A Dance with Dragons

It’s real, I’ve read it, I’ve had a bit time to think about it and now I’m going to try and review it.

‘It’ is of course the long awaited 5th novel in George R.R Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire series; A Dance with Dragons.

I know that a lot of people haven’t yet had the chance to read this book or are still reading, so I’ll try and be as spoiler free as possible, but you have been warned, you’re entering into spoiler territory beyond this point.

A Dance with Dragons is, for the first half, running concurrently with the timeline established in A Feast for Crows. The 3 most keenly missed PoV characters absent from A Feast for Crows; Jon, Dany and Tyrion get the lion’s share of the chapters in A Dance with Dragons, and that’s even after it catches up to A Feast for Crows. The 3 characters have many fans, so that should please the majority of the readership.

The central hub of most of this is the Essos city of Meereen. The bulk of the book is taken up with getting a handful of characters to the city and there’s not a lot of action until the book’s second half. There’s been a lot of criticism about this, but I personally didn’t mind it. All action, all the time doesn’t necessarily equal a great book. The other thing to remember is, that this is a middle book and they often make the situation as bad as it can get, and set the scene for the conclusion.

Tyrion serves a slightly different purpose in this book, and he’s not quite the Tyrion we knew from the first three books. His wisecracks are still there here and now, his mouth still gets him into and out of a lot of trouble, he’s still consistently jumping from one dangerous situation into an even worse one, but his experiences and his reduced station in life have changed him. He’s no longer Tyrion ‘The Imp’ Lannister, backed by the gold of Casterly Rock and Tywin Lannister. He’s a hunted fugitive, wanted for killing his odious nephew King Joffrey and his father Tywin Lannister (curiously he freely admits to being responsible for both deaths, but readers know he only committed one of them). There’s been complaints about this as well, although again you have to remember that although it’s been 11 years since some readers saw The Imp, only a handful of days have passed for the character, and what he’s been through changes a person. To a certain extent Tyrion is the Brienne of this book. It is through his eyes that readers see Essos, he wanders around a lot and even picks up another stray (ala Brienne and Pod). However, where I found Brienne’s travelogue in Feast largely unnecessary, I was entranced by Tyrion’s. Readers haven’t seen a lot of Essos and it is fascinating. It appears as if George spent a lot of the time between books creating an entirely new world in Essos, it has it’s detractors, but I’m glad he did it. I loved it. I like world building and character development more than I do plot. I know he’s going to get there, but he won’t do it in a middle book.

I found Dany’s story to be the most tedious. I’ve never been a big Dany fan as such. I find the characters and situations around her to be of more interest than she herself is. She spends most of Dance being a 16 year old, albeit with a lot of power, and a 16 year old girl trying to run a kingdom by herself is always going to have it’s problems. Add to that her propensity for not listening to her wisest advisor in Barristan Selmy (seriously, I wanted him to spank her on more than one occasion) and her infatuation with the extremely untrustworthy mercenary (the name was invented for him) Daario Nahaaris and you’ve got a frustrating storyline. It is worth it though for something that happens late in the book.

The Essos part of the book also contained one of George Martin’s more pointless character arcs. It may become important in a later book, but I just couldn’t see the character’s function in Dance.

The rest of the action takes place in Westeros, mostly in the north. Bran finally reaches what seems to have been his ultimate destination when he set out on his endless trek with the Reeds and Hodor. Bran only gets 3 chapters, but they are all delight, with the 2nd of them being one of the book’s highlights.

Jon is trying to adapt to his role as the 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. Like Dany, Jon is a teenager whom fate has thrust into a position of leadership for which he is ill prepared. Unlike Dany, Jon is willing to take advice from others and will bend his views to suit the situation. Early on in his story Jon makes the decision to ‘kill’ the boy within himself and be the man. He also comes to realise that there are times when the needs of the many outweigh those of the few and acts accordingly. This is a lesson that Dany has yet to learn. Jon has never been a character I’ve warmed to, but I found myself firmly on his side this time and really riding the bumps along with him.

In another part of the north readers discover that Theon Greyjoy, the young man raised by the Starks, who later turned on them has survived the sack of Winterfell and is very much a changed man. It’s hard not to feel sorry for Theon and his chapters are in many parts truly stomach churning (George R.R Martin excels at this sort of thing), they will also send Ramsay Bolton rocketing up the ‘most hated’ character lists of fans.

Readers discover the true fate of Davos Seaworth and the answer to the question posed in A Feast for Crows of what did happen to the man who would be king; Stannis Baratheon’s most trusted and loyal friend, his Onion Knight.

There are other PoV’s that take readers beyond the scope of AFfC, mostly one offs, the most interesting of these are Jaime, Cersei and Arya (Arya is now the only PoV to appear in all 5 books), because they answer some of the cliffhangers in A Feast for Crows.

