Shit. I’ve done it to myself once again.
Having (almost) finished The Expanse, I decided to give myself another series to read. A Song of Ice and Fire seemed like a pretty good choice, as I had seen the TV show, more or less enjoyed it, and wanted a gateway into Fantasy. So off I went with one book, and I found it enjoyable enough to keep going. So I dove into the second, and it was fine.
Until I got in front of my computer to write this.
Just as it had happened with The Expanse, I am really unsure what the hell to write here. I almost want to write Second Verse Same as the First and just be on my way. Actually, more than The Expanse, it feels like I did when I was trying to read all of Oliver Sacks’ books, wherein for each one there were different points being made, but the over all tune felt the same.
If that makes sense. Either way, I will forgo the default book/plot summary for the mental well being of all who read this. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know what story I am talking about.
I am not sure what is interesting here to comment on. This is season two of the TV show, and the similarities between the two are staggering. There are more details here. Although I cannot be all that sure right now, it felt as if there were really only a handful of scenes that were truly notably different. For the most part, it felt like the same product. Which is a merit of the TV show, but says little of the book itself.
There was something of a bait and switch here from the first book. The individual chapters each felt longer than they had in A Game of Thrones. It was notable at first, and having picked this up right after the first book, it was rather jarring. But I got used to it very quickly, and by the time I hit the latter chapters (specifically the siege of King’s Landing) the chapters seemed surprisingly short. But I wasn’t really counting words at that point. There was still some other change, something I can’t put my finger on, that made my wonder what the writing process for this was, and to what extent there may have been a gap in time before Martin picked this up. That may have been the case. There seemed to be a difference between the one book and the other. But, of course, not so much so that one wouldn’t recognize it as the sequel.
Right. I will continue with the next book, although I may put something of a gap between the two. If nothing else, hopefully that will bring a fresher set of eyes to the review I will ultimately have to write.
Failures in Polymathy 