(hb; 2017: loosely linked prequel to the 2015 film Star Wars -- Episode VII: The Force Awakens)
From the back cover
"Discover Captain Phasma’s mysterious history in this Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi novel.
"One of the most cunning and merciless officers of the First Order, Captain Phasma commands the favor of her superiors, the respect of her peers, and the terror of her enemies. But for all her renown, Phasma remains as virtually unknown as the impassive expression on her gleaming chrome helmet. Now, an adversary is bent on unearthing her mysterious origins—and exposing a secret she guards as zealously and ruthlessly as she serves her masters."
Review
Despite
its third-person present tense writing, Phasma
is an intriguing read, telling the backstory of Phasma, the chrome-armored
commander of the First Order. This tale is filtered through Vi Moradi, a Rebel
spy, as she resists the interrogative tortures of Cardinal, the crimson–armored
First Order commander – and a professional rival of Phasma’s.
There
is plenty of Star Wars-esque action, plot
wrinkles, character development and a full array of emotions displayed in this
loosely linked prequel to The Force
Awakens. Its central character, Phasma – a ruthless, ambitious character –
has a solid, sufficiently interesting early existence, but it is the present
interactions between Vi and Cardinal that make Phasma a worthwhile book,
better borrowed from the library than purchased at full price. . . provided readers
can get past its present-tense third-person writing.
Gwendoline Christie played Phasma in The Force Awakens and its 2017 sequel Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi.
(pb; 2011: Book Five of A Song of Fire and Ice)
From the inside flap:
"In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance - beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the quen, with an entirely different goal in mind.
"Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys. But his newest allies in this quest are not the ragtag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who would undo Daenerys's claim to Westeros forever.
"Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone - a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night Watch, will face his greatest challenge. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice."
Review:
Dance, like A Feast for Crows, is a transition book - in the sense that it's not as fast-moving and action-brutal as the first three Song novels. Because of this, Dance sports many of the same faults of Feast (e.g., its emphasis on secondary characters who are less intriguing).
On the plus side, though, there are a plenty of character-based moments in this fifth Song book where I experienced the same sense of thrill that I felt while reading the first three books. These moments made Dance a worthwhile, if overwritten, read.
Not as great as the first three books, it - like Feast - is still a more impressive read than most fantasy series I've read. Check it out from the library.
(pb; 2005: Book Four of A Song of Fire and Ice)
From the back cover:
"After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce. But it's not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather. Now, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous alliances are formed while surprising faces - some familiar, others only just appearing - emerge from an omnivorous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead. Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes. . . and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests - but only a few are the survivors."
Review:
It would be difficult for Martin to top the character-familiar plot corkscrews and karmic resolutions of the third book, A Storm of Swords, which was a near-operatic culmination of two books' worth of personal machinations, often grim and rape-fixated actions and bloody conflicts whose survivors who found themselves with the taste of ashes and bitterness in their mouths.
I bore this in mind as I read Feast. I'm glad I did, because while I wasn't as emotionally invested in this fourth Song novel, I enjoyed it a lot. Getting to know new characters, a few of whom aren't chapter titled by their names, was initially a bit of a chore after my familiarity with the characters in the previous books - but, ultimately, it was worth it, between Martin's fast and furious plotwork and writing, as well as the equally familiar grim and bloody actions of its characters; because of these elements, Feast proved to be a worthwhile sequel to its predecessors.
Of course, I missed certain characters - e.g., Tyrion Lannister, aka "the Imp" - whose stories weren't told in Feast, but given the narrative flow of this novel I understand why Martin chose to save their stories for later.
This is worth reading if you don't mind being introduced to new characters, and don't expect the easy familiarity of characters from the first three books. Feast is clearly setting up a new round of love, lust and war, and I look forward to seeing how it plays out.
Followed by A Dance with Dragons.
(pb; 2000: Book Three of A Song of Fire and Ice)
From the back cover:
"Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the war rages, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, victim of a sorceress who holds him in her thrall. Young Robb still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenarys, mistress of the only three dragons left in the world. And as opposing forces maneuver for the final showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost limits of civilization, accompanied by a horde of mythical Others - a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords."
Review:
All the elements, plot-twisty action and characters that made A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings great reads structure and set the tone of this second sequel. This grim, bloody, whimsical and sometimes surprising (but always character-consistent) series continues to wow; it has made me excited to be a reader, in a way that I haven't been in a long time.
Worth owning, this - as are the first two novels.
Followed by A Feast For Crows.
#
Most of the events in Storm are the basis for the third season of the first HBO/cable series, A Game of Thrones. The series' first episode originally aired on April 17, 2011. HBO recently aired its Season 3 finale, with a fourth Season set to air next year.
Given the many characters in this series, I'm not going to list the characters, nor the actors who play them. (I have a busy schedule. Maybe later, when I have a little more time, I'll list those who have worked on the series.)
(pb; 1999: Book Two of A Song of Fire and Ice)
From the back cover:
"A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy, a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress, and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel. . . and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles."
Review:
All the elements, plot-twisty action and characters that made A Game of Thrones a great read structure and set the tone of this first sequel. This grim, bloody, whimsical and sometimes surprising (but always character-consistent) series continues to wow; it has made me excited to be a reader, in a way that I haven't been in a long time.
Worth owning, this - as is its source novel.
Followed by A Storm of Swords.
#
The events in Clash are the basis for the second season of the first HBO/cable series, A Game of Thrones. The series's first episode originally aired on April 17, 2011. HBO recently aired its Season 3 finale, with a fourth Season set to air next year.
Given the many characters in this series, I'm not going to list the characters, nor the actors who play them. (I have a busy schedule. Maybe later, when I have a little more time, I'll list those who have worked on the series.)
(pb; 1996: Book One of A Song of Fire and Ice)
From the back cover:
"In a land where summers can last for decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the North of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones."
Review:
I'm not fan of sword-and-sorcery fantasy novels, but this may be first book of this genre to fully immerse me in its vivid, often grim, sometimes kind and seductive world since I read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a teenager. In fact, Game - for this middle-aged reader - may even trump Tolkien's work for its better editing and brutal realism.
I'm sure this review will add little to what others have already said, given my late entrance into Martin's created world, but to be clear: I loved and/or loathed the fully realized characters and their twisted, interwoven and intense histories; the action was raw, intriguing and unsparing; and the epic scope of Martin's world, as well as the "plots and counterplots" of its widely varied denizens absorbed this noir-minded (that is to say jaded) reader into its wild storylines.
One of my all-time favorite books - worth owning, this.
Followed by A Clash of Kings.
#
The first HBO/cable episode of A Game of Thrones aired on April 17, 2011. This series is still going - HBO recently aired its Season 3 finale, with a fourth season set to air next year.
Given the many characters in this series, I'm not going to list the characters, nor the actors who play them. (I have a busy schedule. Maybe later, when I have a little more time, I'll list those who have worked on the series.)