On more than one occasion, whilst reading this book I found myself wishing that I could just follow one character from start to finish. If a writer attempted to tell the story of one of A Song of Ice and Fire’s principals and did that successfully, then they would have created an excellent book, maybe even a series. George R.R Martin is trying to do this for in excess of 10 characters all at once. It’s a huge ambition and one that should be encouraged and admired, if he can pull this off successfully then he truly deserves the ‘American Tolkien’ tag Time’s Lev Grossman awarded him some years ago. I could read entire books about the likes of Jon Connington and Barristan Selmy.

While questions are answered and there is some resolution, many more cliffs are hung (damn you George Martin for writing such compelling books, and then taking years to write the next volume!) and questions posed. There was a lot of talk about the so called Meereenese Knot and whether or not it could be undone in this book. Personally I don’t think it was, although the lightest touch in The Winds of Winter will do so.

If I had to rank this book in the 5 published, I’d put it 3rd, behind A Storm of Swords and A Game of Thrones, but ahead of A Clash of Kings and A Feast for Crows. At times it’s hard going, but there’s pay off in the latter 3rd of it, and plenty of jaw dropping OMG moments along the way. It was well worth the price, not so sure about the near 6 year wait and the angst during it, but that’s a whole other story, it sets up what promises to be one of the best conclusions to a series that many of us are likely to see.

A Feast for Crows

Of all the 4 released books of George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire none is more hotly debated amongst fans than the 4th instalment. The first 3 seem to be universally acknowledged as a quality product. Opinion is widely varied on the merits of A Feast for Crows. To fully understand this and even my own view of the book a history lesson is required.

A Game of Thrones came out in 1996, A Clash of Kings in 1998 and A Storm of Swords in 2000. A Feast for Crows in 2005. Why the long break between books 3 and 4? Even this is argued. As I understand it the author had initially intended that there be a 5 year gap between the end of A Storm of Swords and the start of A Feast for Crows (which at the time was still called A Dance with Dragons), Martin had never been totally comfortable with the relative youth of some of his principals and he now acknowledges that he made them too young to begin with, however hindsight is a wonderful thing, and Martin’s preferred style of working with a rough outline lends itself to this type of problem. To solve the problem he introduced the now infamous 5 year gap, he was going to fill in the blanks with ‘flashbacks. Around 18 months into the process he realised it wasn’t working, scrapped what he’d done and went back to the drawing board. This approach was not without it’s own set of problems and seriously altered how the author viewed his own work.

4 years after the release of A Storm of Swords the natives were getting restless, and Martin decided that half a book was better than no book at all and released A Feast for Crows. Not necessarily a bad idea and may have worked, except that he decided to leave out Jon Snow, Dany and Tyrion, 3 of the series most popular characters. (Note: Jon does appear in the book. It’s briefly early on and it isn’t in his own PoV chapter). To make up for their absence he introduced 2 new PoV (Point of View) characters; Brienne and Cersei. There were also a whole bunch of ‘one-shot’ PoV’s.

Feast isn’t actually a bad book, well not in my opinion. However compared to the 3 that came before it, it doesn’t stack up that well. There’s far too much filler. Did we really need Brienne’s travelogue? It’s been said this was to illustrate the state of the country and the small folk from the wars that had been raging. I seem to remember much of Arya’s storyline in A Clash of Kings doing this. I personally like Brienne, but a lot of other readers don’t seem to, and giving her a PoV may have been stretching the friendship a bit too far. It didn’t help that the readers were aware that she was on a fool’s errand. Readers knew that Sansa was in the Eyrie, masquerading as Littlefinger’s ‘natural’ daughter; Alayne, and that Arya was in Braavos training as a Faceless Man. The Cersei chapters didn’t really work either. Readers knew that she was a poor ruler and had been crazy and paranoid ever since Joffrey’s death, the loss of her father was only going to make her leadership worse and make her loonier. It didn’t need to be spelled out and seeing her lurch from one mistake to the next became rather tedious.

The one-shot PoV’s were odd, filled with unlikeable characters about whom readers didn’t really seem to care. They could have easily been condensed into two chapters; one for Dorne and the other for the Iron Islands. They reeked off filler to me. Feast was definitely in need of a ruthless editor, it reads like it was author edited.

It does have good points and it’s better on a reread. By this stage you know it’s not the full story, you can skip over Brienne asking about a maiden of 3 and 10 every time she encounters a new person, you can gloss over Cersei’s nuttiness.
I also liked two of the returning PoV’s. One was Arya. George has sometimes said that he has difficulty writing the juvenile PoV’s. I believe this mostly refers to Bran, but as Arya is only 11 years old at the end of A Feast for Crows it must also apply to her. Bran’s chapters sometimes lag, but Arya’s never do. Her chapters always hit me hardest and this is no exception. One of them in this book has made me cry every single time I’ve read it. Arya also has the advantage of operating in Braavos and this lets the author introduce a fascinating new Venicesque city to his readers, something he does brilliantly.

