After being stuck in Harry Potter and Gilmore Girls Limbo, I’ve vowed never to start any serial until the whole damn thing is available for me to consume. No Lost for me until all of it is on Netflix.
So here is a question for those who have read the Fire and Ice saga:
Will I be satisfied to stop after three (or one) books? That is, If I start reading the first book, is there a reasonable stopping point where I can wait cliffhanger-free for the author to finish the series? Because I have the first book, and I don’t want to start something I can’t finish.
No spoilers please! If this is better suited for GQ, mods, then feel free to move it.
I think it probably depends on how much you like the books. As with most fantasy series, the end of the first book sets the stage for the beginning of the second (and so on with the second and third). It’s possible to have an idea where the author is going, but GRR Martin is full of surprises, and your projection will likely prove to be incorrect on several counts. It also depends on your tolerance for cliff-hangers. If any untied loose end will keep you up at night, then you probably should wait for the series to be completed. If you can deal with some untied ends, provided they’re fairly far-reaching, then go ahead and read the first book.
I personally didn’t care for the series, and after reading the third book was more than content to put the entire thing down and walk away.
First let’s get the series name right: It’s “A Song of Ice and Fire”.
In answer to your question, no, “A Game of Thrones” does not have anything resembling a satisfactory conclusion. I read it when it came out and really liked it, but the lack of closure was frustrating. I read the second one, “A Clash of Kings” later and didn’t think it was as good, mainly because the story seemed to spin out of control instead of following a sensible arc.
I’m not a sci-fi fantasy fiend but I can recommend a few good series in the genre with satisfying conclusions if you’re interested.
I think it probably depends on how much you like the books. As with most fantasy series, the end of the first book sets the stage for the beginning of the second (and so on with the second and third). It’s possible to have an idea where the author is going, but GRR Martin is full of surprises, and your projection will likely prove to be incorrect on several counts. It also depends on your tolerance for cliff-hangers. If any untied loose end will keep you up at night, then you probably should wait for the series to be completed. If you can deal with some untied ends, provided they’re fairly far-reaching, then go ahead and read the first book.
I personally didn’t care for the series, and after reading the third book was more than content to put the entire thing down and walk away.
I absolutely love this series and have read the books multiple times.
But if I now had the choice to wait untill they were all out, yes I’d do so. This, since it all presumably won’t be finished until 2015-20 (if he keeps his current pace) and waiting more than 15 years (which it’ll be for me) for a saga to finish is just ridiculous.
Assuming he doesn’t pull a Jordan and die before he finishes. And Martin has said something to the effect that there ARE no notes (or at least, they’re secret and won’t be passed on to a successor), so if he dies nobody can come along and mop up for him.
Game of Thrones might be able to be read on it’s own just to get a flavor for the series. It isn’t so much the first book in the series (you find out as you read on) as it is a prequel to the rest of the series.
So while there are a lot of loose ends at the end of it (as it is setting up the world and storyline for a whole new sereies) it does have a totally self contained story in it. It’s just one that has an ending that will probably leave you unsatisfied, and yeah, that’s just kinda how this world works.
Me? I would wait at least until the next book is released to start reading any of them. I regret having started a series that wasn’t finished and the waiting is very very hard. But the waiting is hard because the books are good.
I read the first book and liked it a lot. After which I poked around on the internet to find a good reference site. I quickly discovered the ongoing debacle that the series has turned into, so I decided to shut it down until AT LEAST the next book comes out. Even then, I still might wait.
I wouldn’t call it a debacle. Sure, it’s complicated, but that’s a huge part of the fun. It’s certainly not the kind of mess the Wheel of Time has turned into. There are some valid criticisms to be made of the later books, but in my opinion, the quality has been consistently quite high.
Well, I obviously haven’t gotten that far so I can’t comment. I was more referring to what appears to be the author’s near-deliberate attempts to antagonize his fans.
Are we talking plotwise or real-life-wise? As in, is it things in the plot that you think antagonize his fans or things he’s doing OTHER than writing the next damn book?
Because one of the things that makes me such a fan of ASOIAF is the fact that it DOES kick you in the guts on the order of six times per book. Martin has no qualms about doing things to his characters that most other authors (and especially most other fantasy authors) just don’t do.
I would strongly urge against the ‘read one and stop’ approach. This is not a standard fantasy series. In a standard fantasy series, each book stands alone and ends with the villain defeated, the main characters re-united, and everything looking happy and good, after which comes a 2-3 pages epilogue that’s really and advertisement for the next book. Martin’s series is actually a series and the action flows smoothly from one book to the next. There’s no emotionally satisfying place to stop at the end of any volume.
I loved the first book and enjoyed the entire series (so far). It IS a bit frustrating that he still hasn’t put out the next book yet (latest book is actually 1/2 of the originally intended volume which they cut in half I guess just to get something out to screaming fans). I don’t think you can read the first book and then just walk away unless you simply don’t like the series and can’t get into it. There were (for me) so many hooks and questions after reading the first book that I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the second book to come out so I could devour it…and so on. I have to admit that I was a touch disappointed in the latest book, but that was more because the focus shifted away from the ‘main’ characters I’d grown to love to secondary characters (also, fair warning in an open spoiler…don’t grow too attached to ANY character in this story, as this isn’t exactly The Hobbit here. It’s more like real life and characters who you think are the bed rock of the story can and do get whacked).
Of the current series I’m reading this one is among the top 5 and possibly among the top 3. The only series I’m more into right now is the second tier to the Dies the Fire series and of course my perennial favorite of the main arc of the Honor Harrington series.
Don’t. Honestly every single book ends with the major plots in it resolved and opening the door on another half dozen as cliffhangers (part of why I think Martin has been more effective than other fantasy authors). So you’re going to be annoyed by the cliffhanger and want to get it resolved and get sucked into the whirlpool.
I’m on my last leg with the series. A Storm of Swords needed a good editor but the breakneck pacing of the second half made up for the slow first half. A Feat for Crows was worse with little redeeming features. If there’s no turn around in the next book I’m cutting my losses and walking away; from experience if you don’t break off when you stop enjoying the series you just wind up hurting yourself worse in the end.
I just finished a Feast for Crows and really enjoyed it but I am totally annoyed at how he ended it and the wait for the next. It was written in 2005 and if I had been waiting since then I would be really, really annoyed!
