I'm reading A Dance With Dragons right now, and I suspect that most of my geek peers have long since finished the book. But I generally find time to read a chapter at lunch four out of five weekdays, and as such I'm on page 267 of 959, which equates to 27.8% of the book. I'm not very far in. And I'll admit - I'm reading it fairly slowly. But like A Feast For Crows before it, the book is boring.
And it's a shame. The first three books in the series were simply awesome. But in the same way that The Path of Daggers, Crossroads of Twilight, and Knife of Dreams were the most mind-numbingly boring books in Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series, the Song of Ice and Fire series seems to have entered the same quagmire of superfluous characters and chapter upon chapter of meaningless scenes. I don't care about Roose Bolton. I don't care about Davos Seaworth. Give me more of Jon Snow and Dany. Give me more of Bran and Tyrion. Even those stories aren't half as interesting as they used to be, but they're better than reading about how some character I don't even know spent four months in the filthy hold of a boat sucking his toes.
I find myself thinking more of another recent release I cannot wait to read: Ghost Story by Jim Butcher, which is the thirteenth book in the Dresden Files. The twelfth book, Changes, was the best book I've read in years. While I can hardly expect number 13 to measure up, I still look forwards to reading it.
And I think about the contrast between the two. Both Song of Ice and Fire and The Dresden Files are series of books that I've really enjoyed, but with the Dresden Files I've never gotten bored and I've always read the books very quickly. Some people call stories like those "an easy read", but what exactly is it that makes a book "an easy read"? The phrase sounds dismissive if not deragatory, but if a book is enjoyable and easy to read, why should it be considered in any way inferior to one that I don't even look forward to? Reading George R R Martin at times feels like a chore, and I can't wait to be finished. I'd be tempted to quit reading were it not for the fact that I'd feel I was missing out on a group experience in which so many of my peers were participating. I could find myself at a beer night in Hartford, a Google+ hangout, or a line at PAX East where the topic of the book came up, and I'd be unable to participate. Couldn't have that happen.
And so I'll continue to slog through the book. It took me 3 or 4 months to finish A Feast For Crows, whereas I finished Changes in 3 or 4 days. Hopefully I can start reading Ghost Story before the end of the year.
I don't see any way he can completely wrap this series up in two more books. And maybe he doesn't plan to, or never intends to.
I compare this series with the Felix Castor series from Mike Carey and again, those are always entertaining, fast paced, and satisfying by the end. I think Martin wrote himself into a corner with Feast and now we have a mess.