Then there’s Sansa (I can hear the groans from here). I like Sansa, I’ve never understood the dislike to hatred for her. I enjoy her chapters in A Feast for Crows, as she slowly starts to learn the ‘game’ from Littlefinger and her love hate relationship with young Robert 'Sweetrobin' Arryn. Many people say that the Sansa chapters are deadly boring (in fact I’ve seen someone refer to them as ‘Sansa’s Adventures in Babysitting), I’ve never seen them that way. The Vale is like a country all on it’s own and I find it interesting to explore that society, plus I loved Lady Myranda (call me ‘Randa) and hope that readers get to see more of her in The Winds of Winter, when Sansa will return (her chapters were moved from A Dance with Dragons for reasons of length and the fact that she didn’t have any real cliffhanger endings to resolve).

In conclusion A Feast for Crows is definitely a flawed entry, but it’s not as bad as many make it out to be. I’d suggest reading it as part of the ongoing series to see the stories through, but reread it when you have time in order to fully appreciate it and it’s place in the series as a whole.

A Storm of Swords

The best words to describe the 3rd volume of A Song of Ice and Fire; A Storm of Swords, are tour de force. It’s as close to a perfect instalment of an epic that I’ve ever read. It can’t stand alone as it is very obviously an instalment in something ongoing, but it’s one of the best books I’ve read in this or any other genre.

I knew I was in for something different when the first actual Point of View (PoV) chapter (I don’t regard the one off prologues as genuine PoV characters) was entitled Jaime. That refers to Jaime ‘The Kingslayer’ Lannister. In A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings to a lesser extent Jaime was a total black hat. One of his actions annoyed me so much in A Game of Thrones that I very nearly ripped the page out of the book in a fit of anger. If he was a PoV character then that meant the readers were going to see more layers to him, that in itself was a mouth watering prospect, whether or not he altered his character much. I regard what George Martin did with Jaime Lannister in ASoS as one of his greatest achievements as a writer. I hated the character with a passion in A Game of Thrones, but midway through A Storm of Swords I was cheering him on, as I suspect were many other readers. It takes rare talent to turn a character around like that, make it believable and inspire passion in the readers. Martin succeeded admirably on this front in A Storm of Swords and the redemption of Jaime Lannister.

It wasn’t just shiny new PoV characters like Jaime that were kicking goals for the author in A Storm of Swords, it was established fan favourites like Dany, Jon, Arya and Tyrion. They were all at the top of their game and right in the thick of the action. There were so many jaw dropping moments from this book. The infamous Red Wedding. The marriage of Sansa to Tyrion and that of Joffrey to Margaery Tyrell and the shocking, but satisfying conclusion to that particular union. The fight between Oberyn ‘The Red Viper’ Martell and Gregor ‘The Mountain’ Clegane. Tyrion’s confrontation with his father. They just kept on coming.

Despite the size of the book (it had to be split into two volumes in mmpb in the UK editions) there’s hardly a dull moment. It’s not all beer and skittles though, although there isn’t anything I could term as a flat spot, the author’s increasing interest in minor details became more apparent, I think a more ruthless editor could have cut some things out without letting the narrative suffer, because most, if not all, of it seemed pertinent at the time readers let it slide.

If Jaime was an unqualified success as a PoV character then his 2nd new one; Samwell Tarly, was less so. The author likes Sam and I know he’s got his fans out there in readerland, but I find him a pretty colourless, two dimensional character. He’s a fat coward who occasionally gets lucky and barely manages to survive, once you’ve read that once it just continues to repeat itself. I also wasn’t particularly enamoured of Bran’s seemingly endless journey northward to discover exactly what we don’t know. However I can forgive even those less than thrilling sections for the inclusion of Meera Reed’s delightful story of Lord Whent’s Tourney at Harrenhal as a fairytale. That was masterful stuff and hints at the truth behind some accepted facts.

For a book of it’s size I read it in double quick time and was left breathless at the end. I’ve read it a number of times since and I always find something new to appreciate in it.

A Clash of Kings

The big question I found myself asking after reading A Game of Thrones was could George Martin back it up? I’m not the first person to read a series enjoy the opening book, but feel badly let down by the subsequent volumes.

A Clash of Kings answered my question with a resounding yes.

A Clash of Kings concentrates, as the title may imply, on the war that erupts in Westeros for the Iron Throne following the death of King Robert Baratheon in A Game of Thrones. There are five claimants for the throne on Westeros; the boy king Joffrey Baratheon. Robert’s two younger brothers; Stannis and Renly, who both contend that Joffrey is the result of an incestuous relationship between Cersei and her twin brother Jaime Lannister, and therefore has no claim to the throne. Robb Stark, the King in the North, and Balon Greyjoy, the King of the Iron Islands. There’s also Danaerys ‘Stormborn’ Targaryen across the sea, you could contend that even the leader of the wildlings; Mance Rayder considers himself a king of sorts.

