George R.R. Martin - Song of Ice and Fire
For some reason I’m a sucker for fantasy literature. Not all of it, dear god, but there are quite a few writers I really do enjoy reading. I think it has got something to do with the fact that I enjoy soundtrack music, playing roleplaying games and I tend to daydream quite a lot. There’s just some part of me that yearns for mythical, unrealistic and unreal vistas and experiences and ‘lo behold, fantasy literature comes and delivers!
Enter George R.R. Martin. Wonderful writer with distinct and intense style that is definitely suited for the more grown up people. His massive series Song of Ice and Fire (still continuing) is truly a story of epic scale. There is the king, the dead king and the throne. There are families, bloodlines and wars. People are born, people die, people weep and people smile. There’s sex and violence, betrayal and trust. It’s like Rome but in a mythical land of medieval fantasy. And it’s not beautiful. It’s gritty, grim and fatal.
I guess I enjoy Martin’s style so much because it is not easy to read (hmm, isn’t that a contradiction, oh well…). There are lots of names and the storylines are vast and slow. But eventually, when the wheels turn, they turn with power and mass. This is not lightweight stuff.
