Customer Reviews

Dreamsongs: Volume I

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Two things before I start the review: I am a big fan of Mr. Martin's 'Song of Ice & Fire' saga (like many fans, I'm eagerly awaiting the release of 'A Dance With Dragons'). The second point is that I have never been a fan of short stories. Well, up until now.

When I first heard about the release of Dreamsongs, I wasn't too thrilled. I knew Martin as a brilliant epic storyteller, but I was not sure whether his talents in creating complex, deep characters, exciting storylines, and magnificent settings could fit into the small world of short stories.

Suffice to say that my worries about Dreamsongs almost kept me from being exposed to some of the best stories that I have read. Dreamsongs is a collection of short stories written by Martin throughout his career as a writer. These tales cover a spectrum of genres including fantasy, science fiction, and even horror. I would like to emphasize one point: Every signature element that brought Martin to the pinnacle of fame that he has today is present in this collection of his earlier works.

Stories: Original, deep, and engaging are the words that come to mind when describing the tales in Dreamsongs. What I found surprising was how personal some of these stories were. From the fight for honor and country in 'The Fortress' to the very depths of human needs and emotions in the touching 'A Song for Lya'; From socio-political issues in 'And Death His Legacy' to war and propaganda in 'The Hero', I was hooked and pulled into the story every time. The tone of these tales can be commonly described as dark. I found myself thinking about these stories afterwards the way I thought about some of the Twilight Zone episodes: The stories are fiction, but there is always an underlying message in every story that rattles the reader a bit.

Settings: as Mr. Martin takes you away on a journey through planets, deep space, ancient temples, alien cities, lost highways, and mysterious jungles, he masterfully places you right in the middle of events. Fans of 'Song of Ice & Fire' will immediately recognize Martin's skill (which he apparently possessed from even his earliest of stories as a teenager) in making the settings come to life in the reader's mind.

Characters: Vulnerable, introspective, possessive, cowardly, mad, illogical, heroic, tired, fearful, lonely, and brave. You will come to know the characters in these stories as if they were real people. One thing that I found absolutely amazing was how the author could masterfully develop these characters in a few pages in a way that he did with the amazing cast of 'Song of Ice & Fire' within volumes of books.

I would easily recommend Dreamsongs to any fan of Geroge R.R. Martin or any fantasy/sci-fi reader who has been so unfortunate in life as to have never read any of his books. Ladies and gents, you are in for a treat.

I've been a big George R.R. Martin fan since reading "Fevre Dream" when I was a bit younger; although many of his fans seem to only be familiar w/ Song of Fire & Ice, I can assure you that most of his other works are just as good. I was absolutely thrilled when I heard that many of his early and lesser known works were being collected and published in one volume, and I was quite upset when the original release date was changed(the release date for the US Dreamsongs was originally announced over a year ago at the same time the UK version; it was then scrapped and split into the 2 volumes for release here).
The fact that so many of the selections were award winners/award nominees speaks highly of the book to begin with, and although many of the stories in the first half of the book were written by a very young Martin (and it shows), the entire collection is filled with stories that grab hold of you and characters that you can really care about (a Martin specialty, imho). And though I've never been a big fan of anything that falls into the horror genre, I read and thoroughly enjoyed each and every story in the collection. The intros to each section are particularly enjoyable to read, as Martin discusses his sucesses and failures and the variety of influences on his early works, as well as some interesting anecdotes from his childhood.
My favorites from this volume include "The Exit to San Breta", "The Second Kind of Loneliness", "With Morning Comes Mistfall", "A Song for Lya", "The Way of Cross and Dragon", and of course, "Sandkings". I highly recommend picking up a copy of Dreamsongs, even for those who are not fans of short stories (I'm generally not); it is also a great introduction to Martin for those who are unfamiliar with his works - just don't judge the whole book by the first few stories!

This collection, whether in its 2003 limited-edition single-book format or in this new two-book one, showcases the career of a true master. Most fantasy novelists can't write prose well enough to succeed at the short form, and most fantasy short fiction stars can't write plots entertaining enough to attract fans to their novels. Perhaps it's Martin's cross-genre skill, equally adept at fantasy, science fantasy, and horror, that enables him to master both the short and novel formats, or perhaps it's the writerly training of that bygone era when short fiction was more common and more populist. Regardless, his classic award-winners like "Sandkings" still shine opposite early works like "The Fortress" and recent ones like "The Hedge Knight."

The other bounty in this collection is Martin's introductions to each chronological section, describing where he was at that point in his life and career, then detailing the genesis of all the stories. These commentaries offer insight into the man and the evolution of his craft.

Perhaps after he finishes his current saga, he'll dip back into short fiction, or write shorter pieces in between his longer projects like Stephen King does. That would surely offer great reads, and it might bring some fan attention back to the forgotten short fiction format.

I have been a Big fan of George R.R. Martin recent works for a while and after seeing this book in the kindle store i had to have it. For me one of the most engrossing aspects of this book were the essays about Martins life and how he got into that specific type of genre writing in the first place. It really was enjoyable to read the progression of genres and writing style that of Martin.