To give readers an insight into the plans of Stannis Baratheon and Balon Greyjoy, Martin had to add two new PoV (Point of View) characters. Davos Seaworth, the former smuggler known as the Onion Knight, was Stannis’ right hand man and provided readers with a warts and all look at Robert Baratheon’s younger brother, who had grown up in the older one’s shadow and was none too happy about it. The other new PoV was a character that was familiar to readers from A Game of Thrones; Ned Stark’s ward Theon Greyjoy. Theon was not a particularly well liked character in the first book and no opportunity to describe him as sly or cunning was ever missed. In an effort to gain his father’s admiration it is Theon who attacks and takes control of Winterfell in Robb’s absence.

The game that George Martin set in motion in his first book continues in the second and it grows ever more deadly as it unfolds. Readers know that not everyone will get out of this alive. His willingness to kill off key characters allows Martin to create shocks for the readers. In A Clash of Kings there are two characters who are believed to be dead and because George isn’t afraid to do this everyone believes that they are only to have the rug pulled out from under them when they are presented as still alive.

The characters started to move apart in A Clash of Kings even more so than they had in A Game of Thrones. Catelyn is travelling between her son’s camp at her family’s home of Riverrun to the Frey’s stronghold and Renly’s moving court of followers. Jon has gone ranging with his brothers from the Wall in an effort to find out what became of his uncle Benjen. Sansa is being held as a prisoner at Joffrey’s court and going through her own personal hell at the hands of her psychopathic betrothed. Arya has left Kings Landing and is travelling across a war torn countryside trying to make her way back home. Bran is still at Winterfell attempting to hold what is left of his family together. Tyrion has come to Kings Landing and is given the task of preparing the city for attack from either one or both of the Baratheon brothers’ forces. Dany is leading her khal through the east trying to find a way onto the continent.

The narrative skilfully builds to a slam bang finale with the spectacular Battle of the Blackwater and leaves readers desperately waiting for the 3rd instalment of this awesome epic.

A Game of Thrones

Before posting the actual review I need to say a few words. I've been following George R.R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire since I first saw A Game of Thrones in a bookstore in 1996. It was on my 100 Must-Read Fantasy Novels list and I did intend to wait until I got to the M's, read what was out and post the reviews, however you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice (do mice really plan?) men. GRRM, as his legion of fans call him, finished the long awaited (nearly 6 years) 5th book in the series; A Dance with Dragons, a little bit back and it's coming out on July 12 (hopefully I'll get my hot little hands on it within a week of publication. The biggest remaining chain down here; Dymocks, have it listed as being in store on July 14), so I had to break the schedule and reread the first 4 books now. I'll post the reviews in the lead up over the next week or so. Sit back and have a read of my contribution to the two million or so reviews of this book that are already out there.

Ever since being published in 1996 George R.R Martin’s first volume of his epic A Song of Ice and Fire series has been reviewed countless times (usually glowing reviews I might add), has been the subject of a number of ongoing reread projects, a lavish HBO mini series and a comic book. I’m not sure that I can really add a lot to all that, but I’ll give it a try.

This is about the 5th or 6th time I’ve read A Game of Thrones (apparently the wonderfully tolerant and accepting people over at SFFWorld seem to think I know nothing about the book, so read on at your own peril) and each time I find myself struck by the sheer brilliance of the writing. George R.R Martin had already created a detailed history for his world of Westeros by the time he had the vision that led to him writing the books and it shows here. His marvellous descriptions of what has gone before in Westeros recent and ancient history are worth the purchase price alone. Add to that the game of political intrigue, a slightly stylised depiction of medieval life and some of the most detailed shades of grey characters I’ve ever been privileged to read and you have an almost flawless piece of writing.

For those few who haven’t read the book, or aren’t aware of it’s plot here goes. The story is set on the giant continent of Westeros where seasons last for years, not months. The current summer has lasted nearly a decade, but winter will come and when it does it will be long and hard. After a period of relative political stability Westeros is about to be plunged into a deadly conflict for the crown, the game of thrones is about to begin.

The story is told from the point of view of 8 of it’s major characters: Eddard Stark, the Lord of Winterfell, stiff necked and honourable to a fault, Ned is in no way equipped for the dangerous political intrigues he’s about to step into. Lady Catelyn Stark, Ned’s faithful wife, who will be tested to her very limits as she desperately tries to protect her children from those who would use them as pawns to further their own ends. Jon Snow, Ned Stark’s baseborn son, who elects a life of hardship and struggle as a Sworn Brother of the Night’s Watch, manning the Wall to Westeros’ far north and keeping the kingdom safe from the wildlings and Others that live in the frozen wastes beyond the Wall. Sansa Stark, Ned and Catelyn’s oldest daughter, who goes south with dreams of valiant and chivalrous knights only to find out that the stories are not real. Arya Stark, Ned and Catelyn’s rebellious tomboyish younger daughter, who will have to learn how to survive without any help, if she is to survive at all. Bran Stark, middle child of Ned and Cat, suffers a severe injury early on in the book, and becomes far more responsible than any child of his age should ever have to be. Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf son of powerful Lord Tywin Lannister, Tyrion relies on his wits and silver tongue to keep himself alive and propel him upward in the game of thrones. Daenerys Targaryen, the last surviving heir to the Targaryen Dynasty is far away to the east, married to the feared Dothraki horselord Khal Drogo, Dany is much more than a pawn, she’s a major player, she may be young, but she wants what she believes is rightly hers; the throne of Westeros.

