This novel came out five years ago in 2006. Since then, there has been no follow up whatsoever by the author on any of the characters in this series. I liken this to the "Who Shot J.R." episode that occurred in the 1970's in the television show "Dallas" only far FAR worse. Additionally, this novel has none of the prominent characters that we've gotten to know up to this point.
There are no Daenerys chapters (she's the one with the dragons), there are no Tyrion chapters, no Bran chapters, no Jon chapters (the white walker storyline)... instead what we get is a prologue about dragons...and then no dragons in the rest of the 1500-page book...and a cliffhanger where Arya wakes up blind and no follow-up for five years.
Martin does give us a new enemy in this book as the other ones are basically destroyed. Plus he shoves us into Circe's head with her own chapters which are interesting. However, all of these new POV characters suddenly getting their own chapters seems like a big sellout. This smacks of a conversation between author and publisher that goes something like this: "Hey George, we are making millions off of these and you need to make the series longer. Milk this for us baby." Response from Mr. Martin: "I think I can do that but in order to get more books out of this, I need a new enemy. But I know where to work on this...I'll spend a book building up the Greyjoys that no one gives a shit about and they will be a force to be reckoned with for at least three more novels."
The term, I guess, is "selling out" and I'm on the hook. I'm as powerless to the "sell out" as I am to iTunes hiking the price on songs to $1.25. I'm not going to stop buying music...so I guess I'll pay.
How does a writer get away with this behavior? How can you write a prologue that has nothing to do with the rest of the book? How do you suddenly depart from all the characters that you've been writing about to essentially produce a novel that "takes place in the same world" but essentially has nothing to do with the 6000 pages that came before it? And then to top it off...how on earth do you not provide a follow-up for half a decade?
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| Here's to you, Mr. Martin. |
I'm intrigued by all of this. It's fascinating to me to see just how much the reader is willing to endure when the author decides to take a big steamy shit. Incoming New York Times bestseller...12 weeks at number one (or longer), anyone?
Oh we are all sheeple when it comes down to it, aren't we? And being that we are just sheeple...does it make any sense at all what agents blog about on how to get published? It all seems like such baloney.
If these books are really long then it might take him six years to write another one. Especially if he's become more famous in the meantime. That means more appearances, book signings, talk shows, meetings with HBO, yadda, yadda, yadda. And maybe he just needed a little break in there too.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you just need to tell yourself what all the religious people do that it's all part of a plan too mysterious for you to understand.
I haven't read these, but I HAVE experienced this phenomenon. MAN, I hear you on that! Janet Evanovich has made a forturne on Stephanie Plum and I read one i had to roll my eyes at a thousand times the plot was so dumb.
ReplyDeleteI think it is publisher pressure... or in some cases contracts that need to be fullfilled. And I'm sure in the short term, it DOES make a lot more money, but it undermines the author a lot and the publisher some.
Mutt: You get the award for leaving the best and funniest comment ever LOL!
ReplyDeleteHart: Ayep. I see your point.
Michael, I like you. You seem like a smart guy. I follow your blog. At least, in part, because you seem like such a smart guy. But your... fascination with these books... well, it makes me wonder. The more you talk about them, the more I'm sure they're some new form of crack or something and the more convinced I become to stay away from them.
ReplyDeleteBut, at least, you do have self-awareness of what's going on, which is more than can be said for the greater majority of the other sheeple out there.
Right on the cover there Time Magazine calls the book "surging".
ReplyDeleteWhat a great and appropriate word: surging. Your blog is surging, Rogue Mutt's comment is surging. The sheeple are surging.
Andrew: Absolutely correct...I'm a George R.R. Martin stalker. And my fascination comes out of frustration. I seriously want to meet him in person and have a thirty minute conversation that would probably turn into two hours as I ask him why the hell this and that happens in his books and why he abuses his reader so much. In Lady Gaga's words, Andrew, I'm in a "Bad ROMANCEEEEE" with Mr. Martin.
ReplyDeleteLOL, seems like you've so much money in the pot you have to call, even though you know you don't have the winning hand. Oh well, maybe next time you come across an endless fantasy saga with soap opera tendencies and hardly any fantasy you'll think twice. Maybe not.
ReplyDeletePersonally I took one look at a photo of Mr M, and decided he wasn't the man for me. Hope the next book makes it worth it.
I think I'm going to start picking books based on how attractive the authors are. Though then no one would ever read my book!
ReplyDeleteMoody, that's kind of a strange response lol. You base what you read off of how the author looks in real life? O.o... not sure how I respond to that. Do other people do that with books? I guess that's why it's so important to include an author picture on the book cover, eh?
ReplyDeleteYou can do anything as a writer once you've established yourself. For some, the more popular your books, the less effort you put into producing a good novel. It's as if they revert to that time when they first started writing--when they wrote anything that came to mind without any regard (or knowledge) of the rules.
ReplyDeleteIf only I could be so lucky...
I was joking, the size of the books was more than enough to put me off (although Mr Martin is one freaky looking dude).
ReplyDeleteThe sucker part is, it's only after you've bought the book that you realize the author pulled off that stunt. Or maybe his assistant wrote it based off his notes? Paging the Fantasy version of Nicholas Sparks?
ReplyDeleteI think, maybe, you need an intervention. :P
ReplyDeleteHey are you dissing DALLAS? That was awesome TV! LOL
ReplyDeleteLOL Andrew and D.U.
ReplyDeleteIt sure is fun to talk about him with my friend James though (by phone).
To riff on what Steph says: You CAN look at an author photo before you buy the book to decide whether it's right for you.
ReplyDelete