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Grand unified books thread

Started by Syt, March 16, 2009, 01:52:42 AM

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Josephus

Quote from: crazy canuck on February 13, 2014, 07:58:56 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on February 13, 2014, 07:16:27 PM
I'm coming to the opinion that spoken dialogue is one of Martins' stronger suits.

Yes, enjoy it while it lasts.  The first three books are wonderful.

I been thinking about whether I should start book 4 or not. I keep hearing about how it goes downhill. I sort of want to read it before the show resumes. Is it readable?
Civis Romanus Sum

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." Jack Layton 1950-2011

garbon

Quote from: Josephus on February 15, 2014, 03:16:46 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on February 13, 2014, 07:58:56 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on February 13, 2014, 07:16:27 PM
I'm coming to the opinion that spoken dialogue is one of Martins' stronger suits.

Yes, enjoy it while it lasts.  The first three books are wonderful.

I been thinking about whether I should start book 4 or not. I keep hearing about how it goes downhill. I sort of want to read it before the show resumes. Is it readable?

I believe that books 4 and 5 take place at the same time but were split to cover characters in Westeros (4) and Essos (5). I don't recall either being unreadable - just neither really capable of provoking the same level of interest.

Mybiggest complaint about book 4 is that you don't have featured several of the interesting characters who are kept in the wings till book 5.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

jimmy olsen

Quote from: Josephus on February 15, 2014, 03:16:46 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on February 13, 2014, 07:58:56 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on February 13, 2014, 07:16:27 PM
I'm coming to the opinion that spoken dialogue is one of Martins' stronger suits.

Yes, enjoy it while it lasts.  The first three books are wonderful.

I been thinking about whether I should start book 4 or not. I keep hearing about how it goes downhill. I sort of want to read it before the show resumes. Is it readable?
I've heard that if you read it in chronological order it's a lot better.
It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
--------------------------------------------
1 Karma Chameleon point

garbon

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 15, 2014, 04:05:48 PM
Quote from: Josephus on February 15, 2014, 03:16:46 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on February 13, 2014, 07:58:56 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on February 13, 2014, 07:16:27 PM
I'm coming to the opinion that spoken dialogue is one of Martins' stronger suits.

Yes, enjoy it while it lasts.  The first three books are wonderful.

I been thinking about whether I should start book 4 or not. I keep hearing about how it goes downhill. I sort of want to read it before the show resumes. Is it readable?
I've heard that if you read it in chronological order it's a lot better.

Now that is nerdy as fuck. :D
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

jimmy olsen

I hear there's an ebook file floating around the internet that has all the chapters in orders.

Here's the reading order
http://boiledleather.com/post/25902554148/a-new-reader-friendly-combined-reading-order-for-a
QuotePrologue: ADWD 1
    Prologue: AFFC 1
    The Prophet: AFFC 2
    The Captain of Guards: AFFC 3
    Cersei I: AFFC 4
    Tyrion I: ADWD 2
    Daenerys I: ADWD 3
    Brienne I: AFFC 5
    Jon I: ADWD 4
    Bran I: ADWD 5
    Tyrion II: ADWD 6 [then SKIP Chapter 7, The Merchant's Man]
    Samwell I: AFFC 6
    Jon II: ADWD 8
    Arya I: AFFC 7
    Cersei II: AFFC 8
    Jaime I: AFFC 9
    Brienne II: AFFC 10
    Sansa I: AFFC 11
    The Kraken's Daughter: AFFC 12
    Tyrion III: ADWD 9
    Davos I: ADWD 10
    Jon III: ADWD 11
    Daenerys II: ADWD 12
    Reek I: ADWD 13
    Cersei III: AFFC 13
    The Soiled Knight: AFFC 14
    Bran II: ADWD 14
    Tyrion IV: ADWD 15
    Davos II: ADWD 16
    Brienne III: AFFC 15
    Samwell II: AFFC 16
    Daenerys III: ADWD 17
    Jon IV: ADWD 18
    Jaime II: AFFC 17
    Tyrion V: ADWD 19
    Cersei IV: AFFC 18
    Davos III: ADWD 20
    The Iron Captain: AFFC 19
    The Drowned Man: AFFC 20
    Brienne IV: AFFC 21
    The Queenmaker: AFFC 22
    Arya II: AFFC 23
    Alayne I: AFFC 24 [then JUMP AHEAD to Chapter 41: The Princess in the Tower]
    The Princess in the Tower: AFFC 41 [now switch to ADWD and JUMP BACK to Chapter 7: The Merchant's Man]
    The Merchant's Man: ADWD 7 [now switch to AFFC and JUMP BACK to Chapter 25: Cersei]
    Cersei V: AFFC 25
    Reek II: ADWD 21
    Jon V: ADWD 22
    Tyrion VI: ADWD 23
    Daenerys IV: ADWD 24
    The Lost Lord: ADWD 25
    The Windblown: ADWD 26
    The Wayward Bride: ADWD 27
    Brienne V: AFFC 26
    Samwell III: AFFC 27
    Jaime III: AFFC 28
    Tyrion VII: ADWD 28
    Jon VI: ADWD 29
    Davos IV: ADWD 30
    Cersei VI: AFFC 29
    The Reaver: AFFC 30
    Daenerys V: ADWD 31
    Melisandre I: ADWD 32
    Jaime IV: AFFC 31
    Brienne VI: AFFC 32
    Reek III: ADWD 33
    Tyrion VIII: ADWD 34
    Cersei VII: AFFC 33
    Jaime V: AFFC 34
    Cat of the Canals: AFFC 35
    Samwell IV: AFFC 36
    Cersei VIII: AFFC 37
    Brienne VII: AFFC 38
    Jaime VI: AFFC 39
    Cersei IX: AFFC 40 [remember, you can skip Chapter 41: The Princess in the Tower, because you already read it]
    Bran III: ADWD 35
    Jon VII: ADWD 36
    Daenerys VI: ADWD 37
    The Prince of Winterfell: ADWD 38
    The Watcher: ADWD 39
    Jon VIII: ADWD 40
    Tyrion IX: ADWD 41
    The Turncloak: ADWD 42
    The King's Prize: ADWD 43
    Daenerys VII: ADWD 44
    Alayne II: AFFC 42
    Jon IX: ADWD 45
    Brienne VIII: AFFC 43
    Cersei X: AFFC 44
    Jaime VII: AFFC 45
    Samwell V: AFFC 46
    The Blind Girl: ADWD 46
    A Ghost in Winterfell: ADWD 47
    Tyrion X: ADWD 48
    Jaime VIII: ADWD 49
    Jon X: ADWD 50
    Daenerys VIII: ADWD 51
    Theon VII: ADWD 52
    Daenerys IX: ADWD 53
    Jon XI: ADWD 54
    Cersei XI: ADWD 55
    The Queensguard: ADWD 56
    The Iron Suitor: ADWD 57
    Tyrion XI: ADWD 58
    Jon XII: ADWD 59
    The Discarded Knight: ADWD 60
    The Spurned Suitor: ADWD 61
    The Griffin Reborn: ADWD 62
    The Sacrifice: ADWD 63
    Victarion: ADWD 64
    The Ugly Little Girl: ADWD 65
    Cersei XII: ADWD 66
    Tyrion XII: ADWD 67
    The Kingbreaker: ADWD 68
    The Dragontamer: ADWD 69
    Jon XIII: ADWD 70
    The Queen's Hand: ADWD 71
    Daenerys X: ADWD 72
    Epilogue: ADWD 73
It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
--------------------------------------------
1 Karma Chameleon point

