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A review by fifteenthjessica
Dreamsongs, Volume I by George R.R. Martin
4.0
This book is a collection of short stories and novellas written early in George R. R. Martin's early career and teen years, interspersed with brief biographical bits. The biographical bits are fun from my standpoint as an aspiring writer. Since some of these short stories date back to his time as a teen writing fan fiction for comics, they're not all winners. Not to say that all of the stories that I felt were duds were limited to the start of this collection, but it was still a good read overall.
Personally, I could have skipped "Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark" (very corny, but I guess it's the oldest complete work that he had a hard copy of), "A Song for Lya" (I'm probably in the minority, but I didn't care for Robb or Lya which made this novella drag), "This Tower of Ashes" (at least it's short), "The Meathouse Man" (that one's just really gross and pointless), and "The Monkey Treatment" (which is also gross and pointless).
Favorites include "The Fortress", "The Hero", "The Second Kind of Loneliness", "And Seven Times Never Kill Man", "Bitterblooms", "The Way of Cross and Dragon", "The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr", "Remembering Melody", and "Sandkings." These pieces, to varying degrees inspired some story concept nuggets for myself and made me curious about more of Martin's sci fi works as well as horror as a whole, a genre I normally neglect because scary scenes in movies and television usually mean I'm looking over my shoulder for the next twenty-four hours at least. I will probably add Dreamsongs, Volume 2 to my list of novels to check out later, which already includes Martin's Fevre Dream novel.
Personally, I could have skipped "Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark" (very corny, but I guess it's the oldest complete work that he had a hard copy of), "A Song for Lya" (I'm probably in the minority, but I didn't care for Robb or Lya which made this novella drag), "This Tower of Ashes" (at least it's short), "The Meathouse Man" (that one's just really gross and pointless), and "The Monkey Treatment" (which is also gross and pointless).
Favorites include "The Fortress", "The Hero", "The Second Kind of Loneliness", "And Seven Times Never Kill Man", "Bitterblooms", "The Way of Cross and Dragon", "The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr", "Remembering Melody", and "Sandkings." These pieces, to varying degrees inspired some story concept nuggets for myself and made me curious about more of Martin's sci fi works as well as horror as a whole, a genre I normally neglect because scary scenes in movies and television usually mean I'm looking over my shoulder for the next twenty-four hours at least. I will probably add Dreamsongs, Volume 2 to my list of novels to check out later, which already includes Martin's Fevre Dream novel.