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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   3207 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 7, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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But his ultimate failure is simple: he can't land the plane. He can't write the last book. Until he manages to bring the whole thing home, he loses by default.

Maybe ASOIAF is best understood not as a story, but as performance art with rich social commentary about how our culture rejects the wisdom of the past, proceeds to deconstruct it, first promising to build something better in it's place, then seemingly for nothing but pure spite, only to discover not only that they cannot land the plane, but that there isn't a plane left to land, as they're still flying through the skies at high velocity.

Martin is a skilled writer, but it's not his world building that I enjoy the most, it's his characters. He could model so many different personalities, and make them compelling in their own way. His ideas on tax policy and whatnot are kind if midwitty, and it only shows the wisdom of past writers that they steered clear of such matters, and glossed over them with "happily ever after".

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