2017 Reading Challenge discussion

For #1 "A book with more than 500 pages", I'm reading A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin.
I have a german edition wich has 670 pages, called "Die Saat des goldenen Löwen". With the german books it's a bit weird though. From each book of the series they made two german books, so the book I'm reading is basicly the second half of A Clash of Kings, but the forth german book of the series. (If that makes any sense.)
However, I'm starting this challenge with a book with 500+ pages. ^^

I think it makes no sense at all what they did to those books in german ;) (But I know what you are talking about since I'm german, too.)
I read all the books in english and can only recommend to do so. The translations of the names alone makes me shudder.

It's obviously to make money. The german editions are so much more expensive than the English ones.
Well, the translations of the names doesn't bother me that much. I think it makes sense to translate some of them, but that's only my opinion. (But honestly, I have never met anyone who shared it ^^')
My sister loves the books, too, and her English isn't that good. Because of that I'm buying the german copies, so she can read them as well. :)

I ve read all the books in English and I love the series. I actually still have the last book to read but I've decided that I wana read it later because I hate waiting for the next book. There are meant to be 2 more books. But Martin takes a long to release new books. I would rather wait a little bit. Though I might read it because the new season will start soon and I want to know what's happening :)

I think the new season will cover a lot from book 5 so I would recommend reading it first

Cathrin wrote: "I think the new season will cover a lot from book 5 so I would recommend reading it first"
I've heard that as well. I've only read the first two books and there is no way I'll be able to catch up to book 5 by the time the season starts :(

I think they even ended up splitting the English version into two books. It could be to make more money, but possibly to make the story more linear for certain characters. Personally I like the not knowing what happened to them and waiting for them to appear again.

yes. clash of kings.
Clash of Kings Hack

This is a great book but my favorite is still book 3.

I read the first book but was so confused by the cast of characters that I couldnt keep up and constantly stayed confused about who was doing what. Some of them even had two names: Eddard and Ned.

So as much as I liked the book I had decided not to read any more of hte series. BUT now I've started watching it and I LOVE knowing the deeper story....so...maybe I'll read more????

I read "A Dance With Dragons" as my book for this category.

All of the versions of the book were split into two novels (Feast of Crows" and "Dance with Dragons" and the plot lines merge in "Dance of Dragons" and some of the narrators from FoC show up.

As for the characters, I had to keep a character list while reading the first few books. There are a lot of great resources online about characters and maps and standards to help readers keep it all straight. I think the best way to do it is to read the books in conjunction with the show. This way you can get a firm grasp on the major characters when reading the books. Martin also uses markers to help differentiate characters and names that connect to the markers like "the mountain that rides," and "the Hound."Illyrio's marker is the rings on his fingers. Though, this technique is mostly for secondary characters.

I definitely think the series is a must read. I am obssessed. It just takes a little help at first. Actually, there is a theory that Game of Thrones is actually an introduction to the Song of Ice and Fire and the book was used to introduce the vast cast of characters to the readers. If that was Martin's purpose, I think the novel needs some work

I wish A Clash of Kings had Stannis prespective. Are we to further assume Stannis is nothing more than an imposter, so little thought behind his character was given? Tending to die, be killed off at certain point?

I was utterly disappointed with the Battle of the Blackwater. Showing this military fiasco from an inept commanding point of view. Most of this battle would have been impossible, due to the structuring shown. This part of the book serves only to foretell events. Although discounting entirely the mindset of a seasoned veteran commander attacking. Instead we have the POV of Davos who was very inept in that battle, due to his lack of command, commanding only his vessel. Davos could only suffer lost. The glory of Tyrion where everything, magically, fell into place. Although Tyrion had suffered some betrayal.

I start reading the next book A Storm of Swords, reading the next Davos chapter was almost impossible due to the grammar used. Further on there is a Samwell chapter where almost every beginning paragraph on the first pages of that chapter read: Sobbing, Sam took another step. Not! Sam took another step, sobbing. Another paragraph starting with: But if he stopped he died. He knew that. The paragraph on opening might have read: If Sam stopped, he died and so he continued.

Maybe I don't know anything about dramatic effect. You could be right. I don't understand the difference at all, apart from the grammar?