Stallion Cornell's Moist Board

Ok, I thought I'd open by explaining this: Magic is implied to have been fading for a VERY long time in this world. Aegon the Conqueror came from Valyria, which was at one point stated to have been like the last spark in what was once a great wildfire of magic. The fading of magic accelerated with the death of the last dragons, within the last hundred years or so. HOWEVER, the birth of new dragons reverses this trend. The few bits and pieces of magic that the people of Westeros actually still know (for example, there's a guild of people who still know how to make a magical equivalent of napalm, that burns green, and creates and almost unquenchable fire), suddenly start working better...and they have no idea why, because no one knows there are dragons in the world again...yet. As of the Fourth book the Iron Islanders are aware, and their leader wants to marry Dany.

Only about 30 pages into the new book (been busy, and read slow), but already remembering why I love this series so much. Sadly, the show just can't compete, but hearing Tyrion ponder Tywin's last words made me long for the finale of the third season. If they have the showdown between him and his father any sooner than the last fifteen minutes of season 3, though, I'm going to strangle a few writers. Killing Ned an episode early was one thing...not having THAT confrontation as the major cliffhanger of a season would be QUITE another.

...of course, personally I'm of the opinion that "wherever whores go" meant they had Tysha killed, and Tyrion just doesn't want to realize it...still, guess I'll find out in time.

Five books in and its official, WE HAVE CHILDREN OF THE FOREST!!!!!!

Ok, its embarassing how little reading I've gotten done, but I just wanted to let you all know: Aegon VI is officially alive, he was switched out with a peasant infant whose mother died in childbirth.

I finished the first book over Christmas, and I can't seem to muster up the desire to read book #2. What am I missing? I find the characters to be largely unlikeable, and they're killed of and mutilated far too often for my taste. It just seems like a harder slog than a fantasy novel should be.

It certainly isn't the Chronicles of Narnia.
So, where is the Stallionic review?

As for likable characters, there should be plenty to find.
The Starks are all just and true types.
Tyrion really is the hero when he can be.

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t-Asarlai: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
SamShadee: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
CrappyManzrX: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
KatndaHat: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
BountyHunter37: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
KateeLover: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
George Winston: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"

tyrion is awesome.

the books themselves can get pretty ... well i started skipping pages (unlike me) to find interesting things to read.

over all depressing with little payoff if you are like me and want the good guys to get a break now and then.

tyrion and that little stark girl are the only two storylines that i truly found myself reading every word of.

they chopped up the other starks (almost literally) way too much without any real sense of respect. the jamie character at the very end (ive read all the books) was starting to be interesting. but just starting to be.

the last installment truly made me feel ripped off.

no resolution for any of the strings hanging ... no sense of any direction really either.

i mean i get that somethings are implied but the main character or someone you get invested in can die in two pages so ... i dunno im with stallion on this.

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Perhaps you should read C.S. Lewis instead.

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t-Asarlai: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
SamShadee: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
CrappyManzrX: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
KatndaHat: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
BountyHunter37: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
KateeLover: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
George Winston: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"

lol i have. do you doubt me?

i think i was just to ... spread out. i didnt really enjoy Tolkien as much as i should have either because it seemed too ... simple. too iconic.

i want to like it maybe my head space is too jaded at this point.

i find the total obliteration of eddard stark with no ... consequences so ...

yes i get it ... he was martyr etc ... no one realized he was both man and icon... blah blah

and his life being decided on the whim of a spoiled child... yeah yeah

but ouch ... i want something to give me hope and some chick with a bunch of dragon whelps isnt it.

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This somehow makes you seem much less cool than before you revealed this.

_________________
t-Asarlai: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
SamShadee: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
CrappyManzrX: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
KatndaHat: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
BountyHunter37: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
KateeLover: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
George Winston: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"

haha.

well i so needed to blow that delusion out of the water yo~

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Besides, fantasy interspecies lactation is a cool fetish.

_________________
t-Asarlai: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
SamShadee: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
CrappyManzrX: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
KatndaHat: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
BountyHunter37: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
KateeLover: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"
George Winston: "Help me! I can't fight Darth Marleeee alone!"

While I agree it can be unrelentingly grim, and I often wonder why a character can't cut just one single break, I actually find that a welcome point of difference.
I like its brutal, full of political machinations. Its a tragedy, its epic and its NOT the typical hero triumphs fantasy.

Even Mama Stark isn't so pure, since she is the architect (albeit unwillingly) of most of the bad things that happen to her family and those it depends on.. and she gets REAL twisted later on, and gives The Maid a bad time.

So far it is Tyrion that is proving to be the central protagonist/hero


Sheila

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The media revolution push pulls cultural evolution... and for every quantum leap in understanding, so much of the rest of it is just plain cr*p

At the insistence of my fiends in the nerdosphere I watched the first episode again, and then spent the rest of the night up watching the rest of season 1. I'm 1/3 of the way through book 2. Early prediction is that Jon and dragon girl hook up in the end. Digging Tyrion too, but as much from the mental image formed by Peter Dinklage than the source material.

I'm interested in how they're going to deal with Jaime. In the first book as I recall we didn't get his POV, so he was built-up as a monster from the POVs of others. So, in the second book, when we started to get to know him, the realization that he had understandable motivations (he had a quite brilliant speech in which he argues that being a knight means honoring dozens of oaths, which often contradict each other, and so he had decided to simply do what he wanted to do anyway, since that's the most practical way out) added to his gradual character development, when he starts his journey to bring back Sansa and Arya with Brienne of Tarth.