George R. R. Martin

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So, who is it?

  • Terry Pratchett

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • George R. R. Martin

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
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Pita

Lance-Constable
Sep 7, 2008
16
1,650
#1
I am having a severe dilemma. I have 2 authors I really really like. One is the obvious Terry Pratchett, and the other is George R. R. Martin. They are both geniuses at combining humor and drama, but they have one major difference: George R. R. Martin writes tragedies while Terry Pratchett writes comedies.
My dilemma is that they're both absolutely amazing authors, and I don't know which one to support.
So I'm simply going to advertise this genius on these forums and plug Terry on a different forum I go to.
He's written a lot of great things, in many different genres (even though he claims it's all one). He's written a story collection/autobiography called Dreamsongs that comes in 2 volumes, and a fantasy series called A Song of Ice and Fire that starts with A Game of Thrones. He also has a few excellent stand alone novels, The Armageddon Rag (a fantasy/horror/60s/many many other types of book) and Fevre Dream (American civil war/horror/vampire novel). He's also written Tuf Voyaging, but I've never read it, so I can't say anything.
Give this author a try, and tell me what you thought.
Also, he's American, and I'm an anti-Brittish bigot, so that's already about 1500 points to his favor.
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#7
I have read one short story by him - 'Sandkings' which was (if I remember correctly) made into an episode of the Twilight Zone. I was really impressed with his writing then and always meant to check out more of his books, but never got around to it.

I've heard very good things about his writing though. :)

Two questions - why can't you support both? And second, why an "anti-British bigot"? o_O
 

lawrenson

Lance-Constable
Jul 30, 2008
27
1,650
#8
Hi,

I've been a life-long devotee of Fantasy novels.

I have to say that the Song of Fire and Ice novels are probably the best series of books I have ever read. I was truly shocked when Lord Stark was killed. :eek:

However, GRRM is very different to TP. They are not, imho, comparable.

Its like trying to compare steak and ice cream. You might like them both, but you rarely have to choose between them - and why should you? Read them both! Steak AND ice cream! :laugh:

Cheers,
Karen
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#9
Yes, it's like me with Terry and Bernard Cornwell. They are very different writers and I wouldn't choose one over the other - and I don't have to. ;)
 

Dotsie

Sergeant-at-Arms
Jul 28, 2008
9,068
2,850
#10
The only time I need to make a choice is when I go on holiday. And when e-readers are cheaper I won't have that problem.

But if you really are an anti-British bigot Pita, then your choice of who to "support" - are they in competition? - should be an easy one.
 

Willem

Sergeant
Jan 11, 2010
1,201
2,600
Weert, The Netherlands
#11
I've read both - and I hate to choose :)

George Martin's Song of Ice and Fire are masterful fantasy works. I enjoy his work because of the political intrigues and highly unexpected (but realistic) plot twists. Martin uses chapters that are written from many different characters' point of view - a character that comes over as undeniably evil in one chapter will turn out to have many good qualities in later chapters. They feel well-rounded, thought out. There are only shades of grey in his world.

I enjoy Pratchett on different levels: the humour and his views on what I'll call the human condition. I started reading his books in my teens and I don't doubt Terry's views on the world have shaped my own in no small way. I won't write much more on him here, you all know his good points :)

Having said that, I'll choose Pratchett. By a small margin though - I so look forward to the next installment in Martin's series.
 
Jul 27, 2008
19,425
3,400
Stirlingshire, Scotland
#12
Yes not only have I heard of him but he was in the same hotel as us when he was a G.O.H. in Prague at a Eurocon convention. And this year he will be the GOH in Dublin at Octocon.

And his fanclub have ledgendary parties at the Worldcons. :)
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#13
Who's Wee Dug said:
Yes not only have I heard of him but he was in the same hotel as us when he was a G.O.H. in Prague at a Eurocon convention. And this year he will be the GOH in Dublin at Octocon.

And his fanclub have ledgendary parties at the Worldcons. :)
Dug, I'm coming to the conclusion that you must be a 'con' man. :laugh:
 

Fizz

Lance-Corporal
Mar 16, 2010
126
1,775
Ontario, Canada
www.whitesnails.com
#15
George R.R. Martin is an American author that has created, what is for me, one of the best worlds of genre fiction since that of Tolkien, surpassing him in many ways.

His epic series a Song of Ice and Fire is modeled loosely along that of historical events from the War of Roses in England. You have a group of families all vying for power and feudal authority over one another and the high throne. What really sets this particular work above others is the way the story is told.

Each chapter is told from a POV (Point of View) perspective. So you may have the first chapter told from the point of view of one of the Kings, another from his bastard son, another from an enemy and the story unfolds in this way. While there are some fantastical elements to this series, it is not the focus of the series. There is plenty but it does not hit you in the face.

