of Ice and Fire book.  By that criteria, it's a solid entry in the saga.  There's perhaps a bit less action and drama than some of the previous books, but where Martin wins is in continuing to build upon his subtle style of character development.   For the first time, several major players in the drama are near to crossing paths and the tensions of how these heroes, anti-heroes and heroines are going to interact is a valuable impetus in driving the story forward.  And yet as delightful as it is to reunite with them, very little of substance actually happens in the story.  Once more a large portion of what makes this book good is the promise of what it's leading up to.

Which leads me to the second factor on which this book is inevitably being judged.  Did it deliver?  Nicknamed "Kong" on Martin's blog as the six hundred pound gorilla that hovered in the room of any project he worked on, Dance With Dragons carried with it astronomical expectations.  In terms of answering some of the lingering questions dangling in front of fans after A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows, it did.  Granted it also proposed numerous questions and cliffhangers of its own.  Story-wise this one doesn't seem to stand as solidly as the first three in the Song of Ice and Fire series, but it still manages to be compelling - perhaps more so because, after four epic books, the reader is undoubtedly invested in these characters than because of a dynamic plot. 

I suppose I loved the idea of this book more than I actually adored it as a work by George R.R. Martin.  Was it good? Yes.  Was it satisfying?  Partially.  Was it fantastic? Maybe.  I think it deserves a reread after a year or so, since I'll be better able to evaluate my true feelings on the book itself if I can distance it from my expectations for it. 

What do you do when a book just doesn't live up to its expectations?  There's nothing wrong with the book.  By any and all standards its actually quite good, well written, and thoroughly entertaining.  But somehow it's just not... well, you know... it's not what you wanted it to be.  So goes the story for me of one of my recent reads. 

A Feast For Crows is the fourth book in George R.R. Martin's ever-growing Song of Ice and Fire series but it is perhaps more appropriate to call it the fist part of the fourth installment in the series. Known by fans as "The Great Book Split", this novel continues the story of about half of the heroes (and villains) of Westeros portrayed so dynamically in the first three books in the series. For that reason alone, Feast has little to no chance of maintaining the avalanche of action that begun the epic series.

That's not to say that this is not a great book. Despite the nagging question of what's going on with some fan favorites, for those characters featured within the book's many, many pages suspense, action, drama, and intrigue collide, tumble together, and explode. The politics and geography of the saga expand to encompass Dorne, the southern realm of Westeros, populated by the Martell family and the dangerous women known as the Sand Snakes. Religion also takes a more heated role in the power struggles across the land and Martin's signature surprises are as present here as in previous books. More than one lead character is left in peril at the close, making the long-promised and recently-released book A Dance with Dragons a welcome addition to the saga.

I definitely enjoyed this book, but I found myself stymied by my inability to ignore the fact that one of my favorite characters in the series was decidedly absent and another only appeared briefly in one chapter.   The book was still great - epic on a scale that few authors can rival - but I know my expectations were pretty elevated.  Do you ever struggle with books not living up to what you want from them?  Have really awesome books ever let you down just a little?

Back in 2007, I wrote this brief review for the third book of the Song of Ice and Fire series:

In A Storm of Swords, George R.R. Martin delivers another amazing verse of his epic Song of Fire and Ice series (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings). The dimensions of Martin's world are constantly increasing as are the lives of his characters. Martin's great strength is the growth and maturity of characters that joined the story as children and also his revelations of back-stories that bring depth (and sympathy) to formerly one-dimensional villains. As always though, nothing is certain as unexpected twists and turns drive the plot to shocking climaxes - with marriages, deaths, alliances, and betrayals that even the most astute readers will find unexpected. A series of the scope that Martin has designed in these stories requires a significant commitment from readers but loyal fans will not be disappointed by this installment and will eagerly reach for A Feast for Crows when they are done.

