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bennought's review against another edition
5.0
While I really like Martin's famous (or, in some ways, infamous) A Song of Ice and Fire series, his short stories are far and away better. The shorter format forces him to cut out a lot of the descriptive fluff that pervades the full length books, as well as his penchant for unnecessary complicated-ness. Martin has also led quite an interesting life, and the short introductions he provides for various sections of the book are fascinating and insightful.
If you're a fan at all of Martin's work, I would highly recommend picking this up and giving it a try.
If you're a fan at all of Martin's work, I would highly recommend picking this up and giving it a try.
ellenb01's review against another edition
4.0
I bought this for GRRM's The Hedge Knight. Great, exciting tale.
thestygianphrase's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
sionainnmcdonagh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.0
shiragin's review against another edition
4.0
I adored Haviland Tuf, the only vegetarian ecological engineer in the Thousand Worlds, who, as it happens, also owns the original Lying Cat. "The Skin Trade" had wonderful atmosphere, that neglected, shabby industrial town feel. "The Hedge Knight" was incredible and reminded me what made me fall in love with the ASOIAF world in the first place (and also, why did I wait so long to read this?!). "Unsound Variations" is probably the only story in existence which combines chess with time travel, and "Portraits of His Children" made my skin crawl.
Go Georgie go!
Go Georgie go!
rosekk's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this collection. His notes on the stories and history behind them provided nice background without being too obtrusive, and most of the stories were great (none were bad, but in all story collections there are bound to be a few that don't appeal as much as others).
masteryoda716's review against another edition
4.0
GRRM shows some good writing range with this compilation. In this book he talks about the old views that people used to have on what makes "Science Fiction" and GRRM has talked before about putting fiction in Genres, making distinctions between SCI-FI and FANTASY, etc. His view on it is that they are all just stories and the difference is whether they happen in a mideival setting, in space, or the modern world. His collection here proved that to me. I enjoyed virtually all of these stories, some more than others to be sure, but he surprised me by making me really enjoy a Werewolf story which is something I've never been into and also my favorite story in here, besides the Hedge Knight, Portraits of his Children. If you don't want to read through this entire collection, I can't judge you because it is quite long, but you must read The Hedge Knight, Portraits of his Children, and The Skin Trade at minimum. I'm not generally a fan of short fiction, but GRRM has opened my mind with this book and I will now be looking for more compilations and anthologies than I ever would have previously thought. One last thought, not necessarily good or bad, but you can see some of the trends in GRRM's writing here compared to his other works, some similar characters, and even, you guessed it, sex and incest.
gmvader's review against another edition
4.0
Martin is perhaps the most natural story teller I have ever encountered. His words seem to flow so smoothly and tell stories so easily that is sounds like it just fell out of his fingers like a divine gift.
Maybe it is. I don’t know.
There are a few stories in this particular collection that I would skip entirely – in fact I wish I had never read them. However, they are undeniably beautifully written and heartbreakingly lonely.
On the other hand there are other stories that I loved so much that I can’t stop thinking about them.
‘The Ice Dragon’ is the best story featuring a dragon that I’ve ever read.
‘Sandkings’ is an arrogant narcissists nightmare.
‘The Monkey Treatment’ gives me shivers every time I think about eating,… or monkeys.
‘Nightflyers’ and the Haviland Tuf stories are also brilliant.
Martin has a gift with words. He’s very much a long-winded writer. None of his stories are short and his novels are all quite large but I find that it doesn’t matter. He’s got that readable quality that makes it so that you can almost just close your eyes and let the words seep into your mind and carry you away to other worlds and other times.
I’ve been immersed in George R. R. Martin’s stories for some time now and I find that the stories convey an emotional pictograph of his life. But it speaks to all of us on a deeper level because we’ve been there too.
Maybe it is. I don’t know.
There are a few stories in this particular collection that I would skip entirely – in fact I wish I had never read them. However, they are undeniably beautifully written and heartbreakingly lonely.
On the other hand there are other stories that I loved so much that I can’t stop thinking about them.
‘The Ice Dragon’ is the best story featuring a dragon that I’ve ever read.
‘Sandkings’ is an arrogant narcissists nightmare.
‘The Monkey Treatment’ gives me shivers every time I think about eating,… or monkeys.
‘Nightflyers’ and the Haviland Tuf stories are also brilliant.
Martin has a gift with words. He’s very much a long-winded writer. None of his stories are short and his novels are all quite large but I find that it doesn’t matter. He’s got that readable quality that makes it so that you can almost just close your eyes and let the words seep into your mind and carry you away to other worlds and other times.
I’ve been immersed in George R. R. Martin’s stories for some time now and I find that the stories convey an emotional pictograph of his life. But it speaks to all of us on a deeper level because we’ve been there too.
sophenomenal's review against another edition
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced