Sunday, August 14

A Dance With Dragons and Neverwhere

I started to feel a little sad as I got to the end of A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin. I thought to myself, what could I possibly read now that would even begin to hold my interest? and how long until the next book comes out?. Martin is that author of the Fire and Ice series, now up to five books. He plans to write two more. There was a five year wait period between the fourth and fifth books and I sure hope that doesn't happen again!

It's a fantasy series but it's reminiscent of the days of chivalry and knights. The characters are rich and well developed. Most of the characters aren't totally good nor totally evil. They're people who make choices, some good, some bad and then have to deal with them. The first book focused mostly on the Stark family and those are the characters I care most about. There is also an exiled princess...now queen...that I am rooting for to regain her kingdom.

With each book, there have been new characters introduced with interesting background stories. Some are heroic in nature and others are more villainous. So far I've only encountered two characters that have (in my opinion) no redeeming qualities.

Right now the Stark family is scattered far and wide. The princess I'm rooting for seems stuck in another place and almost content to be so. The series has taken some pretty big twists and turns. It's not predictable and it keeps you (the reader) on your toes!

After I finished the book, I wondered what to read. I decided on Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. It's another fantasy and I thought it might help ease me back into the real world. Heidi told me he's a good writer so when I saw this book at a library sale, I picked it up.

Richard Mayhew is your typical young man living in London--good job, friends, engaged--until he encounters Door on the street. He finds her lying on the sidewalk, bleeding, and she doesn't want to go to the hospital so he carries her home. There begins the adventure. It turns out there are two worlds, London Above (where Richard resides) and London Below (where Door lives). Who was trying to hurt Door and why? How can Richard fully return to London Above? It was an entertaining book, funny and different. It did remind me of a more adult-like Alice in Wonderland, where Tweedledee and Tweedledum are sadistic assassins, not twins. I was glad I read this book. Now I'm able to move on beyond Martin's book and read other books.

1 comment:

Self Sagacity said...

I felt a lost when I finished all the desperate housewives episodes too. Now what am I going to look forward to? Glad you enjoyed the book so much, sounds like a great book to read.

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