Though I like to think that my review writing has improved in the past four years, I don't know that I have much more to add to these thoughts after my recent re-read of this book.  What I will say is that re-reading does add a new dimension of enjoyment to the text.  Since A Storm of Swords is one of the longest entries in the Song of Ice and Fire saga, I knew that four years of memory erosion had taken its toll on my recollection of the events in this book.  I wanted a bit of a refresher before diving into books four and five, but I was surprised at how many details of the plot in this one I had forgotten.

I've also become much more aware of Martin's gift of foreshadowing.  Where as on my first time through the stories I gave most of the characters' dreams and visions a half-hearted shrug, I'm now seeing them as highly predictive and symbolic of future events in the series.  Perhaps Martin included these allusions as a reward for those that read with a fine eye for details but perhaps they're also there as a reward for loyal fans that re-read the books.  I know I met each instance with a snap of excitement realizing, "Oh! This totally refers to such-and-such-event that won't happen for another four hundred pages!"

I know I prefaced this challenge by announcing that I'm not much of a re-reader but I'm glad that I decided to reinvest in this series.  I'm enjoying the books just as much - if not more - the second time around and I'm also realizing that there are plenty more series in my past that probably also deserve another turn through my TBR list. 

George R.R. Martin's A Dance With Dragons, book five in his A Song of Ice and Fire series comes out today and the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 movie hits theaters (in the US) at midnight on Thursday!  I'm overwhelmingly excited about both of these releases - though you'll all have to wait a while for my DWD review as it promises to be quite a massive book!  I don't normally blog about anticipating books and I've rarely mentioned films, but I figured these two epic installments were worth a little post and certainly deserving of the newly created Super Awesome Fantasy Series Week!

It's time for a mini-update on my Song of Ice and Fire Challenge.  What was supposed to be one book a month has been dastardly delayed due to the simple fact that I forgot just how long these books are!  We're talking grandiose chunksters.  But I love them.  Really.  Every literary trip to Westeros pulls me more deeply into the world and the expansive landscape is truly amazing!  Plus, as a reread, I'm stunned by Martin's brilliant use of foreshadowing in the series.  There are plenty of scenes that have a significantly increased impact the second time around.

Back to my challenge.  It's mid-to-late-June so I should technically be mostly finished or at least starting A Feast For Crows.  Unfortunately, I've only just begun the substitute barbell that is A Storm of Swords.  Yet, I'm still super excited for next month's release of A Dance With Dragons!  With just under a month to go, I thought it would be fun to peek into the world of marketing and share some of the changing cover images for this awesome book!  Those that follow GRRM's livejournal will know that he posted these images back in March, but I thought they would make a good discussion point for A Weekend to ReCOVER.

The first is the original cover announced back in 2006, the middle was the updated cover circa 2009, and the left is the current cover that will supposedly grace the book when it reaches the eager hands of readers in a few short weeks!  There are aspects of all three covers that I appreciate.  I'm a bit partial to the one on the right, only because it matches with the copies of the first four that I own, but the shield image on the right is really interesting as well.  I'm not sure I understand why the middle has a sword and nothing particularly dragon-ish, but this is a book that could be released with the most generic of covers and I would still be exceptionally excited about reading it. 

Do you have a favorite among the covers for A Dance With Dragons?  Which one best catches your eye?

A Weekend to ReCOVER is a meme hosted by Her Book Self dedicated to discussing book jackets and cover art.  Feel free to leave your comments and thoughts here or chime in with a post of your own on this book or any interesting attention-grabbing cover(s) that you want to discuss.  Leave me a link and I'll be sure to stop over and see what bookish art you're spying this week!

I think it's safe to say that anyone who is reading or has read A Clash of Kings thought well enough of the epic George R.R. Martin began in A Game of Thrones to continue the saga.  I can't very well picture someone trudging through book one, hating it, and saying, "Well, that was complete rubbish, why don't I try out another seven hundred pages of the same!"  A Clash of Kings is the book for those that devoured the relationships, battles, power struggles, alliances, and betrayals that began A Song of Ice and Fire and were more than eager to explore the second verse. 

