WoT vs ASoIaF

[citri]

Which series is better? I am trying to choose which one to read first. I am trying to take in all aspects, including things like time between books, how close the series is to ending etc. I posted the same thing on the GRRM page and I got resounding ASoIaF, I was wondering if that was just a bias from the readers or if it was something else. Say what's good, what's bad etc.

 

[Humanraindelay]

I enjoyed both series. I would reccomend WoT simply because it only has one more book left to be written as apposed to ASoIaF. Unless of course you like to wait 2 or 3 years for the next book to come out. Either way, you'll enjoy both series.

 

[dreir]

No it's not bias. The very lack of responses in this thread also doesn't bode well for WoT, does it? I have all the books from both series and like them both for what they are. And speaking from a completely unbiased perspective, I'd still give you a resounding aSoIaF. Sure, you're gonna have to wait a bit for the next book, but you can always go for a one-off filler from another author in the meantime

 

[Sylvetra_Snake]

I have only read the Wheel Of Time so would side with them having not read the other series. Still, i think credit should go to Jordan for writing so many books. That is often the big problem with some series, you are left wanting more, yet with this one, you find yourself staring at the mountain of ice cream with your appetite ready. Can you eat the moutain?

 

[Talysia]

The reason I haven't posted in this thread is because I can't compare the two series - I have tried to read ASoIaF but didn't like it, and have no inclination to read further. That's just my personal preference, nothing more.

I have no problem with lengthy books, and whilst I admit that the WoT seemingly meanders further than it should and the level of detail is more than some people care for, the story was enjoyable to read at first, and I'll be interested to see how it ends. That's not to say that I don't have my own complaints about the WoT: there are certain storylines that could have been better dealt with and in fewer books, and some of the characters just don't engage me. Perhaps if the series had been several books shorter, then it might be better received. Who knows?

I'll still read A Memory of Light when it comes out. The Wheel of Time isn't exactly at the top of my list of all-time favourite books, but I still want to see what happens.

 

[C Of K]

This is a tough one. There are strong pros and cons for each series. Depending on your own preferences, you may not want to start ASoIaF because the fan base eagerly awaits the next installment, and we wait and we wait. It's a fun series to discuss among other fans, and there is sooo much to speculate upon. Still, several years of speculations can even wear down the fans of George RR Martin.

You may not want to start reading The WoT because the ladder four or five thousand pages of the series seem to misplace the plot beneath a pile of filler. Many fans of Robert Jordan admit that his later writings have caused them to show more favor for other writers.

But, if you just want to sit down and enjoy a story, either might suffice. I personally enjoy ASoIaF more than The WoT, but that might be because I involve myself in so many other activities while I await the next release...

 

[scalem X]

I think it's a hard one too. If you read the wheel of time/asoiaf very early in your fantasy days, you'll look upon a lot of other fantasy things and see similarities, then you'll think it's a weak version. But is it true, or did you just read the other one first?

 

[Khale]

As a huge fan of both series, I still prefer WoT. A bit long winded in books 7 and 8, but still great. At least not everyone in WoT dies.

 

[Tansy]

Read WOT first, if you read Martin first WOT will pale in comparison IMO.

 

[Boaz]

At least not everyone in WoT dies.

This is a major selling point for me continuing to buy ASOIAF. As an adult, I find that my tastes have changed. One of the ways an author can keep me on the edge of my seat and still make the story believable is to make me think that anyone could die at any time. Death in ASOIAF is very real.

But upon rereading LOTR, I find that I never seriously doubt that Frodo nor the rest of the Fellowship will die. Yes, Boromir died... but he kind of brought it upon himself. The same thing with Denethor. Gandalf's death was the penultimate noble sacrifice... and he was rewarded with a second life. Theoden was a sacrifice also.

Tolkien's fantasy is different from Martin's. Death in Tolkien comes to the extremely noble in a dramatic setting or it comes to the sinful in ignominy. Death in ASOIAF comes to the good and bad alike. It comes as sacrifice and it comes in humiliation. It does not seem to show partiality to character nor towards setting.

Don't get me wrong, I love Tolkien. He filled my imagination with characters, languages, and lands all through my adolescence. To me, he is the master. And thematically, nothing in fantasy or sci-fi comes close to his works.

