Customer Reviews

GRRM: A RRetrospective (Trade Hardcover)

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You can't keep the Championship title forever. Just ask Ali or Tyson. It may be sad, but its true, G. R. R. Martin has replaced Tolkien as the ruler of the fantasy world.

After reading The Song of Ice and Fire, it was clear that this man knows how to write...He has put together the greatest series ever..yes (Gasp!) its much better than the Lord of the Rings...This series should be the next think Peter Jackson Considers...

Anyhow... This GIANT book (1280 pages) contains many of Martin's earlier works that are all but impossible to find since his earlier compilations are all out of print and one has to look for old Asimov and Analog Magazines on Ebay to find all these stories... Good Luck finding his other elusive work "Songs the Dead men sing" which runs for $200...Fortunatly, most of the stories from "dead men" have now found there way into this mammoth tome...

What makes this Book great is that it has works for all types of fans... there is Sci-Fi, Fantasy, suspense, Comedy, Satire and just pages and pages of brilliant stories and novellas....All with GRRM's sad and yet beautiful themes as only he can do...

Never has a book made me Cry in one story and then have my heart racing in fear in the next...Joy, sorrow and intrigue on every page...so much so that it leaves the reader wondering how one man could produce such magic...

Buy this book... it may cost a fortune but i assure you the vast treasures inside are worth the price...

George R. R. Martin, recently acclaimed author of the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, revisits his past works in this massive compendium.

Before bursting on to the popular scene with A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin had a well-respected career in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror--namely, short stories. And his short stories are, in my opinion, the best I have ever read. Raw human emotion and spirit are given life in the pages of his stories. Never before has an author instilled in me such powerful emotion and passion. Such is the strength of Martin's prose.

Similar to A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin's stories transcend the boundaries of genres and cliches to become something truly timeless and worthy. For readers already familiar with Martin's past, this book contains numerous never-before-seen stories and screenplays, as well as wonderfully entertaining asides by Martin himself.

And for those of you who have never read Martin beyond A Song of Ice and Fire, I promise you this: a vast wealth of wonder and awe and passion await you in the pages of this tome. Dive in, and you will never be the same.

In this monstrous collection of work by George R. R. Martin, you'll find a wide variety of short stories in a number of different genres, including horror, SF, fantasy, and mystery. Most of the stories are from the late 70's and the 80's and nearly every one of them is powerful in its own way. The book is broken up into groupings by genre and there is a brief introduction for each section by Martin himself, giving detail about his life and his motivations for the stories he presents.

Martin is a master at capturing human emotion and thought processes on paper. From innocence to sadism, the characters in these stories cover an enormous range of behavior and feeling. Some characters you'll hate, some you'll love, and of some you'll not be sure what to think. The way Martin describes them though, they all seem very lifelike, making them either more frightening or more pitiful or more lovable, depending on what character you're reading about.

My favorite stories of the book include Sandkings and The Hedge Knight, both of which are available in other collections. There are a number of good stories here that are no longer available however, and I'd consider this book vital to the collection of any Martin fan.

You won't want to read this whole collection at one time (~1250 pgs), but it is perfect for a pick-it-up-now-and-then kind of treat between other books. Don't rush through it, take it nice and slow and enjoy each story for the maximum gratification.