A Memory of Light, or Dance with Dragons?

[erickm001]

Two much anticipated Fantasy novels are scheduled for release in 2009. Which one will be first into print? I think the first one to hit the market will garner the most attention, press, publicity and sells

 

The last update from George RR Martin’s website concerning Dance with Dragons was more than a year ago. He had hoped to finish the book last summer. Alas, he didn’t finish the book and took a long vacation to Spain and Portugal. I’m a big fan of the Song of Ice and Fire series but was disappointed when Martin took off for Europe.

 

Our boy Brandon, on the other hand, is writing up a storm. He’s cranked out about 400,000 word on A Memory of Light, while working on other projects. His third book in the Mistborn series hit the New York Times bestseller list.

 

We have young, fairly unknown Brandon Sanderson facing off against the old warrior George R. R. Martin (sort of reminds me of the fight between Valda and Galad). Whose book will hit the market first?

 

My money is on Sanderson.

 

[Auld Manriva]

Mine too. Martin seems to have hit a pothole in the Road To Finish A Tale. What annoys me most is that ADWD is only going to cover the same period of time as AFFC, but with different POV's (at least thats what's been reported).... Not advancing the story to any great degree seems the likely outcome if that holds true.

 

I've about given up on reading the outcome of the War With The Others.

[Tyrell]

I've given up on GRRM. I love his books, but my faith in the man has rather evaporated.

 

Sanderson's progress is really impressing.

[Vambram]

I agree with Tyrell. Both with what you said about GRRM and SOIAF, as well as Brandon Sanderson. In fact, I have enjoyed the Mistborn Trilogy and also Elantris far, far more than I did the SOIAF series from GRRM.

[Auld Manriva]

They have endings at least...enjoyable ones as well. GRRM seems more interested in Wild Cards than finishing SoIaF. Personally I think he's got himself a "block".. I bet some of RJ's Yellows could cure him of it ;D

[Shard]

I agree with everything said so far, Martin must have either burned himself out (which does happen with some authors ew: Melaine Rawn with Exiles :*( ) or has just major writers block as mentioned. I really don't know what happened with Martins series I thought he had a plan for it but seems to have fallen flat. Brandon on the other hand spoiling us with that wonderful site of his with progress bars seems like hes going to get the job done WHEN he said it would be done. *heh*

 

I'm not sure I'll even read aDwD at this point since again previously mentioned it's only a different POV of the same events of previous book. Who knows maybe Jon and the wall have become besiged by the Others at the end of it. *shrug* He doesn't need a Yellow, he needs Cadsuane *evil laugh*

[Majsju]

While it of course is no guarantee whatsoever, Amazon has put up april 6 as the release date for ADWD.

[Auld Manriva]

Yeah.. Amazon UK has had that up for a good while now. I've advised Taymist numerous times not to get too excited. He's not even submitted the final dreft yet for editing from what it says on his "Not a Blog".. If it's published by this time a year from now I'll be amazed.

[mb]

I got the first 2 of the Song of Ice & Fire series (Game of Thrones & Clash of Kings) as a gift at Christmas.  Started the first (Game of Thrones) on Saturday.

 

Which book (Dance with Dragons or Memory of Light) will come out first?  I think it is too early to tell since we have not been told how long Dance with Dragons will be nor how much George has completed nor how much time he spends on it nor the rate at which he writes.

There are 3 possibilities::

-Dance with Dragons coming out first.

-The two books coming out at the same time.

-Memory of Light coming out first.

Any one of those possibilities could be probable with our current information.

 

From what I read so far; I think I like both series (Wheel of Time & Song of Ice and Fire) equally.  I am roughly in the middle of Game of Thrones.

 

[Auld Manriva]

The two series are as different as night and day. No reason not to like them both though. I suspect though, by the end of Storm of Swords, you will have decided on a preference betwixt the two mb.