As for Death in WOT, I don't know. The only real danger was that one kid found a dagger that tried to possess him.

And I think if WOT had been around when I was fourteen, then I'd love it. But as I said my tastes have changed as I've gotten older. I desire less fairy tale and more realism.

 

[Elyas MACHERA]

No it's not bias. The very lack of responses in this thread also doesn't bode well for WoT, does it? I have all the books from both series and like them both for what they are. And speaking from a completely unbiased perspective, I'd still give you a resounding aSoIaF. Sure, you're gonna have to wait a bit for the next book, but you can always go for a one-off filler from another author in the meantime

I first picked up tEotW when my two eldest sons had just finished tLotR and my brief was to find the largest fantasy book available as a follow up. At the time I didn't realise that this was the start of a series and book 6 had just been released.
Both of my sons have thoroughly enjoyed tWoT but neither have enjoyed the aSoIaF book series and have given up reading it and taken to the GoT TV series instead.

There is more political intrigue and plotting then action in aSoIaF and when there is action it is basically one army marches to another army, battle ensues and a major / minor character is killed. Repeat ad nauseum.

I could reread tWoT for the rest of my life and find something new each time and I would never get bored reading the series - which happened with only the second book of aSoIaF.

 

[Elyas MACHERA]

Read WOT first, if you read Martin first WOT will pale in comparison IMO.

That's funny. I have found just the opposite. aSoIaF is so far beneath tWoT (but still above Harry Potter - nothing is lower than that!)

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I'd not bother with either, but while I don't like GRR Martin, the aSoIaF book "Game Of Thrones" and the big book of GRR Martin short stories I have is far better than any part of WOT (read 11 and a half, I have looked at 13 and will not bother reading it).
TV isn't reading, but even so I have less interest in the TV series.

There are LOADS of better things to read than either of these, they are hyped mass-market. Certainly lots of people will watch the TV series that will ever read any fantasy.

WOT could maybe be edited down to 5 to 7 decent books.

 

[Elyas MACHERA]

This is a major selling point for me continuing to buy ASOIAF. As an adult, I find that my tastes have changed. One of the ways an author can keep me on the edge of my seat and still make the story believable is to make me think that anyone could die at any time. Death in ASOIAF is very real.

But upon rereading LOTR, I find that I never seriously doubt that Frodo nor the rest of the Fellowship will die. Yes, Boromir died... but he kind of brought it upon himself. The same thing with Denethor. Gandalf's death was the penultimate noble sacrifice... and he was rewarded with a second life. Theoden was a sacrifice also.

Tolkien's fantasy is different from Martin's. Death in Tolkien comes to the extremely noble in a dramatic setting or it comes to the sinful in ignominy. Death in ASOIAF comes to the good and bad alike. It comes as sacrifice and it comes in humiliation. It does not seem to show partiality to character nor towards setting.

Don't get me wrong, I love Tolkien. He filled my imagination with characters, languages, and lands all through my adolescence. To me, he is the master. And thematically, nothing in fantasy or sci-fi comes close to his works.

As for Death in WOT, I don't know. The only real danger was that one kid found a dagger that tried to possess him.

And I think if WOT had been around when I was fourteen, then I'd love it. But as I said my tastes have changed as I've gotten older. I desire less fairy tale and more realism.

Woh boy. Did you underestimate the ending for WoT or what. There were at least three major changes to major characters only one of which did I see coming.

 

[Elyas MACHERA]

I'd not bother with either, but while I don't like GRR Martin, the aSoIaF book "Game Of Thrones" and the big book of GRR Martin short stories I have is far better than any part of WOT (read 11 and a half, I have looked at 13 and will not bother reading it).
TV isn't reading, but even so I have less interest in the TV series.

There are LOADS of better things to read than either of these, they are hyped mass-market. Certainly lots of people will watch the TV series that will ever read any fantasy.

WOT could maybe be edited down to 5 to 7 decent books.

Instead of which in my opinion there are 10 or so excellent books 3 very good ones and a good one. Not a bad average and I'm afraid your "hyped mass-market" comment doesn't apply. Popularity was initially spread by word of mouth. Now if you applied that comment to Harry Potter, I wouldn't argue with you.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Death in ASOIAF is very real.