Yet, A Clash of Kings is also likely to gain a new audience very soon.  HBO's series Game of Thrones follows the saga told in book one, and I predict that if the season ends with the same cliffhangers as the book, many watchers could be running to their local bookstore or library hungry for a continuation of the plot.  Some die hard fans may start reading at the beginning, but I expect that several fans will jump right from the show into book two.  (Quick note: I'm not currently watching the series but I have high hopes for it and may even plan a weekend DVD binge when it's released on disc.) 

The glorious thing about this arrangement is that Clash of Kings is equally as good as Game of Thrones.  HBO will serve to draw new readers to the epic series and even if they jump in at Clash, there is plenty to hook them and hold them through the next few tomes.  The story begins where Game left off with multiple individuals claiming crowns of their own.  And Martin's pattern of killing off those bearing titles of royalty continues - though I'll not say which or how many of the rulers survive through this volume.  There are favorite players that continue to shine, and new narrators whose perspectives cast new insight on leading characters.  Some are intriguing enough that the reader wants to hear more of their story and some are so vile that the reader hates to be inside their heads.  (Yes, Theon, I mean you!)

In short, A Clash of Kings is a worthy follow-up to A Game of Thrones.  In some ways, it could be seen as just more of the same, but that write-off minimizes the expansion and growth that Martin continues to pour into the series.  The unpredictable quality of the plot ensures that this is not a series for those looking to find a "Happily Ever After" at the end of the tale.  Rather, it is a series for those who don't want stories to end - for if A Clash of Kings promises anything it is that - even after 1000+ pages - A Song of Ice and Fire has only just begun!

Contrary to what the name sounds like, "Boy Fiction" is not a cross between a librarian and Batman's sidekick.  It's the label that a NYT reviewer gave to the work of author George R.R. Martin - specifically A Game of Thrones (the book currently being translated into an HBO series of the same name.)  In all fairness to the article, the commentary was critiquing the HBO show for containing content that the reviewer did not appreciate (sexual content), but one paragraph of the article rather offended me:

The true perversion, though, is the sense you get that all of this illicitness has been tossed in as a little something for the ladies, out of a justifiable fear, perhaps, that no woman alive would watch otherwise. While I do not doubt that there are women in the world who read books like Mr. Martin’s, I can honestly say that I have never met a single woman who has stood up in indignation at her book club and refused to read the latest from Lorrie Moore unless everyone agreed to “The Hobbit” first. “Game of Thrones” is boy fiction patronizingly turned out to reach the population’s other half. 

I should state that I have not seen the show - nor do I currently subscribe to HBO - but I have read (and loved) A Game of Thrones.  Martin's work is written for mature audiences and there are scenes of both sex and violence, which I imagine were translated to film with all the gratuitousness I would predict for a show with a TV-MA rating.  Had the story been sanitized for a lower rating, fans would likely protest.  The book is not written as a neat, tidy saga - it's rough, gritty, intense, passionate, violent, shocking, and bloody.  There are heroes and villains, lovers and killers with every character playing multiple roles and written in brilliant shades of gray.  That's how Martin wrote it.  That's the work that captured my attention and drew me into reading thousands of pages of sequels.

And yet, the review article seems to imply that HBO expanded the sex and romance solely to attract female viewers.  I'm both appalled and offended at the idea that the stereotype still exists that women don't - or won't - enjoy high fantasy and that this genre remains classified as "boy fiction".  As far as the book club analogy goes, I must admit that I've never even heard of Lorrie Moore (if anyone wants to recommend one of her works I'll gladly add it to my TBR list) and would definitely suggest the works of J.R.R. Tolkien to any group of readers I interact with.  Perhaps this is why, despite my bibliophilic proclivities,  I have never actually been invited to join a book club. 

