Things I Have Learned About Myself From A Song of Fire and Ice

[lls_mutant]

ignipes, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for telling me to read this. Cause it kicks ass.



1.) I am a total sucker for family. I just want all the Starks to be back together again.

2.) I have a new boyfriend. Unfortunately, he's dead because he was STUPID enough to confront Cersai Lannister. Ned, I love you. But come on dude, she killed the last guy who caught on. Couldn't you have been a little more effective? But then you wouldn't be so honorable, and your honor is why you're my new boyfriend. Poop.

3.) I apparently don't mind incest as a plot device when it's the bad guys doing it.

4.) I definitely favor good guys. The Lannisters are as charismatic as bad guys get, and I still don't like most of them.

4a.) Except Tyrion. I so need an icon with the quote "Try not to kill and maim each other while I'm gone."

4b.) And I guess Dany is headed towards "bad girl", but damn, she's got to be one of my favorite characters. Total Mary Sue gone RIGHT.

5.) For some reason, I am not drooling over Jon Snow. Don't get me wrong- I love the boy. He's one of my favorite characters. (Look, I have a lot of favorite characters in this.) But I'd take his dad over him any day. Except that Jon's, well, alive. At least so far.

6.) Apparently, I have no problem with spoilers as I peeked ahead at all of Dany's chapters when I read Game of Thrones. But I've got to stop doing it, because it mixes up the timelines in my head.

7.) It is possible for me to drool manaically over a series and not want to write fanfic for it. Thank GOD, because I do NOT need another fandom and George R.R. Martin forbids it anyway. Although I do love looking at the fanart. But I put fanart and fanfic in totally different categories, personally.



8.) A Song of Fire and Ice can be an effective diet aid. My new diet is entitled "A Feast For Crows, A Diet for Lissa." It's actually Weight Watchers, but every day I stick to my points I get to read a chapter. It's too early to say if it's truly effective, but bribery often is.

9.) This series is going to make me significantly poorer. Our house has bookcases. Lots of bookcases. Most of them are either IKEA bookcases or ones that hubby's dad made. But downstairs there is a very nice bookcase that only gets hardcovers on it. The rule is that the books that are on that bookcase must be our all time favorite books. There's the complete collection of Ayn Rand, all the Harry Potters, Little Women, Gone with the Wind, Nick Hornby's books, The Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, Ender's Game... and now I'm going to have to buy these in hardcover because they're just that damn good. :P~~~~~~~~

Thus ends my current ode to A Song of Fire and Ice.

ETA: Just for the record... "the bad guys" equates more to "the people I don't like".

Comments

[nassima.livejournal.com]

Heh. Bad guys? Good guys? You'll be surprised :D

And please go on telling us about your reading! It will feel like reading the series for the same time once again.

♥

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

Wait, what's this about "good guys" and "bad guys"? As nassima said, "Heh." Keep reading before you start tossing those words around so carelessly. ;)

I'm glad you're enjoying them! My Not-So-Secret Evil Plan to get everybody in the universe to read ASOIAF continues apace. *cackles*

I could not agree more about 4b. Well, except for the "bad girl" thing, because, really, let's just abandon these black and white labels while we still can, eh? (Trust me! *g*) But I honestly think that when GRRM was creating Dany he made up a big list of lame princess cliches -- silver hair, purple eyes, tragic history, exile, arranged marriage, special dragon magic, etc., etc., -- and decided to show the world that it could all be done right. Actually, that's what he's doing with many of his characters; Dany's just the one where it's most obvious.

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

I'm re-reading the series myself. I still haven't read Feast because it had been almost three years since I read the books and I'd forgotten too many details and particulars of the characters - it's so hard to keep track!

I'm still in Game of Thrones - I'm just up to the part right before Ned is killed and I've paused because it pains me to read it again. I liked Ned, too, but sometimes you can be too honorable to the point where it interferes with common sense. Loveable but stupid. *sigh* Right now I want to strangle Sansa. Heh.

Tyrion is awesome! :-D And I am a Jon Snow (and Ghost!) fangirl. What can I say. *g* I won't tell you what happens, but the others are right about 'bad guys' and 'good guys' being subjective. Well, with a few exceptions. Some characters I'll never like, though I may feel a twinge of sympathy here and there. :)

They really are fabulous, aren't they!

[merlinssister12.livejournal.com]

"Bad guy" and "Good guy" labels really are hard to apply in this story, at least with central characters, am I giving away too much?
I have to agree about not having any driving urges to write fanfic for this series, although I love GRRM's characters. His story is just so complete, including the backstory. There really is no room for fanfic in this story. At least I don't think so.
I LOVE this series, maybe even more than HP, perhaps because of the lack of frustrating gaps in the plot.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

YAY! Another Martin fan! Always glad to meet another convert.

And you really need to read limyaael's rave review of A Game of Thrones. It's sensational.

[sasha-davidovna.livejournal.com]

Yay! Another convert. I just bought the first book for my dad the other day in the hope of converting him, and Jama is even more enthusiastic about them than I am, despite "not liking fantasy." ;)

I hope you keep posting your thoughts - they're always so fun to read, especially as people's impressions of the characters change over time. Everybody above is right - "good guys" and "bad guys" are such ... limiting terms for a series like this. :D

I'm not as big a fan of Jon Snow as certain other people I could name either *coughsviolentlyandpointsupwards*, although I certainly do like him, but Tyrion is my all-time favorite so far. I'm not sure I can resist a good snarker. :)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

How about "people I don't like" and "people I do like"? :)

I can see where there's really no black and white in this series, but there are people that are much more sympathetic, and I'll forgive them more. It's gonna take a LOT to make me like Cersai Lannister though, who is really the one that sticks in me as a "bad guy." From where I am he's set Robb up nicely for a fall, but I'll be interested to see if he goes that way. (Don't tell me!)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

How about "people I like" and "people I don't like" then? Black and white labels work so nicely when you're just typing. I know that the Lannisters aren't the Heart of All Evil, but it's gonna take a LOT to get me to actually like Cersai. And Joffery. I might approve of things they do later, but that won't mean I have to like them.

