Book Review: A Game of Thrones (series)

I really enjoyed reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. The book follows so many different characters, that at first it almost gets unwieldy, but Mr. Martin is able to keep it together. He does provide an appendix with a listing of the names and relationships of the royal houses. I might have used it if I had known it was there, but I was not lost without it. As in many multi-person point-of-view novels there are certain characters a reader can relate to better than the others, and this novel is no different. I will say that one of the character’s stories I liked least in this novel, became one of the more intriguing stories in the second book.

I praise Martin on his attention to detail to the world he created. The tools, weapons, homes, clothing, food and other items appear to be based on technology from the middle ages. Everything is very functional, machines and weapons make sense, no item are hard to understand. Also the elements of magic and fantasy are very subtle at first, helping keep the novel grounded in reality. Only slowly does mystical elements insert themselves into the story. However, the story never takes on (so far) a fantasy novel flair.

I enjoy maps in books, but found that I had to frequently use the map in this book as the characters are always moving or talking about some other city or place where something happened or was happening. I'm on the fourth book and still have to refer to the maps to figure out where the characters are.

A Clash of Kings and Storm of Swords maintain the same level of detail, creativity and excitement as the first. However, the fourth book, A Feast of Crows disappointed me because only one of my favorite characters was in it and even then she went down an uninteresting path in this book. The rest of my favorite characters were completely absent from this novel. Martin says at the end of Feast of Crows that all of the other characters' concurrent stories will be told in the next book. To read a 1000 page novel without my favorite characters, then read another 1000 pages before I get back to the characters I just read about, is something I'm not happy about.

The books are really good reads, but they are very long.

Book Review: Last Flag Down: The Epic Journey of the Last Confederate Warship

Last Flag Down by John Baldwin and Ron Powers tells the story of the Confederate warship CSS Shenandoah and her executive officer Conway Whittle. At times I found it very interesting, especially during the final months of Shenandoah's voyage and when the authors provided information about major Civil War events that were occurring back on the mainland while they were at sea. However, middle parts of the novel dragged as the men navigated long stretches of sea where nothing happened. Even the protagonist Whittle would often say how uneventful the days could be.

Book Review: The PIllars Of The Earth

I chose to read a novel by Ken Follet based solely on his reputation for writing critically acclaimed novels. I chose The Pillars Of The Earth because it is a historical novel about a period that I knew little about, 12th century England, and a subject I even knew less about, cathedral building and how English life centered around it.

This is not a fast-paced novel. It is 943 pages rich in details and language that takes you on a journey through a time where might was right, religion played an enormous part in everyone’s lives for good and bad, and showed a modern reader how tenuous one’s hold on life could be during that time.

My favorite chapter was the prologue. I had not read a chapter written in an entirely omnipresent point of view in a long time, and even longer for one done well. I actually read it twice, and even read it again to my son to show him how using details effectively can truly paint pictures in someone’s mind. Here is the opening line and first paragraph:

The small boys came early to the hanging.

It was still dark when the first three or four of them sidled out of the hovels, quiet as cats in their felt boots. A thin layer of fresh snow covered the little town like a new coat of paint, and theirs were the first footprints to blemish its perfect surface. They picked their way through the huddled wooden huts and along the streets of frozen mud to the silent marketplace, where the gallows stood waiting.

While I praise Follet’s writing for his use of details and language, be forewarned these details are used in every aspect of the book, whether it’s the building of the church, character descriptions, sex, murder, and rape.

While the first chapter is written in omnipresent, the rest is written in third person with alternating perspectives.

I enjoyed The Pillars Of The Earth, but it is very long and at times felt like it.