It’s not just these PoV (Point of View) characters that make the story come alive, it’s the others that Martin peoples his narrative with. Characters like the scheming Petyr ‘Littlefinger’ Baelish, the dangerous and mysterious sellsword Bronn, former first sword of Braavos, turned sword teacher; Syrio Forel, the less than honourable knight of the Kingsguard Ser Jaime Lannister and his vicious twin sister Queen Cersei, the scarred vengeance seeking Sandor ‘The Hound’ Clegane, Ned’s oldest son Robb Stark, the heir to Winterfell, the list goes on and on.

The book is heavy on the political intrigue and the action along with all the pomp and ceremony of the age and light on the magic. Magic does exist in the world, but it’s not the driving force that it is in many other epic fantasy's of the time. Martin doesn’t pull punches and there are shocks galore throughout the book’s 600+ pages. Key characters do die and others do things that you wouldn’t expect of them. Many of Martin’s characters are shades of grey, rather than black or white, and it makes for interesting and absorbing reading. I’m left breathless every time I finish this book and never regret a single minute of the time spent reading it.

I can’t recommend it too highly and the only warning I have is that since the 3rd volume (A Storm of Swords) Martin has slowed down considerably (the 4th book; AA Feast for Crows took 5 years to come out and the 5th; A Dance with Dragons almost 6), the books are frustratingly addictive, so savour them and be prepared to wait for the next instalment.

Joe Abercrombie’s gritty trilogy and subsequent standalone volumes have been influenced by A Song of Ice and Fire, although he also owes a lot to Glen Cook’s Black Company series, and Martin himself has said that Tad William’s Tolkien homage Memory, Sorrow and Thorn inspired him and made him see that there was a viable market for BFF (Big Fat Fantasy) if anyone was minded to try and write one.

Before Dancing

As nearly everyone in the world knows by now A Dance with Dragons (the 5th volume in George R.R Martin's best selling fantasy epic A Song of Ice and Fire) will be released on July 12. If you can't remember where George last left his heroes, and as it's been 11 years since readers last heard from some of them, this could be the case, and don't want to do a complete reread of the series or don't have time never fear. One of George R.R Martin's most devoted and knowledgeable fans; Adam 'Werthead' Whitehead has produced a comprehensive recap in 4 posts on his blog; The Wertzone. The Song of Ice and Fire posts can be found here, here, here and here.
This was a huge undertaking and Adam has done great work and performed a valuable service for a lot of readers. Even if you don't need a recap this series of posts is well worth reading if you have any interest in the series.

George Martin & A Dance With Dragons

Despite being a huge fan of George Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and being none too happy about the delay with getting the 5th book of this fantastic series out I've refrained from making comment on it here. This is mainly due to the fact that just mentioning George Martin's name on the internet seems to provoke a storm of controversy.

Last year Suvudu blogger Shawn Speakman wrote an article In Defense of George R R Martin. I wanted to give him my take on it at the time, but for one reason or another never got around to it. The other day he posted a series of questions along the same lines and asked for comment. I've decided to take him up on it. So here's how I view the situation and have answered Shawn's questions. I've included both Shawn's questions and his answers along with mine:

1. Don't George's other pursuits--watching football, editing anthologies, traveling to other countries and conventions, blogging about his merchandise--hamper his completion of the new book?
I happen to think that vast majority of those who are angry that George has not completed A Dance of Dragons pin it on the other pursuits that the man has in his life.

While his hobbies do take up a certain amount of time in his life, they cannot be used against the man for not finishing his book. An example: I write five or six hours a day when I am working on a book. Anything I write after those hours is trash and not worth the time spent writing it. My day lasts about sixteen hours. What do I do with the other ten hours? The hobbies I pursue, of course. Watching sports. Going to the gym. Writing emails. Maintaining the websites I must. Shipping out signed books. These other pursuits help reinvigorate my writing batteries for the next day.
Every writer has those batteries. Every writer has the need to recharge them in order to get the best out of their craft. If those hobbies are taken away, the craft suffers dramatically.
The question is: Do his angry fans just want a book, even if the quality is low due to writing 15 hours a day and foregoing watching his Jets, or do those fans actually want George's best effort?
Sadly, that question will come up later in the interview too.
It simply speaks to the idea that most readers have no comprehension what it means to write, or write a book, or write a book at the quality that George gives us.

