I'm reading this before checking out your HotD post, and this was really thorough, I agree with many of your points. I do think the latter books in the series are worth checking out despite the lack of a conclusion, as they include some really interesting character development for Tyrion that was largely absent from the show, and Cersei's PoV chapters are some of the best in the series imo. I would like to point out that the long seasons are supposed to be weird, Martin has said (tho I can't remember where he said it) that he intends to explain and solve the odd seasons by the end, implying that the long seasons aren't natural to the world but perhaps a consequence of something. Like many of the mysteries of the series that's likely not going to be answered tho
I am definitely going to try reading the books again, mainly for the later Lannister stuff. My comments on the seasons are largely nitpicking and not to be taken too seriously, it's one of those things where if I enjoyed the setting more overall I'd probably suspend my disbelief a bit more, there are a lot of stories that I like with much more preposterous worldbuilding, I kind of just notice it more with GRRM because his work is largely pretty grounded, but then there's a few bonkers things that stand out more. It's a strange mix of high and low fantasy.
Yeah Martin's worldbuilding is all over the place, I get what you mean haha for me what always takes me out is the massive size of places and armies, it gets a little silly sometimes. As you say, its something like a middle ground between high and low fantasy
This is true, and he does generally pull it off. You could drop the Lannister boys in a much worse setting and they would still stand out as fantastic characters. On the other hand, I might enjoy Dany more if she wasn't in the continent of Quirky Weird Foreigners.
I'm reading this before checking out your HotD post, and this was really thorough, I agree with many of your points. I do think the latter books in the series are worth checking out despite the lack of a conclusion, as they include some really interesting character development for Tyrion that was largely absent from the show, and Cersei's PoV chapters are some of the best in the series imo. I would like to point out that the long seasons are supposed to be weird, Martin has said (tho I can't remember where he said it) that he intends to explain and solve the odd seasons by the end, implying that the long seasons aren't natural to the world but perhaps a consequence of something. Like many of the mysteries of the series that's likely not going to be answered tho
I am definitely going to try reading the books again, mainly for the later Lannister stuff. My comments on the seasons are largely nitpicking and not to be taken too seriously, it's one of those things where if I enjoyed the setting more overall I'd probably suspend my disbelief a bit more, there are a lot of stories that I like with much more preposterous worldbuilding, I kind of just notice it more with GRRM because his work is largely pretty grounded, but then there's a few bonkers things that stand out more. It's a strange mix of high and low fantasy.
Yeah Martin's worldbuilding is all over the place, I get what you mean haha for me what always takes me out is the massive size of places and armies, it gets a little silly sometimes. As you say, its something like a middle ground between high and low fantasy
This is true, and he does generally pull it off. You could drop the Lannister boys in a much worse setting and they would still stand out as fantastic characters. On the other hand, I might enjoy Dany more if she wasn't in the continent of Quirky Weird Foreigners.