If you like fantasy at all, the Song of Ice and Fire (which is the name of the series) is not hard to read at all - it is utterly captivating and there are a set of POV characters every book that help with keeping track of different plotlines simultaneous without much confusion. I would say it is decidely unhelpful to take notes/try to keep track of timelines or anything like that, because (a) as mentioned, lists of members of major houses listed very helpfully at the end, and (b) Martin doesn't care about timelines himself, so it's pointless to try to know for sure.
In any case, unless you will dislike the style or something like that, and so be bored reading, there's no way you'll lose track of the plot or of any of the may major characters. Martin does make obscure references that could provide clues about someone or help build theories but they're there to be dug out at leisure - I personally didn't care so much about subtle clues on the first read.
But yeah, hey, if you don't like long descriptive passages, you probably don't like pseudo-medieval fantasy much, so you see my point?
Oh, and violence, cruelty and very questionable endeavours are another thing. There are a lot of those. And no character is safe from a sudden and often gruesome death. But these books are the best thing that happened to fantasy since Middle Earth, imo.
p.s. Y is [i:] everywhere except in Tywin, where it's [ai]. Hang in there. :)
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Date: 2011-05-04 06:05 am (UTC)In any case, unless you will dislike the style or something like that, and so be bored reading, there's no way you'll lose track of the plot or of any of the may major characters. Martin does make obscure references that could provide clues about someone or help build theories but they're there to be dug out at leisure - I personally didn't care so much about subtle clues on the first read.
But yeah, hey, if you don't like long descriptive passages, you probably don't like pseudo-medieval fantasy much, so you see my point?
Oh, and violence, cruelty and very questionable endeavours are another thing. There are a lot of those. And no character is safe from a sudden and often gruesome death. But these books are the best thing that happened to fantasy since Middle Earth, imo.
p.s. Y is [i:] everywhere except in Tywin, where it's [ai]. Hang in there. :)