A Song of Ice and Fire (spoilers, maybe)

Around the time the Lord of the Rings movies came out I got a hankering to read the books again, but elected not to because I didn't want to look like the wanker who's reading something because of the movie so they can feel superior to their philistine moving-picture-bound friends. I came across a similar dilemma when the new HBO series, "A Game of Thrones" came out. I hadn't read the books, mostly because up until now I haven't read a huge amount of epic fantasy. But I guess the Dresden Files series was some kind of gateway drug, because here I am neck deep in the series with the next several books lined up at the library. Anyway, the dilemma - do I read the books and risk looking like a wanker or not? Then I realized I'm past the point in my life where I give a fuck whether something I know I'm going to enjoy is trendy or not. If all the scarf-wearing hipster morons started playing D&D, would I stop playing? No, I would not. But I think that pursuit is safe for now, the nerd stigma far outweighing any ironic appeal they could bludgeon out of it.

Right, books. I like them. Of course I would like them, there's dragons and kids with wild animals for pets. I'm very easy to please when something presents me with dragons. But I should probably give a slightly more thought out reason for my opinion than "OMIGOD, DRAGONS!". The narrative is paced well in general, though I'll admit sometimes I get annoyed when the book switches characters on me just as I was really getting into the storyline I was reading. Its a small complaint, and I know Martin meant to structure it that way, but I'll admit sometimes when I get really invested in one of the character's story arcs I'll skip to the next section that features them. Yes yes, I'm cheating. But I always go back, and usually one of the next characters' stories hooks me so I get absorbed in what they're doing. Which is good, because one of the biggest pitfalls in a narrative that skips around like that is only having one or two characters who are actually interesting - then people like me start to breeze through whole sections without really paying attention because maybe something important is going to happen but HOLY HELL this guy is a plodding twit. But Martin's characters are on the whole very interesting and well-written, and their various arcs are compelling on their own as well as part of the over-arching plot. They're all very human, with their own motivations and reasons for acting the way they do, and even the ones that are painted as the villains have a certain pathos. Except perhaps for Jaime Lannister - mostly because he hasn't really been part of the story for a while. Really he only showed up for a hot minute to bone his sister and shove a little boy off a ledge, then got captured in battle and hasn't really been heard from since. Not very sympathetic.

I like Martin's writing style as well, its embellished enough to compliment the setting without being too overblown. I've heard fantasy mocked before because sometimes authors get lazy and all of a sudden everything is "gold as the setting sun", or "carved delicately from the crystalline remains of a thousand winterfey", and the names all have too many vowels and hyphens. But he manages to steer clear of that particular trap, mostly. Also, its an easy read. I don't mean its simplistic, but anyone who's stared at the same page in an Umberto Eco book for an hour can tell you that sometimes you just need a nice, accessible narrative.

So all in all, I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. I've heard from a couple people that they lost interest in the series after the second book, but I don't think that's going to happen to me. There are some seriously dire events on the horizon, and I don't think I have enough of the second book left for them to actually unfold.

Oh, and the series is good too.