There was four sections of this book. Early writing/comics, fantasy, scifi, and horror. For me the personal essays of the comic section was the most enjoyable but the writing was its lowest quality in general in that section. There were some gems in the scifi and fantasy sections but i feel like the quality of the horror section was by far the best. Of my top 5 short stories in the book 3 were in the horror section and there was only one subpar short story for me in this section.

I throughly recommend this book to anyone at all but especially to any Martin or short story fans. Other then getting through a couple subpar stories the vast majority of this collection of short stories was truly excellent.

Twenty-two terrific, highly readable stories, accompanied by five very entertaining autobiographical essays by the author (each essay introducing a group of stories and discussing what the author was doing in his life at the time he wrote the stories in question). There's also a nice little initial introduction to the whole package by Gardner Dozois.

What I liked a lot about these stories is the skillful, artful balance between clarity and ambiguity. Plot points and story developments are always very clear, so the reader knows exactly what is going on; yet Mr. Martin often chooses to pull back and let the reader decide the implications of characters' decisions rather than hit us over the head with an obvious "lesson".

It's funny, though. Mr. Martin's developed his writing craft much quicker than he accumulated life experience. The result: several stories ("The Second Kind of Loneliness" and "Meathouse Man" chief among them) that are highly polished in their craft but about little more than a young man's fear of talking to a pretty girl or depression when a relationship with said girl doesn't work out. Make no mistake, with their imaginative science-fiction, horror, or fantasy trappings, they're very interesting stories; I just thought it was amusing how, in certain particular stories, the writing was very sophisticated but the human/emotional themes were so basic. But even some of these stories feature the sophisticated ambiguity mentioned previously.

Highlights of the book? I particularly enjoyed the long "Nightflyers" (it's pretty much a novella); it reminded me of a really good Arthur C. Clarke story. "Sandkings" was a great SF/horror hybrid. And the out-and-out fantasy entry, "The Ice Dragon" was wonderful, too. In fact, there's not a clunker in the bunch, even among the early "fan fiction" stories ("Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark", "And Death His Legacy", etc.) also included by Mr. Martin.

When posting a positive review of an entry in a multi-part series, I try to avoid a trite closing sentence along the line of "this installment was great, and I'm certainly on board for the next volume." But, uh, there's really nothing left to say but... this installment was great and I'm certainly on board for the next volume.

Well, I do have ONE more thing to say. Maybe my new Amazon Kindle will arrive in time for me to purchase the also-hefty "Dreamsongs, Volume 2" via that handy electronic device. Like Mr. Martin's also excellent "A Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy novels, these suckers are BIG books and a bit of a pain to lug around. Get working, Amazon!

(My thoughts on all three volumes)

A Game of Thrones (and its followups) made Martin a household name among fantasy nerds, but not many of us knew he had been writing for so long.

Those who enjoyed that series but haven't checked out his back catalog are missing something special. Going back to his early 20s, it's clear that he had obvious gifts and a love for the craft, even in the face of the thankless job of writing for fanzines and short-lived monthly periodicals. Check out a story he wrote in college, set during the Swedish-Russian war of 1808, which offers crisp characters and a delicious sense of the divisions war can create among allies.

As a fantasy writer, Martin gives readers what most readers are looking for: exotic worlds populated by characters both colorful and familiar. Yet, Martin's stories tend to be darker and more ambiguous than the norm. The Hedge Knight novella is a fine example of this, taking the reader into a Knight's tournament in the Ice and Fire universe through the eyes of the likable but clueless young bumpkin, Dunk. Soon, he's in over his head with dangerous games of skill and equally dangerous intrigues between powerful lords. Sadly, many fantasy pieces offer too brief of a visit to the worlds Martin created for them -- as he acknowledges in his commentary, he'd often start a series, then never return to it.

And those who only know Martin for fantasy may be surprised to find that he's an accomplished science fiction writer. These pieces offer atmosphere, exotic worlds, and human drama, but with more reflectiveness than the fantasy pieces and a dark, speculative edge. Many of them feel surprisingly fresh and undated. The horror stories fare a bit less well. Martin deploys some tongue-in-cheek humor, but the pieces, with their cultural references, can't help but feel like products of the 1980s.

Then there are the commentary pieces, revealing a man who's just as much of a geek as much of his readership. He even sounds a bit like the Simpson comic store guy!

The Dreamsongs volumes are not a complete collection of GRRM's stories. They provide a selection of work from throughout his career, with each section introduced by an autobiographical essay telling about a little of his life at the time, and how he came to write these particular stories. As the subject says...those alone were worth the price to me. The stories themselves are the bonus.

I enjoyed this book. It was great to have intros throughout the book by Mr. Martin, letting you into the background into his life and how he came to writing certain tales. It's also fascinating to read as a time sequence to see how he found his voice over time. While not all of the stories are fantastic, the vast majority are above average and should capture your imagination. I highly recommend it.