[Mr Ares]

Which one will be first into print? I think the first one to hit the market will garner the most attention, press, publicity and sells

I think that it is all but set in in stone that AMoL will sell more than ADWD. Jordan is by far the biggest of the two in terms of sales. For ADWD to beat it, it would need a massive slump in the popularity of WoT, and a massive gain in popularity for ASoIaF. I can almost guarantee at least some gain for Martin, but not enough, nor the loss for "the long awaited final book of Robert Jordan's best-selling The Wheel of Time". Also, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Martin's book was the first of the two to hit the shelves.

 

Martin must have either burned himself out or has just major writers block as mentioned.

There are other options.

I really don't know what happened with Martins series I thought he had a plan for it but seems to have fallen flat.

His plan is nothing like Jordan's. At least to some extent he is making it up as he goes along.

 

I'm not sure I'll even read aDwD at this point since again previously mentioned it's only a different POV of the same events of previous book.

No, it is different POVs of different events, with mostly the same timeframe (ADWD will carry on after AFFC finishes, and some of the stories in AFFC will be picked up towards the end of ADWD. Both Arya and Sansa have been said to have POVs in it).

[Thorum]

Martin must have either burned himself out or has just major writers block as mentioned.

There are other options

 

On the last page of martin's "not a blog", he mentioned aDwD twice. I'll quote the entire blog posts for the perspective:

 

Never was a cooler spaceship, except maybe for the Orbit Jet (you can keep your Enterprise and Millenium Falcon). And from the bestest SF movie ever made. Not to mention some classic episodes of the original Twilight Zone. Klaatu's saucer just can't compare.

 

Damn. If only I'd finished DANCE. I might be able to afford it.

 

The Jack Vance tribute anthology, SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH, is complete, and has been delivered to our publishers at Subterranean Press, Tor Books, HarperCollins Voyager (in the UK), and Luitingh (n the Netherlands). Other foreign editions will no doubt follow. Jack Vance has a worldwide readership.

 

My co-editor Gardner Dozois and I are very proud of this one. The Dying Earth is one of the great settings in fantasy, right up there with Howard's Hyborian Age and Tolkien's Middle Earth, and it was great to be able to visit there again.

 

 

 

And the Subterranean Press edition, which will feature full-page interior illustrations by Tom Kidd for each story, looks to be especially nifty.

 

 

 

Copies of the limited edition are still available through the SubPress website at http://www.subterraneanpress.com/

 

So that's one project off the plate.

 

Now all I need to do is wrap up WARRIORS and SUICIDE KINGS and... yes... A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, and maybe I'll be able to take a week off. (The reason they call them deadlines is because they're like to kill you).

 

I'll keep you posted.

 

And that's in a total of about 50 blog posts since the end of November.

 

 

[Mr Ares]

On the last page of martin's "not a blog", he mentioned aDwD twice. I'll quote the entire blog posts for the perspective:

And that's in a total of about 50 blog posts since the end of November.

What's your point? That on the blog he set up to talk about things other than ASoIaF, he spends most of the time talking about things other than ASoIaF? And how does that indicate either burn out or writers block? Or anything at all?

[Thorum]

Mainly since in the summer, half of his posts were about how much progress dance with dragons was making

[DhaiMon]

The two series are as different as night and day. No reason not to like them both though. I suspect though, by the end of Storm of Swords, you will have decided on a preference betwixt the two mb.

Why?

Myself, I'm busy reading A Feast for Crows now, and I can safely say that I still like the Song and the Wheel both. Not to give away any spoilers, but there's a good many cliffhangers and twists lying in waiting still up untill A Storm of Swords.

I'd love A Song of Ice and Fire for Daenerys' part in A Game of Thrones alone. Tyrion also rules, as does Littlefinger, the sneaky bastard.

 

As to the topic at hand: Since I count both works among my favorites, and can't see any negative development in A Feast for Crows so far that would seriously turn me off, I'll be glad to see either of the two on the shelves soon.

[mb]

The two series are as different as night and day. No reason not to like them both though. I suspect though, by the end of Storm of Swords, you will have decided on a preference betwixt the two mb.

