vellavu
Scooby
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2015
- Messages
- 3,114
I expressed my dissatisfactions towards it before and I would like to elaborate and discuss with @The Bronze . Other people are also of course invited.
Overall Style: Apathetic PoV
The books' deliberately arrange chapters so that each one is occupied by a single person's point of view. The disadvantage is that it sacrifices many degrees of freedom in rendering the big picture. The advantage is that we can feel for each character easier and in a more focused way. However, it doesn't not make the best use of this advantage.
The inner dialogues are mostly the most on-the-surface one. It's like that the character in question is carrying a camera and a microphone, and all what we get are the recorded videos and sounds. There's nothing wrong with this style per se, but it can easily create an emotional barrier between them and the reader.
I think, between "novel" and "medieval history saga", it slides too much towards the saga part. Can I feel for Lincoln? King Arthur? Moses? Well sure it's possible, but I can't do it solely based on what they see or speak from the book form. What they actually think, what motivate them, can't always be inferred indirectly.
Characters
Arya: The Braavos novice job screwed her storyline. She already experienced so much tragedy, and practiced her skill in a lot of life-or-death situations. Her joining in the faceless men seems like a lame character reboot to me. From a tough rogue girl to an institutionalized assassin, it's becoming less and less interesting in my opinion.
Bran: It's just bad. He doesn't seem like a human child at all. OK, he should be put into a category of "sociopathic magic geek", which may be fun if he has a lot of personal quirks. But no, he's just some kid cardboard pulled around by visions and mythical forces.
Jamie and Brienne: The honor thing was very hollow. It's more like dogmatism and less like "gut feeling". A proper honorable medieval knight should be more "immersed" with honor in their day to day life instead of just reminds himself of some words in a few critical moments. If that's their characterizations I just can't tell how much I don't care about them.
Pacing
This one's criticized by many people already so I won't beat the dead horse too much. Someone said that the 4th and the 5th books are like Harry and Hermione wandering in the forest in Deathly Hallows, just prolonged by 100 times. And I agree.
Overall Style: Apathetic PoV
The books' deliberately arrange chapters so that each one is occupied by a single person's point of view. The disadvantage is that it sacrifices many degrees of freedom in rendering the big picture. The advantage is that we can feel for each character easier and in a more focused way. However, it doesn't not make the best use of this advantage.
The inner dialogues are mostly the most on-the-surface one. It's like that the character in question is carrying a camera and a microphone, and all what we get are the recorded videos and sounds. There's nothing wrong with this style per se, but it can easily create an emotional barrier between them and the reader.
I think, between "novel" and "medieval history saga", it slides too much towards the saga part. Can I feel for Lincoln? King Arthur? Moses? Well sure it's possible, but I can't do it solely based on what they see or speak from the book form. What they actually think, what motivate them, can't always be inferred indirectly.
Characters
Arya: The Braavos novice job screwed her storyline. She already experienced so much tragedy, and practiced her skill in a lot of life-or-death situations. Her joining in the faceless men seems like a lame character reboot to me. From a tough rogue girl to an institutionalized assassin, it's becoming less and less interesting in my opinion.
Bran: It's just bad. He doesn't seem like a human child at all. OK, he should be put into a category of "sociopathic magic geek", which may be fun if he has a lot of personal quirks. But no, he's just some kid cardboard pulled around by visions and mythical forces.
Jamie and Brienne: The honor thing was very hollow. It's more like dogmatism and less like "gut feeling". A proper honorable medieval knight should be more "immersed" with honor in their day to day life instead of just reminds himself of some words in a few critical moments. If that's their characterizations I just can't tell how much I don't care about them.
Pacing
This one's criticized by many people already so I won't beat the dead horse too much. Someone said that the 4th and the 5th books are like Harry and Hermione wandering in the forest in Deathly Hallows, just prolonged by 100 times. And I agree.
