A Song of Ice and Fire, George R R Martin

Technically this is a reread, but an interesting one given the HBO series which I have been watching.  I already rate Mr Martin highly, but I had a perspective on the series that I wanted to communicate.

There might be some element of a spoiler here so if you are not a fan, or have already read these damned entertaining reads stop now.OK, as follows.....

Rereading I noticed that the story really begins when all of the following conditions are true: Westeros is thrown into political turmoil after Robert gets done in, murdered by a pig; There is in addition a vague ill defined threat from the North;  On the warmer continent the heir of the previous king to Robert gathers in strength and influence; and of course Winter is Coming particularly poignant to a Canadian.

I then read the next four books in the series and lo and behold, these conditions do not change.  At the end of a dance with Dragons we have political turmoil in Westeros; an ill defined threat from the North; A Targaryean gathering influence and strength where it is a lot warmer; and Winter, well it's coming.  People have died.  Plot lines have been started, followed, resolved (normally by decapitation) and new ones started.  There has been an enormous amount of action.  Great and important events have unfolded and the reality is that nothing has changed.  Nothing.

I actually think this is brilliant though, because at the same time as reading them, and thinking along these lines I noticed that unlike most fantasy literature, in which things tend to get resolved, tied up, answered, this work is more like the world in which we live.  In our world we have earth shattering events, we have people dying, we have disease, war, death and love and often, when you look at the world now it does not look so different to the world of last century.  We have most of the same problems, and oh yes, Climate Change is Coming.

Among Others, Jo Walton

Most books written as a diary leave me cold.  This diary is engaging, enchanting and pretty much enthralling.  There is in fact a distinct, and purposeful lack of action in the prose that makes you engage slowly with the main character, Morwenna, who has lost a twin, been moved away from her childhood home and is just trying to connect as she figures herself and others out.  The action that comes later, while still almost diffuse is more powerful for the build up.

Now this is a fantasy, and it has magic in it.  Unlike pretty much every book that has magic in a modern setting (almost modern setting, late seventies in the UK) the magic is believable.  So believable that you start wondering if there might not be something to the idea of it.  I personally would love it if magic were real, if I could connect to the universe that way it would be mind blowing and I have always wanted it to be real, so much so that the lack of magic, real magic, is a crushing disappointment to me on a daily basis.

If you haven't guessed yet I loved this book.  Loved it.  Another thing she did that just made it for me was have the main character, Mor, be totally into SF and fantasy, reading constantly, which is what I would do it I did not have to work for a living and look after a family.  The book is in essence filled with book reviews and recommendations I aim to follow up on. Thank you Jo Walton. This book is beautiful.