Currently Reading

I did it. I gave in. The hype was too strong.

I am currently reading “A Game Of Thrones”, recommended to me by approximately a zillion people. I was wary, because when I see High Fantasy my expectations are usually of Tolkienesque, ‘orcs-and-elves’-type shenanigans. And although I love fantasy as a genre, for some reason I’m faintly allergic to all that – it’s the reason I can’t quite bring myself to play Skyrim even though it’s ridiculously beautiful, and as an RPG nerd I’ll probably adore it. I just have an aversion to elves, I suppose. (Hello, my name is Laura and I am Elvist.)

Anyway, thankfully, “A Game Of Thrones” foregoes the twee Tolkienesque tropes I’d feared and replaces them with incest, death, betrayal, sex, more death and a smidge more incest. Which I suppose is a fair trade. (Admittedly, what with all the hype, I’d expected more in the way of free-range penises but it’s only the first book.)

According to my Kindle, I’m halfway through, and already I want to kick Prince Joffrey in the teeth. One thing I have to hand to George R.R. Martin is that he knows how to write a good female character – and they’re not all cut from the same cloth either, which is a good sign. Even ostensibly ‘villainous’ characters (I use inverted commas because frankly almost everyone’s a little villainous) such as Cersei are well crafted, and too intriguing to be completely detestable. We’ll see how I feel about them all by the end, and whether I still feel like shoving Joffrey off a cliff.

Other recent reads listed below – reviews quite possibly to follow:

Attack On Titan vol.1-6 – Hajime Isayama

Last To Rise – Francis Knight

A Matter Of Blood – Sarah Pinborough

Tomie – Junji Ito

The Lies Of Locke Lamora – Scott Lynch

Red Seas Under Red Skies – Scott Lynch

The Cipher – Kathe Koja