But there are plenty of women who enjoy fantasy and other works of so-called "boy fiction".  I know lots of them; I read with them; I am one of them.  One of my current reading challenges is a reread of the Song of Ice and Fire books in anticipation of the July release of book five, A Dance with Dragons.  I read A Game of Thrones five years ago and I enjoyed it just as much the second time around when I finished it last month.  George R.R. Martin's popularity is not because he writes for a certain gender, it is because he writes good books.  He is a masterful storyteller, and the beauty of A Game of Thrones lies in his weaving together multiple genres.  The Song of Ice and Fire series is about family as much as politics, it is about battle as well as relationships, adventure as well as horror, mystery, fantasy, and romance.  Martin composes stories with characters that are realistic - they are fallible heroes, sympathetic villains, and even minor characters with subplots that capture the reader's attention.  They live and they die in tales that seem to be writing themselves.  The saga unfolds more as a history of some distant, ancient land - one that occasionally mirrors modern political themes - rather than just a made up realm of bedtime stories. 

So why is an epic story like this limited to the enjoyment of men?  Why should a well written love story be classified as for women?  I know statistics will show that the majority of fantasy readers are male, but perhaps more ladies would be inclined to explore the genre if that trend was not so publicly reinforced.  Good books are good books, and I don't believe they should be recommended to one gender over the other.  Readers should be encouraged to explore and expand their horizons rather than being pigeonholed into a certain type of book that is expected of them. When I was younger, I followed in the reading footsteps of my older sisters eagerly reaching for their R.L. Stine Fear Street series and L.J. Smith's Vampire Diaries, and though I enjoyed the thriller suspense and paranormal stories, I think I really began devouring books when my brother suggested I try out Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles.  Though I liked mystery and suspenseful fiction, I loved fantasy; and when my cousin first lent me his copy of R.A. Salvatore's The Crystal Shard I knew I was hooked. 

My reading tastes expanded as I got older and I now find that there are few genres I don't love, but I know that I never would have become the passionate reader that I am had fantasy books been kept from me based on my gender.  To label such books as "boy fiction" seems a needless stereotype, and I would hate to have other young readers feel a stigma attached to works that could blossom their love of books.  What do others think about the gender-genre linkage?  Are these classifications helpful or hazardous to matching readers to books they'll enjoy?  Any other women like me that enjoy "boy fiction"?  Any men that enjoy stories generally aimed at women? 

I'm not much of a re-reader.  I generally follow the opinion that with the overwhelming size of my TBR list, it's sort of crazy to go back and read something that I've already read.  Yet, I do make exceptions.  The Harry Potter series is one that I've revisited a few times.  There are Mark Twain works that I read in middle or high school that I've gone back to as an adult.  I've honestly lost count of how many times I've torn through R.A. Salvatore's Homeland after first reading it in the early 90's.

And I'm about to embark on another journey of rereading.  A Song of Ice and Fire is the name of the epic fantasy series by George R.R. Martin.  There are currently four books in the series with the fifth due out in July.  Book one, A Game of Thrones, has also recently been made into an HBO series and debuts next month (and yes, I'll agonizingly be waiting until it's released on DVD/Blu-Ray to indulge as I don't have premium cable).  I have been following the trailers and promos on George R.R. Martin's website and I must say it does look quite awesome!  But back to the books, I read the first in the series in 2006 and the second (A Clash of Kings) and third (A Storm of Swords) in early 2007.  And then I stopped.

For those unfamiliar with the series or Martin's writing, book three leaves off with some shocking cliffhangers, only half of which are resolved in book four (A Feast for Crows).  The fourth book carries the story of half the characters in book three, but the other half are left hanging until book five A Dance with Dragons - the book that Martin fans have just been told (officially!) will be released in July.  So I've waited four years to even crack the spine of book four but since there are four months until the release of Dance and four books in the series leading up to it, I figure now is the ideal time for a reread!
Check back here for my progress report:

If anyone wants to join in the series reread or try out A Game of Thrones, let me know as I'd love to swap notes and join discussion!  Or if any long time Ice and Fire fans want a partner for the happy dances of joy that will accompany July's release, I'm glad to join in those as well!