Game of Thrones (spoilers)

[CFH]

the fifth book certainly lagged in the middle but overall I thought it was better than Crows. I liked both books but more in the sense of comparing them to other books. They don't stand up as well compared to the first three.

There are certain things that annoyed me about the fifth but it would be extremely spoiler-ish to discuss it. I could start another thread for readers only but really that would be geek overload. Its not as bad as talking about Lost (but what about the polar bear?), but its a bit much.

I'm about 150 pages into the 5th book. It's better than Crows, but it still hasn't grabbed me like book 1-3. I just think the story has become too bloated, fragmented, and disconnect. Martin has lost control.

Also, knowing the fat old bastard is going to die before it ever gets finished may also have helped kill my enthusiasm.

[OumaFan]

He's got to stick to 7 books. And the next one needs to be like 2 years from now, not 5 or 6.

I've never read those wheel of time books and don't have any plans to do so (way too many books to read). But from all I've heard they turned to absolute shit for the last four or five books before the guy died, but now they've got this new guy writing them with the previous author's help and they're supposedly much better. So maybe that will happen.

I don't think the last two have been absolute shit though.

[CFH]

He's got to stick to 7 books. And the next one needs to be like 2 years from now, not 5 or 6.

I've never read those wheel of time books and don't have any plans to do so (way too many books to read). But from all I've heard they turned to absolute shit for the last four or five books before the guy died, but now they've got this new guy writing them with the previous author's help and they're supposedly much better. So maybe that will happen.

I don't think the last two have been absolute shit though.

I think the last WoT book I read was number 6 or 7.

The difference between Jordan and Martin is that Jordan had everything planned out well in advance. He knew exactly where his story was going, so it was relatively easy for another author to pick it up for him. Martin openly admits he is just winging it.