Josephus

god that's too much work. Looking for some light Cuban beach reading.
Civis Romanus Sum

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." Jack Layton 1950-2011

crazy canuck

Quote from: garbon on February 15, 2014, 03:51:32 PM
I believe that books 4 and 5 take place at the same time but were split to cover characters in Westeros (4) and Essos (5). I don't recall either being unreadable - just neither really capable of provoking the same level of interest.


yes, they were split but that is really what makes them unreadable - as others have commented for it all to make much sense you either have to reformat the chapters in books 4 and 5 or you need to have the geekiest knowledge compendium of the series known to geek kind.

In addition he simply dropped most of the interesting plot lines form the preceeding books and introduced a bunch of additional dangling threads he will never tie up.

If I were you Joesphus, I would wait for the reviews of the next book - if it ever comes out - to see if it is worth continuing with 4, 5 and 6

Scipio

If you're reading the Fat Man with the expectation that he will not pull a Jordan, you're a deluded fool.
What I speak out of my mouth is the truth.  It burns like fire.
-Jose Canseco

There you go, giving a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck.
-Every cop, The Wire

"It is always good to be known for one's Krapp."
-John Hurt

Eddie Teach

Main problem with Jordan isn't that he never finished, it's how tedious and repetitive he got along the way.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Josephus

Quote from: crazy canuck on February 15, 2014, 09:00:15 PM
Quote from: garbon on February 15, 2014, 03:51:32 PM
I believe that books 4 and 5 take place at the same time but were split to cover characters in Westeros (4) and Essos (5). I don't recall either being unreadable - just neither really capable of provoking the same level of interest.


yes, they were split but that is really what makes them unreadable - as others have commented for it all to make much sense you either have to reformat the chapters in books 4 and 5 or you need to have the geekiest knowledge compendium of the series known to geek kind.

In addition he simply dropped most of the interesting plot lines form the preceeding books and introduced a bunch of additional dangling threads he will never tie up.

If I were you Joesphus, I would wait for the reviews of the next book - if it ever comes out - to see if it is worth continuing with 4, 5 and 6

Alright, CC. Book 4 won't be coming to Cuba then.
Civis Romanus Sum

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." Jack Layton 1950-2011

garbon

Quote from: crazy canuck on February 15, 2014, 09:00:15 PM
Quote from: garbon on February 15, 2014, 03:51:32 PM
I believe that books 4 and 5 take place at the same time but were split to cover characters in Westeros (4) and Essos (5). I don't recall either being unreadable - just neither really capable of provoking the same level of interest.


yes, they were split but that is really what makes them unreadable - as others have commented for it all to make much sense you either have to reformat the chapters in books 4 and 5 or you need to have the geekiest knowledge compendium of the series known to geek kind.

In addition he simply dropped most of the interesting plot lines form the preceeding books and introduced a bunch of additional dangling threads he will never tie up.

If I were you Joesphus, I would wait for the reviews of the next book - if it ever comes out - to see if it is worth continuing with 4, 5 and 6

Yeah I don't recall that (as in needing them to be exactly in order chronologically). I don't recall an issue understanding them at all - just that one book ended up with mostly dull characters and there were too many new POV characters who were obnoxious.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

The Minsky Moment

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on February 16, 2014, 12:53:34 PM
Main problem with Jordan isn't that he never finished, it's how tedious and repetitive he got along the way.

That doesn't exactly disprove Scipio's point . . .
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson

Jacob

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on February 16, 2014, 12:53:34 PM
Main problem with Jordan isn't that he never finished, it's how tedious and repetitive he got along the way.

That was my problem with Martin.

Eddie Teach

To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Syt

Quote from: Jacob on February 17, 2014, 12:53:33 AM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on February 16, 2014, 12:53:34 PM
Main problem with Jordan isn't that he never finished, it's how tedious and repetitive he got along the way.

That was my problem with Martin.

Yup.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.