I’m partially in agreeance with Shawn, here. I think it’s great that George has interests outside of his writing. He would be a rather scary individual if he didn’t. His football is obviously some sort of outlet and contributing and editing other work I believe assists his creative process. Even blogging about the merchandise probably doesn’t take that long, although I’ll comment on that further in another point. Where I disagree is on the issue of travelling and convention going. I believe those two activities do impact the book. George has repeatedly said that he does not write away from home. Some writers do, some writers don’t, they all work differently. Largely George’s reason for not writing ASoIaF away from home is due to the fact that he uses an old word processing program (I believe it’s DOS based) on an equally ancient machine, it’s not like a laptop he can carry around with him wherever he goes (I have occasionally wondered what happens if he gets hit with a great idea and he’s not at home). The conclusion to that is that any time spent away from his house in Santa Fe means that none of Dance gets done. It’d be interesting to see how long he did spend away from home last year. It may not actually hamper the production of the book that much, but it does impact it to some degree.

2. Are readers of A Song of Ice & Fire entitled to be angry that George has missed his own created deadlines?
Most definitely yes! They can most certainly be angry with George. I believe he has missed his own deadlines several times over the last ten years and every time one of the deadlines comes and goes people get angry about it—to the point of obscene name calling.

Three things about this point though that people need to remember:
1. 1) No one is angrier about missing deadlines than George.
2. 2) Some of those missed deadlines have legitimate reasons behind them.
3. 3) After George missed the first two deadlines, why did the fans keep trusting him?
Point #1 is self-explanatory. George share your grief. He mentions it all of the time on his blog. For Point #2, I'm not going to go into the details of it but you are more than welcome to read my article, In Defense of George R. R. Martin. As an example: So many fans believe that George took five years to write A Feast For Crows. He didn't. It only took him 3 1/2 years to write the book they read. Point #3 is also self-explanatory. I feel one of the worst things about all of this is the lack of responsibility most fans are taking on.
That too, will come up later in the interview, I believe.

Short answer is no. They’re not set in stone deadlines, at best they’re guesstimates.

I do believe Shawn's points need addressing, though.
1) This is an opinion. Shawn's is that George is upset and angry about missing those ‘deadlines’. That’s how he reads the posts. My opinion is different. Those posts often come across as insincere and empty words with very little meaning or feeling behind them. The only person who can really address that definitively is George himself and he’s shown in the past that he doesn’t respond well to being questioned in relation to the writing time on Dance.
2) Define legitimate.
3) That’s really up to the fans. A number of people I’ve seen commenting about this have ceased to believe that the ‘deadlines’ are going to be met and shrug their shoulders at each new one. I doubt George will give another one before the book is finished, of course that does depend on exactly when the book is finished.

The only responsibility a fan has is paying for the book when they buy it or returning it to the library on time if they borrowed it from one when they finish reading it. That doesn’t just go for ASoIaF, that’s the same for any book.

3. Is it unethical for George to write on his blog about his other merchandise opportunities when the majority of people visiting his website are only interested in A Dance With Dragons?
Not. At. All.

This is one of those hot points for me. I have read so many fans write that they are only interested in updates to A Song of Ice & Fire and, in their opinion, there is no reason for George to waste time writing about anything else on his blog. That sounds all fine and dandy, except these people forget two points:
1. Many of George's fans actually do love his other work and want to keep informed about it just as they want to be informed about Ice & Fire.
2. George has a duty to notify his fans of his merchandising and other endeavors. Those companies go into business with him knowing that he draws a large group of readers to his blog every day. It is part of their marketing strategies.
As for the people who are only interested in A Dance With Dragons news, I often wonder if these people read other fantasy writers out there too?

Yes. It. Is.

No problem with George informing fans that there’s some new non Ice & Fire work out there. I do have an issue with selling water damaged stock, stock which you previously advised fans not to buy due to the level of damage, just because you want to clear space.

I read a number of author blogs. George’s is the only one that puts the hard sell on the readers. If Shawn can direct me to others who do this I’ll concede the point. If he really wants to George can keep up his end of the bargain with his business associates and satisfy the disinterested fans at the same time. There are sections on his website where he can advertise these things and put links to the relevant companies. I may be mistaken, but I can remember a time when he used to direct interested parties to those sections. They haven’t been updated for a long time. I’m no website expert, but I don’t think in this day and age it would be difficult to combine and update these areas or create a new section for the selling of merchandise. All George needs to do is put a link in his blog to that section, he can talk in glowing terms about the merchandise to his heart’s content and preach to those that are interested. No it’s Not a Blog, it’s become an online clearing house.

I’m only interested in news about A Song of Ice and Fire from George, but yes I do read other fantasy authors. I can’t speak for every person who is only interested in George's ASoIaF work, but I personally find that comment somewhat offensive. We’re not troglodytes who camp out in our parents basements lovingly caressing the first for ASoIaF books muttering ‘My precioussss.’ (apologies to JRR Tolkien).

