The George R. R. Martin Experiment: Part Three

The George R. R. Martin Experiment

Part Three A: A Clash of Kings

Victoria

How This Works

For those of you who missed Part One and Part Two of the experiment, here's a point-form recap:

Personal Views

1. Personally, I am not a fan of epic fantasy. I prefer standalones.
2. Personally, I prefer three or less point of views in one novel.
3. If reading a series, I prefer each novel to have its own plot. There can be overarching plots which connect all the series, but each book should be self-contained.
4. I thought that A Game of Thrones (the only novel in the series I've read in its entirety) had solid structure, style and imagery, but I was put off by the cliffhanger ending.
5. It took me nearly two years of on-again-off-again reading to complete A Game of Thrones.

What I'm Doing Here

1. Well, I'm going to re-read A Game of Thrones, then, I'll start reading the other books, but here's the kicker: I'm only going to read the chapters of the characters I like.
2. All the other points of view, I'm going to skip. When a new point of view is introduced, I'll give that character a minimum of two chapters to make me like them.
3. I want to see if GRRM created characters that are integral to the story. If I miss massive chunks of story because I've decided to follow characters who have nothing to do with the plot. . . Well, then answer me this: What is the point of having that character?
4. There will be spoilers throughout this post, so beware!

Concerning Character Growth

Let me tell you, there has been no shortage of people telling me that character growth is an integral part of this series. My main response has been: Character growth should be an integral aspect of any novel. I don't want to read about a stagnant character.

With that said, I have amended my rules:

I will give every character their first two initial chapters, and for the rest of that novel, if I do not like them, I will skip all the rest of their chapters. When I move onto the next book of the series, I will then give them an additional chapter to prove to me that they have changed. If not, they will be disregarded for the rest of that novel.

On to the Experiment!

Alright, this book is a big book, especially since I have to read a bunch of extra chapters, so in this post I will only be looking at the first half of it, hence the post being called Part Three A.

What I Think of the New Players

Davos Seaworth
I'm not particularly sure about this one so far.  He sounds interesting, but then I have to wade through a lot of his inner dialogue, where he's constantly reminding himself that he owes everything to Stannis.  I got it the first time, I still got it the second time.  The third time I was still understanding, and by the fourth and fifth, I just started to get irritated.  I'll give him a little more time before I decide to do anything drastic, like cut him out of my reading list.

Theon Greyjoy
I didn't like him when he didn't have a point of view.  Now he has a point of view and I dislike him even more.  He's brash, crude and just. . .  Really, not a nice person.  I really had to struggle to give him his two chapters.  I will not be continuing on with him.  He's not enjoyable to read about.

Have I Changed My Opinion About Other Characters?

Tyrion
Well, I like the fact that he's sticking it to the right people, that excites me, and really, over all, he's not a bad person.  I just wish he didn't have to think about sex all the time.  I'm not a prude, but it's just getting excessive, and I find I skip a lot of scenes 'cos I just don't need to read about sex every other chapter.  (That's actually something that put me off about Theon as well.)  I've actually read more than two Tyrion chapters, so I guess I'm continuing on with him.  I do admit, though, I skim through his points of view.  There is a lot of political stuff going on with him, and it bores me to tears.  I know that he's a dwarf, and really, he's not going to go and fight, so politics is all he has to work with, but man oh man, it's slow going.

Catelyn
No.  I have not.  Still don't like her.  All her chapters so far just seem to consist of "Oh, my boy has grown up.  Oh, my boy doesn't think he needs me anymore.  Oh, woe is me."  Yeah, no thank you.

Sansa
Ok.  I cheated.  I did not give her a full chapter.  I tried.  I tried hard, but I couldn't do it.  I made it three quarters of the way through her first chapter and then gave up.

Daenerys
I have to continually remind myself that this character is only fourteen years old, which is why she behaves the way she does.  (Though, really, she's lived more than any fourteen year old I know.  Hell, she's seen far more of life than I have.)  I'm warming up to her.  I really wish, though, that she didn't have dragons.  I equate dragons and fantasy with things like leprechauns on St. Patrick's Day and hearts on Valentine's.  I think they're cheesy.  I don't like them.  I am, however, continuing on with her.

Thoughts so Far

This novel is slower going than the last one, but that's because I'm reading more points of view, and the fact that I'm giving all the old characters that I discarded in A Game of Thrones a second chance.  There was no way I could get this done in a week.  (Unless, of course, I didn't have a pesky thing called a job.  I could've done it then.)

I'm able to follow the plot quite well, but then again, I read every chapter for a bit, until Catelyn and Sansa's second chapters came up.  Skipped those, and will skip the rest.  Skipping Theon too, now that I've read my obligatory two chapters.  But, because I read those two chapters, I know what he's about.

I really wish there was more Arya.  I could read an entire book just about her.  In fact, she's about the only reason I'm even really interested in the series.  I want to know what happens to her.  I care about her.  Jon too, but not to such as a degree as Arya.

I am discovering some things about myself as a reader as I go through this process, I have to say.  One thing I'm starting to realize is that I'm getting tired of 'dark fantasy'.  Y'know, all that stuff that's being labelled as 'dark', 'realistic' and 'gritty'?  There is more to life than vices.  Not everyone in this world are horrible people.  There are nice people out there.  This whole dark thing is starting to get depressing.  I thought it was really cool when I first started noticing these more 'realistic' fantasy novels.  They were new to me, and therefore caught my attention. Now that I've read a whole bunch, and more and more seem to be released every month, I'm starting to get bored.  I don't know about everyone else, but I prefer sunshine to rainclouds.

Ah well, life goes on.