This gives the reader a great look at some of George RR Martin's early work, including his expansive sci-fi work. Much of the sci-fi and some of the fantasy takes place in the same universe, and so despite being a collection of short stories it has a big vein of continuity running throughout.

Some of the very earliest stories are uneven or downright terrible, but the balance of the book is very good.

This is an exceptional collection. To start with, the story average is 3.80, which is pretty staggering for over 30 pieces from the same author. He also throws in a couple of screenplays, which look ok to me, but I know nothing about those, really.

It also has a cool orange cover. We need more orange books I think. John Wyndham's Wanderers of Time, the Legion of Space by Jack Williamson, etc. Also note the cute coat of arms, and its quartering to represent the genres that he loves and works in.

A fair bit of work has gone in to the book as far as introducing the material goes, and there is also quite a bit of autobiographical discussion, in the discussion sections that precede each of the nine sections that the book is broken down into, going from his childhood, right up until the later stories.

He talks about growing up, loving comics still 'bleeds four colour ink' he says, then discovering paperbacks, Heinlein, Howard, Tolkien, etc. He likes his football, and given all the mentions of SF convention parties, is probably not averse to a beer. My kind of guy. Science fiction, fantasy and horror, it is all good to him, and he is good at all of it.

There is also a complete bibliography up until the end of 2002. Although this came out now, apparently Subterranean published a collectable fancy version in 2003, hence the bibliography date. When this book started to appear he may not have had a lot more to report, either, working mostly on his fat fantasies and not short stories, or getting Wild Cards going again. All in all, I am really happy Gollancz has decided to bring this great book out for the rest of us normal mortal readers and made it accessible.

The Song and Ice of Fire books don't appeal to me at all, having tried one and couldn't get through it, so happily none of that sort of thing is here. He can write all of those he wants though, if he can keep Wild Cards ticking over.

However, there is a 'prequel' story of sorts from this world set a far while in the past, The Hedge Knight, which I thought was rather good. Apart from the brutally realistic type of violence, this has a much more T. H. White feel in some of it, rather than say, Nigel Tranter on crank.

He also picks Shell Games from Wild Cards, one of the best stories from that series of books, too.

Anyway, a brilliant collection. Five stars, no doubt about it.

Dreamsongs : Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Fortress - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : And Death His Legacy - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Hero - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Exit to San Breta - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Second Kind of Loneliness - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : With Morning Comes Mistfall - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : A Song for Lya - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : This Tower of Ashes - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : And Seven Times Never Kill Man - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Stone City - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : Bitterblooms - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Way of Cross and Dragon - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Ice Dragon - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : In the Lost Lands - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : Meathouse Man - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : Remembering Melody - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : Sandkings - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : Nightflyers - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Monkey Treatment - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Pear-Shaped Man - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : A Beast for Norn - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : Guardians - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : Shell Games - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : From the Journal of Xavier Desmond - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : Under Siege - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Skin Trade - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : Unsound Variations - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Glass Flower - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : The Hedge Knight - George R. R. Martin
Dreamsongs : Portraits of His Children - George R. R. Martin


The Demon Lord Saagael learns you can't keep a good Golden Ghost down when he challenges Doctor Weird.

3 out of 5


Finnish patriotism vs cowardice.

4 out of 5


A political killing has unpleasant results, as far as the hitman sees it.

3 out of 5


Army retirement plan not good.

4 out of 5


Ghost car.

3.5 out of 5


Waiting for spaceships can be crazy work.

4 out of 5


Do they have to come and wreck all the good spots?

4 out of 5


Post sooicide Union Joining rejection.

4 out of 5


Saving old girlfriends and their new boyfriends is a stupid, painful experience.

4.5 out of 5


Space kult gets pyramid power taste of their own prior killer solution.

3.5 out of 5


Guess I'll take gate travel over ship travel if that is all there is going. Less bloody fox people too.

4 out of 5


Tv is not a substitute for space travel you lecherous old bag.

4 out of 5


Judas Star Knights.

3.5 out of 5


Love guardian.

4 out of 5


I'm melting.

3 out of 5


Some services will leave you skint. Wered.

4 out of 5


Dead love handles.

4 out of 5


Bloody longtime parasite woman.

4 out of 5


Feed your pets properly, fool.

4 out of 5


Scary spaceship slaughter single.

4 out of 5


The little guy can sure put me away.

4 out of 5


Cheez doodles? Imagine if he used Cheesels!

4 out of 5


A spot of supply problems for an animal combat arena.

3 out of 5


Namor, Prince of the Deep is a kitten.

3.5 out of 5


Turtle power, Tachyon cower. Team-up!

5 out of 5


Joker leader WHO Tour account.

3.5 out of 5


Time to be chess champion, if I can save the world first.

3.5 out of 5


Mirror mirror on the wall, werewolf killer, blood will call.

4.5 out of 5


Joke victim's alternate timeline chessteam revenge.

4 out of 5


Game for a new life?

4.5 out of 5


Innocent defense seven-on-seven deathmatch disaster.

4.5 out of 5


Stop writing about me, you bastich.

3.5 out of 5