4. Is it legitimate for a fan who has bought his previous books to criticize George since their money has helped his success?
A resounding NO!

And here's why.
The purchase of a book gives the buyer one thing—access to the book and the story inside of it. It does not give them entitlement to anything other than that book. It does not give them entitlement over the author. It does not mean the author suddenly becomes the slave of the reader. As Neil Gaiman so eloquently put it, "George R. R. Martin is not your bitch."
The purchase of the book merely means you get to read the contents between the two covers. That's it. Nothing else.
I can hear people thinking out there. "But Shawn, I bought this book with the understanding I will get to read the conclusion to the series!"
Yeah, and you still might. George is still writing, at least as of two or three days ago. Here is where my comment about personal responsibility comes in. Most people who argue since they bought a book they are owed something seem to forget that they knew when they purchased the book that the series wasn't done yet. Every person out there from the very beginning has known this. At the beginning, the series was to be a trilogy, so no one can say it was originally a stand alone that grew and those people who bought the first book back then got screwed. No, no, and no.
Instead, none of those people take responsibility for reading George early. I stopped at A Clash of Kings because I knew at that point it was going to take George three years to complete a book and there was no reason for me to become wrapped up in it. I made that choice. It is a choice I make with many of today's authors.
I suggest to those readers who feel they are owed something for buying a book to look at themselves and take some responsibility for their own actions. They are at fault just as much as George is for not publishing books quicker.


Have to agree with Shawn there. You see the book, you pick up the book, you pay for the book, end of story. Can we please find another comment to back all this up other than Neil Gaiman’s somewhat vulgarly expressed opinion?

I do have questions for Shawn, though, . He has not read A Storm of Swords or A Feast For Crows. Does that mean he's going to wait until George completes the entire series before reading the rest of the books in it? If George never finishes it will Shawn offload the books he's already read and not bother with reading the rest of it, because hey it's never going to be completed? Shawn intimates that he also does this with other authors and yet in another part of this article advises to explore and read other work, would these also be unfinished series? Fans of ASoIaF tend to like multi volume epics and most of those are works in progress. Does Shawn buy the first books of new series and then leave them unread on his shelf until the author completes the series? If he does that I have to congratulate him for having great will power.

5. Does a reader have the right to critique an author's professional conduct simply because they have purchased a book by them?
Eh, this is a grey area one for me.

That George has been unprofessional, I agree. But not for what you think. Most people feel they are owed something by him. The fact of the matter is this: George has only been unprofessional to his publisher. The publisher assuredly had him under contract for finishing A Dance With Dragons earlier than February 1, 2010. George has broken that contract with the publisher.
Therefore, in my opinion, the only people who can bust George's chops about professionalism are his editor, Anne Groell, and the president of Random House.
Everyone else? Nope.

A reader has every right to critique an author’s professional conduct and they don’t have to have bought the book to do so. It’s just like film goers can criticise an actor’s professional conduct or sports fans can criticise a sports star's professional conduct. George has made himself a public figure and if he doesn’t like what people say about his professional conduct then that’s his problem. His best option there is to become a hermit and never publish another written word. In terms of George’s lack of professionalism I refer people to the now infamous February update in his blog. I’m sure you remember it, it was the one where he used Rick Nelson to tell a section of his readership off. His recent temper tantrum about his post being misinterpreted is another example. He should really expect it by now, after all these are the same people who have fallen for his April Fool gags and believed that he really was including 38 POV’s in Dance when he made an off the cuff comment and pulled a number out of thin air.

6. Doesn't George have an obligation to finish books in a timely manner so his fans don't have to keep re-reading his previous books over and over again?
See the last part of my answer for question #4. It gets at personal responsibility for reading a series that is not yet finished.

No, the only obligation George has is to himself to finish what he started and give himself a sense of accomplishment….oh and to his publisher for the faith and patience shown. Why would he care how often the fans read the books? That’s a fans choice. Nothing to do with the author.

7. Does George have writer's block?
The comment about George having writer's block comes up all of the time on the internet(s).

It is usually brought up by people who have no understanding of what writer's block truly is.
I think Terry Brooks best described it. He says writer's block is the inability of a writer to have thought their story through far enough to not get caught writing into a corner.
I go in depth about this in In Defense of George R. R. Martin. In short, George is a freewriter. When he sits down at his keyboard, he never knows where the story is going to take him. He doesn't outline every character's path to the conclusion. When a character goes down the wrong path, he usually doesn't know it until weeks or even months of work have been put it. By that time it is too late. He has lost that time and he must start over. Starting over takes time too. This is why it takes George on average 3 1/2 years per book.
With A Dance With Dragons, he has written himself into a knot that he is trying to unravel in a way that works for what will come next. He has spoken of this knot several times on his blog. Last week he even shared that one of the chapters he had "finished" four or five times before is perhaps correctly written now.
The point I wish to make is this: George writes the same way he did 19 years ago when he began writing A Game of Thrones. He had a type of writer's black back then. It isn't going to change now. It is the same craft of writing that has given fans such enjoyment during the first four books. To decry that which has given such pleasure is hypocrisy.