The series is built around the characters and their interactions. While there are some dragons, a few "other" ice like beings, there is quite a bit of reality from the time period that is addressed. Themes like regicide, fratricide, rape, incest, murder, deception, all events that occurred during that time period.

Another issue that I particularly enjoy in this series is that character that may seem to be protagonists are not protected from the events of the story line. There is no guarantee that the main character of a book will survive. George is not above killing off what you would assume to be a major character in chapter 4 or 5.

The listings of families, their heraldic symbols, the back stories and detailed chronicles of their ancestry all help establish this series in the real world.

His website, is worth checking out. A lot of information about that time period can be gleaned from this series, heraldry, military warfare history, etc.
 

raisindot

Sergeant-at-Arms
Oct 1, 2009
5,126
2,450
Boston, MA USA
#16
I've read all of the PTerry's books and the entire Martin Song of Fire and Ice series.

They're completely different kinds of books. Martin is essentially writing in the traditional fantasy genre while shaking it up by turning a lot of its conventions on their heads. Pterry is essentially a satirist who uses the fantasy genre as a means of parodying
'roundworld' culture. (There's actually a lot more to him, but that's a simple summary).

If I had to choose between one, there'd be no contest. Pterry wins hands down. Martin's last two Fire and Ice books were exceedingly ponderous, unfocused, and, in many cases, just plain dull.

Pterry, on the other hand, has varied the themes and characters of his DW books over the years and, in many of them, has created incredibly intricate and profound examinations of religion, morality, power, belief systems, and history. There's not a single character Martin has created that comes even close to possessing the depth and complexity of Sam Vimes, and none of the hundreds of pages Martin has written about the religious beliefs of Westeros possesses any of the profound insights Pterry delivered in Small Gods.
 

Quatermass

Sergeant-at-Arms
Dec 7, 2010
7,739
2,950
#18
raisindot said:
There's not a single character Martin has created that comes even close to possessing the depth and complexity of Sam Vimes, and none of the hundreds of pages Martin has written about the religious beliefs of Westeros possesses any of the profound insights Pterry delivered in Small Gods.
Disagree on the former, agreed with the latter. I'd say that Jaime Lannister, while a far more immoral character than Vimes, is beginning to approach his depth and complexity, despite being an utter a-hole most of the time, and Tyrion, Daenerys, and Jon also spring to mind. In fact, Jon Snow is an excellent example because like Vimes was in The Truth, when the POV is from someone who is not family, Jon does come across as being somewhat arrogant, albeit not due to any true nastiness but simply because he was raised in better circumstances than most of the Night's Watch.

The main difference between Martin and Pratchett is that Martin is more of a pure deconstructionist (in other words, he's taking standard fantasy tropes and seeing how they would work in a semi-realistic world), while Pratchett, while he does deconstruct a lot, also reconstructs a lot and uses more humour. Martin is a glass half-empty kind of guy, and Pratchett, despite the dark places he goes to, is a glass half-full kind of guy.
 

stripy_tie

Lance-Corporal
Oct 21, 2011
256
2,275
Guernsey, Land of Sea and Granite
#19
Pita said:
I am having a severe dilemma. I have 2 authors I really really like. One is the obvious Terry Pratchett, and the other is George R. R. Martin. They are both geniuses at combining humor and drama, but they have one major difference: George R. R. Martin writes tragedies while Terry Pratchett writes comedies.
My dilemma is that they're both absolutely amazing authors, and I don't know which one to support.
So I'm simply going to advertise this genius on these forums and plug Terry on a different forum I go to.
He's written a lot of great things, in many different genres (even though he claims it's all one). He's written a story collection/autobiography called Dreamsongs that comes in 2 volumes, and a fantasy series called A Song of Ice and Fire that starts with A Game of Thrones. He also has a few excellent stand alone novels, The Armageddon Rag (a fantasy/horror/60s/many many other types of book) and Fevre Dream (American civil war/horror/vampire novel). He's also written Tuf Voyaging, but I've never read it, so I can't say anything.
Give this author a try, and tell me what you thought.
Also, he's American, and I'm an anti-Brittish bigot, so that's already about 1500 points to his favor.
This whole post makes my head hurt.
 

Antiq

Sergeant
Nov 23, 2010
1,103
2,600
67
Ireland
#20
I've read all of Pratchett, and all of Martin's Song of Ice and Fire (amazed some people haven't heard of him since Game of Thrones - HBO series based on the books - is so hugely popular) and the big difference between them, to me, is that Martin is not a particularly good writer but is a very entertaining storyteller, while Pratchett is great at both :laugh:

I have really enjoyed both authors, but it's Pratchett I would take to a desert island with me, no hesitation.
 

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