And yeah, that's EXACTLY what I keep thinking with Dany. I loved the idea that ::gasp:: she actually fell in love with the guy she was married to! Whoever heard of that happening? :) And maybe one day I'll learn to spell her name without peeking.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

That's actually more what I mean- characters I like and characters I don't like. It's gonna take a LOT to get me to like Cersai. I'm not saying it's impossible, just that right now I can't stand the woman- even if she did try to convince Joff to let Ned take the black (and meant it).

I've definitely caught on that "bad guys" and "good guys" is subjective. It depends on who your sympathies are with. Heck, from Dany's point of view, Ned is a bad guy (and I like Dany, so...)

But it's easier to type ;)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

No, you're not :) It's actually something I caught on to from the beginning. I mean, I love Ned Stark, and I love Dany T, and he helped kill her family and send her into exile. I should have phrased it "people I like" and "people I don't like", because it's gonna take a LOT to make me actually like Cersai Lannister!

I agree that there's no room for fanfic. Which I like, actually, in some ways. And I agree that's one of the reasons I'm loving this series even more than HP. Plus, with ASOFAI, it's not a kids' book so you can add in the sex, which makes everything so much more complicated!

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'll have to check that out! :) (And thank you for not reminding me that "bad guys" and "good guys" are subjective. Heheh.)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

They're more like a soap opera with swords. there's fantastical elements, but the emphasis is on the people and their interactions and reactions etc., more than on "look how cool magic is!" I can understand why people who aren't normally into fantasy would like this.

And yeah, I really should have written "people I like" and "people I don't like." ::sigh::

I'm really enjoying Tyrion, for the exact same reason. The snark! If I was going to write a cross-over crackfic (and could always write good snark), I'd do something set at Hogwarts, where Toby from West Wing is teaching Muggle Studies, Snape is still teaching Potions, and Tyrion is involved somehow. Except the three of them might spontaneously combust if they're all in the same room!

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

Hehehe. C'mon, Lissa. You say "good guys" and "bad guys" to an audience of LJ-pals who are well-versed in fantasy literature, and you're surprised when they jump up to say, "Hey, buster, it's not that simple this time!" Because, sadly, in most books it usually is that simple. So you have to forgive us if we get a little bit excited when given an opportunity to point out that it just doesn't work here (not least because what looks like a two-sided fight at the start quickly turns into a...uh...more-sides-than-I-can-recall-right-now fight). =D

And maybe one day I'll learn to spell her name without peeking.

Or figure out how to pronounce it. Everybody has a different pronunciation.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Heh. Not surprised. More like, "guys, I know!" :) Characters are no fun if they're black and white. Isn't that why so many of us love Sirius?????

And yeah, it is rapidly turning into a D&D die, isn't it?? :)

Or figure out how to pronounce it. Everybody has a different pronunciation.

Thus the reason I will always call her Dany. And I keep wanting to pronounce her last name "Tarragon."

[merlinssister12.livejournal.com]

You should also read Martin's novellas "The Hedge Knight" and "The Sworn Sword" they are in the anthologies Legends and Legends II respectively. They are prequels so you can even read them before you finish the series. The anthologies also introduced me to some writers I had never read anything of before like Diane Gabaldon and Neil Gaiman.

[merlinssister12.livejournal.com]

I think Tyrion would teach DADA. After all look at his family, if he can hold his own against them, he must be a defense expert, although his offense isn't bad either.

[rinelk.livejournal.com]

Beth has recently read some of these, and said largely good things about them (though she worried that it seems to be increasing in complexity as time passes, which runs the risk of bogging down). I am considering waiting for the series to be over before I try to start it, having been burned by The Wheel of Time. I've recently acquired the board game based on it, though, and I'm really looking forward to playing. If you've ever played Diplomacy, this game seems like a total conversion of the Diplomacy concept, introducing a number of neat innovations and restricting the duration of the game. There are currently some Barnes and Nobles' selling it for 75% off--at $12.50, it might be worth considering, though I imagine your opportunities to play it while you've a little one at home will be few and far between. Looks like a magnificent game, though--might be worth looking into. There's more information at its boardgamegeek page.

[verdenia.livejournal.com]

Yup. Dear Ned. ;( [I'm partway into the third book]
Dany=love. My sibs and I all pronounce it "dane-eris" or "day-nair-iss"
I so love her. I want to get purple contacts, just to cosplay her. ;D Course, getting more muscular would help, too. ;P

re: 8) My sister lost like, 60 lbs. [in about a year] on WW and excersize to get ready for her wedding and to be healthy for eventual baby-making. It has been almost two years since the wedding, and she's re-gained about 20 lbs, but is still way healthier now than she was when she started. (she's about a size 12 now, and was, in my opinion, too skinny at her target weight of 135. My family's got bones and curves) Regardless, good luck with it!

re: 9) omg Ender's Game. I read that this past summer, and it Blew My Mind like my mind hasn't been blown in ages. And I've read a lot of trippy stuff. I'm working on Speaker for the Dead right now. <3 so much! I have extra loff for SftD too, cuz I studied Cultural Anthropology in college. I'm excited to see how it'll turn out, I think I'm about 2/3 through.
Cheers!