 

I tend to like most of what I read and many of them are very different from each other.

Also one of my nephews I take has read both series and seems to like both series.

 

[Auld Manriva]

Why?

Myself, I'm busy reading A Feast for Crows now, and I can safely say that I still like the Song and the Wheel both. Not to give away any spoilers, but there's a good many cliffhangers and twists lying in waiting still up untill A Storm of Swords.

Is what I wrote that bloody unclear or difficult to comprehend? The Storm of Swords reference was nothing but a guess on my part that mb, by the time he'd read to the end of it, would have decided on a preference between the two series.

 

I'm not disagreeing with you mb. Nor am I criticizing. Simply stating that the two are different enough that most people I know who have read and enjoyed both prefer one series over the other. Not that those I've talked to about them are legion by any measure.

 

 

[erickm001]

The two series are as different as night and day.

 

That's the truth. "A Song of Ice and Fire" is very dark and very adult. I would not recommend the books to youngsters (and a few adults I can think of). Most of the sex in the books is utterly creepy -- incest, pedephelia, sadism. The violence can be stomach churning. At the same time, it's one hell of yarn with some great characters. It almost reads like historical fiction at times (with some of the really bad parts of history thrown in). With some reservations, I like the series. I will buy "A Dance with Dragons" whenever it comes out.

 

For me, "The Wheel of Time" is special. There is nothing like it. I'd recommend the books to anyone.

 

I hope both books come out this year, but I suspect we have a long wait for a "Dance with Dragons".

[Mr Ares]

Mainly since in the summer, half of his posts were about how much progress dance with dragons was making

Which does nothing to prove your point. That he isn't talking about making progress could mean nothing more than he isn't talking about it. Maybe he's so close to finishing, there is not much more progress to be made. So he just doesn't feel like telling us about the two or three chapters he has left to do. Perhaps.

 

pedephelia

When?

I hope both books come out this year, but I suspect we have a long wait for a "Dance with Dragons".

I suspect that when it does show, it will be great.

[Thorum]

Mainly since in the summer, half of his posts were about how much progress dance with dragons was making

Which does nothing to prove your point. That he isn't talking about making progress could mean nothing more than he isn't talking about it. Maybe he's so close to finishing, there is not much more progress to be made. So he just doesn't feel like telling us about the two or three chapters he has left to do. Perhaps.

 

Let's hope, though I don't really believe it.

[erickm001]

 

pedephelia

When?

Throughout all of "A Song of Ice and Fire". There's many instances of old dudes lusting after very young teenage girls. Some scenes are quite explicit. In this time and culture those old dudes are pedaphiles. One could argure that these scenes reflect the mores and culture values of mediaeval England during the War of the Roses or the Hundred Year War, I suppose, but I just find it creepy and way over done. There's also so the scene of the young boy being castrated for some magical spell and then the young boy going into prostitution to survive. Yuck. Most of the sex in the series is degraded.

 

Compare this with WOT. The sex is never explicit and either very loving (Rand and Avidenda) or very funny (Mat and Tylin).

[Majsju]

 

 

Compare this with WOT. The sex is never explicit and either very loving (Rand and Avidenda) or very funny (Mat and Tylin).

 

What Tylin did to Mat would be considered rape in most western nations these days.

[erickm001]

 

 

Compare this with WOT. The sex is never explicit and either very loving (Rand and Avidenda) or very funny (Mat and Tylin).

 

What Tylin did to Mat would be considered rape in most western nations these days.

 

Phaw! Whose going to sign out the complaint? If Mat didn't really want to he could have disarmed Tylin quite easily.

[Majsju]

Laying hands on a queen in her own palace just might be a bad idea...

[Hybrid]

I just finished A Feast for Crows this Christmas break.  Although I like ASOIAF a lot, WOT is still better in my mind.  While ASOIAF is more graphic and perhaps more realistic, the world of WOT just feels more well-developed and expansive.  Perhaps it's the length of the series, perhaps not.