A) It's imaginary
B) There is no shortage of gratuitous descriptions of death, violence and sexualised violence.

Everyone in the real world dies.
Everyone except some Immortals dies in books.

I see no virtue in stories where anyone / many people die.

 

[Boaz]

Elyas, Welcome to the Chrons.

Woh boy. Did you underestimate the ending for WoT or what. There were at least three major changes to major characters only one of which did I see coming.

I've been reading fantasy and sci-fi for forty years... and what I've read is only a drop in the bucket of what's been published in the last hundred years, so I'm sure my perspective is limited. After reading Abercrombie, Alexander, Azimov, Brooks, Bujold, Burroughs, Card, de Camp, Donaldson, Drake, Eddings, Erickson, Feist, Gaiman, Gemmell, Heinlein, Herbert, Hobb, Howard, King, Lawrence, L'Engle, Le Guin, Lewis, Martin, McCaffery, McKiernan, Mieville, norton, Piper, Rothfuss, Rowling, Sanderson, Simmons, Stasheff, Tolkien, Weber, Williams, Wurts, and lots of other authors from the seventies and eighties... and even Dragonlance and star wars, I feel that I have enough experience to be a decent judge of when authors really put their characters in harm's way or not.

I do not believe that I underestimated the ending. I do know that I never got past the "borrowing" of the plot so that I could get emotionally connected to the cast of characters. The main characters that I remember from The Eye of the World are Rand, Egsomething (it's like Eowyn), their two friends (I remember them as Merry and Pippin in my head), Morgaine?, Lan, Lan's love interest, Dances With Wolves, and I think there was another ranger. There are probably many more whom I've forgotten. Jordan wrote eleven or twelve books, I think... I only read TEOTW... and he might have passed on more than just notes to Sanderson. So... after eleven books are Rand, Eowyn, Merry, Pippin, Morgaine, Lan, Lan's girlfriend, wolf guy, and the other ranger still alive? Did any of them go the way of Boromir. If they're all still alive, then I don't believe that I underestimated the ending of The Eye of the World.

A) It's imaginary
B) There is no shortage of gratuitous descriptions of death, violence and sexualised violence.

Everyone in the real world dies.
Everyone except some Immortals dies in books.

I see no virtue in stories where anyone / many people die.

Ray, My apologies, but I don't quite get your post.

Imaginary as in fiction? Not real? Okay, then life, death, love, betrayal... everything in fiction is imaginary. So why read? Why write?

Or did you mean, that Martin does not really have his characters die, but only fake their deaths in order to bring them back at a later point in the story. Well, I'm certain that the important characters who died in the first book are truly dead. (Ditto for a number of them from the third book.) But I've a sneaking suspicion that a few other characters are not dead at all. He's used this plot device at least twice and may currently be using it in three separate plot arcs... I won't be sure until the sixth book (maybe the seventh) goes on sale. Also, a few people seem to have been brought back to life under supernatural conditions, i.e. they don't like to stay dead.

As for the charges of gratuitous death, gratuitous violence, and gratuitously sexualized violence... I won't even try to defend Martin. I feel that most of these fit perfectly into the tone and the setting of the story... and yet, he's pushed the limits at times. I think if his writing offends or disgusts (I admit that I was a bit disgusted a few times in the second and fifth books), then the scene is gratuitous.

As for the last sentence, Ray, I don't believe you believe it. Sometimes, I've exaggerated when I've felt strongly about a topic. (The Martin forum is full of them. And you can find plenty of posters who have called me on them.)

Edit: I'm having serious issues with the quote function. My aplogies.

 

[Boaz]

On a side note, GRRM is a fan of Jordan... and probably more to the point, a friend of Jordan. In A Song of Ice and Fire, there is a noble of family that lives on the Tor river in Dorne. The current lord of House Jordayne is named Trebor.... Lord Trebor Jordayne of the Tor. Trebor is Robert spelled backwards and Tor is the publisher of TWOT. Lord Trebor does not actually appear in the narrative, but he's mentioned several times.

GRRM did not include a King Tolkeen of Midlurth, a Prince Trebor Howard, nor a Knarf Herbert of the Dunes...

 

[Brian G Turner]

I've edited your quotes for you, Boaz - looks like you've got adware again.

 

[Boaz]

You da man, Bri!