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A review by laviskrg
Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective: Book One by George R.R. Martin
5.0
This collection of short stories from George R.R Martin is a treat for anyone who loves SciFi and Fantasy, who adores good writing and interesting characters. I am a fan of Martin's works, especially "A Song of Ice and Fire" which I basically worship. The fact that I bought this collection of stories in Barcelona on a day when Martin was also there and I had no idea adds to my pain as a fan, but that has nothing to do with the awesomeness of these works.
I found this to be an interesting anthology. I have not read numerous collections before, but I did find it interesting that every group of stories followed a telling of the author's own story, with explanations regarding the difficulties he faced as a writer, with details of his life-long love of comics, SciFi and Fantasy and different facts of life. I appreciate that kind of thing because I feel it brings one closer to the author's point of view, and reading about an author's activity in such a way is vastly superior to reading a random page on the Internet.
The stories are different, varied and quite awesome. Of course, some are better than others, but all (well, except "The Pear Shaped Man" which I personally did not enjoy) have something memorable, pleasant, enticing and gripping. I cannot select a favourite because most were on the same level, even if they were completely different stories, but probably "A Song for Lya", "The Second Kind of Loneliness", "This Tower of Ashes", "The Ice Dragon", "In The Lost Lands" and "Sandkings" were my absolute faves. I found myself adoring the romantic content in many of the stories. In a short story, one can never really become fully knowledgeable of all characters, there is simply not enough time to characterize all of them perfectly, but Martin did a great job portraying love lost or unrequited, loneliness, despair, emptiness. My bleeding heart responded at once.
I finished the book with the reading of "Nightflyers". I cannot decide if it is a strong or a weak element in the novel. I mean, I liked it, and I always enjoy SciFi with tinges of horror, especially when the SciFi is genuine and it discusses strong social issues. But I admit I was a bit underwhelmed by the ending and by the dialogue. Don't know, I couldn't buy the weird way in which Karoly and Royd were speaking. The others were more believable characters, albeit slightly stereotypical. Maybe that was the idea, I don't know. But, in the end, I felt like the story could have been shorter because not much happens. Either way, it is a good bit of SciFi.
Over-all, this collection is definitely worth reading. I am not a big connoisseur of short story anthologies, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is true that I prefer (and probably many others agree) engaging in a long, deeply satisfying read, which is either an enormous tome or part of a series, but this book can also be seen a study of Martin's literary concepts and his general career. Also, the man can write. In my opinion, he is the best Fantasy writer of our age. So, enjoy! I will read Vol 2 later. I feel like I need to take a small break from SciFi and Fantasy, though I don't know how much I will manage to resist.
I found this to be an interesting anthology. I have not read numerous collections before, but I did find it interesting that every group of stories followed a telling of the author's own story, with explanations regarding the difficulties he faced as a writer, with details of his life-long love of comics, SciFi and Fantasy and different facts of life. I appreciate that kind of thing because I feel it brings one closer to the author's point of view, and reading about an author's activity in such a way is vastly superior to reading a random page on the Internet.
The stories are different, varied and quite awesome. Of course, some are better than others, but all (well, except "The Pear Shaped Man" which I personally did not enjoy) have something memorable, pleasant, enticing and gripping. I cannot select a favourite because most were on the same level, even if they were completely different stories, but probably "A Song for Lya", "The Second Kind of Loneliness", "This Tower of Ashes", "The Ice Dragon", "In The Lost Lands" and "Sandkings" were my absolute faves. I found myself adoring the romantic content in many of the stories. In a short story, one can never really become fully knowledgeable of all characters, there is simply not enough time to characterize all of them perfectly, but Martin did a great job portraying love lost or unrequited, loneliness, despair, emptiness. My bleeding heart responded at once.
I finished the book with the reading of "Nightflyers". I cannot decide if it is a strong or a weak element in the novel. I mean, I liked it, and I always enjoy SciFi with tinges of horror, especially when the SciFi is genuine and it discusses strong social issues. But I admit I was a bit underwhelmed by the ending and by the dialogue. Don't know, I couldn't buy the weird way in which Karoly and Royd were speaking. The others were more believable characters, albeit slightly stereotypical. Maybe that was the idea, I don't know. But, in the end, I felt like the story could have been shorter because not much happens. Either way, it is a good bit of SciFi.
Over-all, this collection is definitely worth reading. I am not a big connoisseur of short story anthologies, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is true that I prefer (and probably many others agree) engaging in a long, deeply satisfying read, which is either an enormous tome or part of a series, but this book can also be seen a study of Martin's literary concepts and his general career. Also, the man can write. In my opinion, he is the best Fantasy writer of our age. So, enjoy! I will read Vol 2 later. I feel like I need to take a small break from SciFi and Fantasy, though I don't know how much I will manage to resist.