Do you think "A Song of Ice and Fire" is sexist?

[B_subgirrl]

Robert Jordan does write women well. But he also can't end a story

Not now he's dead anyway :tongue:.

Truly, his lack of neat and tidy endings within each book is one of the things I love about his writing. People's lives aren't wrapped up neatly within 1000 pages, so it irritates me that that's exactly what happens in so many books.

and has a plethora of other problems with his books. Honestly, I couldn't make it through "Wheel of Time" if I were forced to at swordpoint. It's just too much.

If it's any consolation, now the end of the series is in sight, many of the story lines ARE finally being wrapped up. It just took a wee while to get there.

Unfortunately, George R. R. Martin is starting down that path with this series as well. Where the first three books of this series were pointed and well formed, the last two have meandered endlessly.

This is a good thing for me!

i don't like the dude's style.. and having read heaps from the genre, is too easy to recognize the bits he pilfered from better writers.

sample.. from his site

*shudders* I didn't make it past the first few lines. All those descriptive words made me think of primary school English classes.

To be frank, I think the original "Game of Thrones" is one of the best fantasy novels I've read (not sure that's saying much, but there it is). I also think the first three are up there with the best series in fantasy. I was hopeful this most recent book would get things back on track, but perhaps he's lost his touch with this series.

In my opinion, these books blow Robert Jordan out of the water. Do yourself a favor and pick up the first book, "A Game of Thrones" ASAP

Despite my shudder, I promise to give it a go :smile:. In advance, either 'thank you', or 'your taste sucks'. :biggrin1:

 

[Guy-jin]

Don't get me wrong, Jordan is good. But Martin really does blow him away, even in the weaker last two books of his series.

I'm not a fantasy fan generally actually. I haven't finished many fantasy novels because I usually find them unreadable.

As for that excerpt, let's just say that isn't representative of the first book. His writing has definitely taken a dive in the fourth and fifth books.

Like I said about Jordan: started strong, but fell off. GRRM may be heading ha way. However I do believe this series is set for seven books, so I hope it will end before completely falling off.

 

[TheBestYouCan]

I think what you find with the last two books, though still quite enjoyable, is an Author that became popular way too fast, and way too soon... have you seen the communites, webpages, forums, all dedicated to rushing him towards completion of book after book?

If he could slow down, take his time, and get it done accordingly then maybe his writing level would pick back up, but in a percentage I'd say it's only dropped about 20% in the last two books which still puts him head and shoulders about other fantasy authors.

I am thinking that with the attention and substance the fans will be getting with the HBO series maybe they will slack off on him while he completed the book series! Here is to hoping!!:biggrin1:

 

[helgaleena]

I'll tell you what I think about what happened to Jon Snow without being too specific (not wanting to spoil it for anybody who hasn't read this far)--- he did what is the right thing for humankind, but not all humankind realizes it yet. And it was a mistake to listen to the red priestess because 1) she gets things wrong a lot, 2) He is supposed to have renounced all other allegiances when he took the black, including those of affection.

The red priestess now, she's hella sexy. But scary.

I don't think Asha is rewarded for acting masculine; her powerful attributes are not all masculine ones. And she is not a slave to voices in her head, so I prefer her. Arya's got guidance by voices too, which again puts me off.

 

[D_Hillary_Clitton]

Martins books had me hooked from the start, whereas Jordan's books took me much longer. But everyone likes different writing styles.

 

[Nekoman]

Don't know whether I would call them sexist or not, but i would say he draws some fairly believable and well rounded female characters. I've only made it through the first half of the first book, but that's 400 pages, and I've read enough to know that Catelyn, Ned's wife is equally, if not more complex than her husband. Her daughter Arya is unusual as well. The King's wife appears at first glance to be purely evil, but I'm betting she becomes something else again as the books move along. Dany is a little broadly drawn, but she has loads of spirit, and like Anya is fiercely independent. Catelyn's sister, the widow of Jon Arryn is colorful as well, in a muted, but memorable kind of way. So, I guess no, it's NOT sexist, because the female characters I've just mentioned are just as formidable as their male counterparts. Yes, some of their actions and personalites are bound by a medieval type, patriarchal society, but you can't blame them for being trapped in a man's world.