Flash Reviews: Martin, Goldstein

[calico_reaction]

So last week's reviews might've been a bit weird, but this week's set takes the cake. To ease the weird-factor of the second review, which is a nonfiction book that implies more about me than most of you would care to know, I've also provided the long-coming review for George R.R. Martin's A Feast For Crows. Four books down, one to go! Well, at

Comments

[liddle_oldman]

I've skipped Martin ever since Fevre Dream, a vampire novel that creeped me right the hell out. :)

[calico_reaction]

The epic fantasy books definitely have a different flavor, which makes sense: while a sense of history prevails in all the Martin I've read, Fevre Dream is horror, and this series is epic fantasy. That's not to say there aren't horrifying elements to the story, though. ;)

[liddle_oldman]

I do have to say that the recent TV series hasn't really convinced me to start. Every time I wander in to check on it, someone is slitting the throat of babies, or hacking off body parts, or it's Joffrey.

[calico_reaction]

Fair enough! :) It's one of those shows that isn't popcorn-viewing either: you have to want to pay attention to every bit of dialogue, and if you don't catch the episodes in order? Oy.... it's a good show, but like the books, they demand patience. :)

[nymeria_55]

A Feast for Crows was the most frustrating installment in GRRM's saga for me. Even knowing it had been a difficult step for the author as well, did not relieve my sense of disappointment, of... unfulfilled promises.

Brace yourself because the first part (roughly one third) of Dance with Dragons will give you the same feelings - mostly because it was meant to be one with AFFC. Martin does love his details, granted, even though he's never exhibited the maniacal passion for them that Robert Jordan had (the main reason I abandoned Wheel of Time after book 3 or 4), but still I hope he will break out with some huge revelation and repay us all for our infinite patience :-)

I'm ready for Dany to get her ass in Westeros and start showing everyone who's REALLY boss. Maybe book five will give me that?

Would you like a very non-spoilery "yes" or "no" or would you rather wait to find out on your own? *eg*

[calico_reaction]

After I finish reading Bossypants, I'll be reading book five, so I can wait to find out. Thanks for the offer, though. :)

[nymeria_55]

I look forward to your impressions on DwD! Especially for the cliffhangers at the end...

((insert evil laugh))

[stfg]

I listened to that podcast and thought it was really interesting. I was aware that the newer generation of birth control pills contain less estrogen and progesterone, but did not realize that hormonal birth control shut down the hormone production of the ovaries as much as it does, producing a lesser quantitiy of hormone in the body as a whole. You'd think that adding hormones to your body would increase the total level of hormone, rather than decrease it, but things in biology don't always work the way you think they should at first glance. :) I was familiar with the bit about women converting estrogen and progesterone to testosterone, and it makes medical sense to me that testosterone is part of normal female sexual function, so it's totally reasonable to me that if a woman has low testosterone levels due to birth control, that might cause sexual problems. It's something to think about for sure.

[calico_reaction]

That, in a nutshell, is why I got the book. I did know that birth control controlled your hormones: hell, one of the reasons I started taking it was because I was getting migraines like clockwork, every month, between cycles, when my hormone spiked the highest. But I never thought it was suppress anything below the point I needed to function: I thought the pill would normalize everything, hormone-wise. What a frustrating thing to be wrong about. :-/

[weasel_of_d00m]

"A Feast For Crows" was when I started having concerns about the saga... Still have to finish "Dance With Dragons" (could not get through the first part, that Nymeria warned you about). Now motivated to try again, since you'll be reviewing it soon :)

[calico_reaction]

If all goes well, I hope to have A Dance with Dragons up NEXT Wednesday, not this Wednesday. This Wednesday is Gravewalker and Bossypants!