I don’t believe George has writer’s block. It depends on how you define writer’s block. I see it is a complete and total inability to create. George does not have that, he’s finished a number of written projects this year and he is working on Dance, a few recent updates have said as much. Is he struggling? Yes, but that’s not block.

8. Isn't the best way to show our displeasure with George is to not buy A Dance With Dragons when it is published?
Yup. Exactly. That is your power as the consumer. If you are truly upset with him at taking five years to write Dragons—which is longer than it normally takes him—then your only recourse is to boycott his books.

Of course, I doubt those fans who are angriest at George will be able to stay away from buying the forthcoming book on the day it is published. Still, it comes down to personal responsibility again. Ironically, the people who are angriest are also their own worst enemies.

Yes, it is. That again is a fan choice. You could get the book from your local library and that way you can have your cake and eat it too.

9. If it has taken George ten years to write the last two books, how long will it take him to write The Winds of Winter?
As I said in my previous article, it really only took George 3 1/2 years to write the book you all know as A Feast For Crows. It has taken him 5 years to write Dance.

That said, pegging how long it will take him to write Winds is difficult. Here is what I know. George is in the middle of his story, arguably the most difficult part of the tale to write. He has created the characters, set them in motion, and now they are being set up in a correct way to march toward the series conclusion. Like a chess match, it takes many of the right moves in the middle of the game to get the checkmate at its end. In Dragons, George is having to set up every character just the right way. The pivotal point of the series is now. It is why it is taking George longer than usual.
Once set into motion, those characters march to their destinies. I think George will have an easier time of writing The Winds of Winter than the last two books. I will say 3-4 years after Dragons is delivered, published, and its resultant tour finished.
I base this simply on the math of how long it took him to write the previous four books, which I talk about in the In Defense article.

As Shawn has argued in the past, writing is an inexact science, it cannot be based on how long George took to write the previous four books. It’s also a shifting measure, at least until Dance is completed. No one, including George, can answer that question. If you asked George 4 ½ years ago how long it would take to write Dance, he wouldn’t have answered: I’ll still be working on it in 2010. If Shawn has not read the 3rd & 4th books how does he know that the pivotal point in the series is now?

10. Isn't it insulting that George thinks he doesn't owe his readers anything? Doesn't he owe us, at the very least, the conclusion of the series since he is living off of the money that we paid him?
I spoke about this earlier. Two things: A book purchased gives the fan a right to said book, and said book only. Personal responsibility.

This question has already been asked at least twice in the article and the answer is still no. I will repeat myself: beyond paying for the book or returning it in a timely manner the fan has no responsibility. That’s how it works. The author writes the book, the publisher publishes it, the consumer buys it. It’s that simple.

11. Has George ever apologized for the lateness of his last two books?
Repeatedly. If people think he hasn't, they should probably go back and read his blog. No one is more upset about him and he says as much often.

Last two books? Was A Storm of Swords late? I thought that one was written in record time. I don’t remember there being an apology for A Feast for Crows as such, he did admit that it was hard to write at the back of the book, though and acknowledged his fans in general for their patience and support, he then said he hoped that Dance would be completed in about a year. That was dated June 2005.

12. Don't readers have an obligation to be patient with a man who is arguably writing one of the best fantasy series of all time and wants it done right, one that will be read long after his grandchildren are gone?
George has been called the American Tolkien. The label is more fitting than most people even know. The Lord of the Rings is considered the masterwork of the fantasy genre. Look up how long it took Tolkien to write it, to get it right. Look up how many drafts it went through. This should give some kind of scale about why it is taking George so long to write Ice & Fire—and why its completion in the right way is so important to him and should be to the fans.

No! The fan has no obligation other than paying for the book. The Tolkien comparison is irrelevant in a number of ways and has been addressed by other people so I won’t even bother to comment on it. Until the series is completed and been assessed and stood the test of time then no one can argue that it is one of the best fantasy series of all time. In fact given that Shawn has not read anything past A Clash of Kings I find it staggering that he can even write that with a straight face.

13. Do his other activities and hobbies like conventions, traveling, editing anthologies, and watching football actually help his writing?

Right back to the beginning of the interview. Read question #1 and its answer for the answer to this one.

As I said in my first answer, mostly yes. With the exception of the cons, which from an outsider's point of view (that's me) appear to be backslapping sessions and an opportunity for George to catch up with some old friends and have adoring fans boost his ego, I think the other things are excellent outlets and do ultimately assist in the creation of quality work.

Now I've done and said all that I'm nervous. I fully expect my points to be torn apart and I guess I asked for that by doing this. It's just how I feel and how I see things. I think in all of this people from both camps should remember that when all is said and done it is just a book. It will come out when it comes out and that is all there is to it.