And I forgot to mention that Martin's construction of highly racially divided societies is painfully outdated. Maybe you could find pseudo-ethnostates in the pre-modern world, but any major trade route or port city would have a much more diverse range of people. I suppose it's kinda convenient that Westeros, the place with all the white people, is the most powerful nation in that world, while the continent with all the brown people is mostly made up of disparate city-states and warlike savages. Fans argue that since we're seeing those cultures from the eyes of white people we aren't getting the full story, giving Martin the benefit of doubt, but if that's the case it probably should be made a little more explicit in the text. And in the War of the Roses time period Martin is most directly inspired by, Europe was a balkanized backwater while the Islamic world was a cultural powerhouse and China was already a thousand year-old empire and I'm sure other peoples were also very impressive compared to Europe but I'm unfamiliar with their histories. But, it could be argued that Martin is commenting on the modern White Supremacist state of the American Empire moreso than any obtuse point about Europe in the Middle Ages so I'm not sure how to feel about that particular point.
Fuck I'm such a nerd. Read theory you dumb bitch. GRRM literally doesn't matter.
It is a good book, but it is better to not have read it, as you can project more onto it from yourself and less experience what it is about.
In terms of Rothfuss / King Killer,
Also, like, I hate to admit it but I was in love with Name of the Wind for like a week. I tore through four-hundred pages while thinking "oh, it's his first book, everyone says it's great, I'm sure it'll get good just around the corner." I could see Rothfuss was setting up a grand deconstruction of a bunch of the great Fantasy books that came before him and I was there for it.
Is something that I shared, too. But then I gave up after the not ideal writing of women and power fantasy trips that are happening and enjoyed it as Isekai light anime in which I don't take stuff serious. Did help the vibe quite a bit. Of course the exterior - the tavern and such - are a different vibe. There are also slight elements of a weird early 2000s progressive homophobia or trans phobia to be found at some edges.
Some phrases of the books are quite nice though and the description of scenes does paint a picture and feels somewhat like an old TTRPG group you are sitting with on a table.
Westeros, the place with all the white people, is the most powerful nation in that world
Westeros is as much a "nation" as the Holy Roman Empire. The Seven Kingdoms, as implied by the name, aren't very unified, and even this low level of centralization has only been the case for 300 years. Before Aegon's Conquest, the various kingdoms were independent and waged constant wars with one another, and even after the Conquest there was still the occasional civil war and lots of instability.
As for power - far more powerful empires have existed, like the Great Empire of the Dawn (although that one's possibly mythical), the Valyrian Freehold, the Old Empire of Ghis, and one still exists - the Golden Empire of Yi Ti. Seeing as Yi Ti is basically fantasy China, it would probably be the most powerful state, although it seems that at the time the books are taking place it's been pretty weakened. Westeros however definitely isn't the most powerful "nation", because it simply isn't a unified political entity - some of the individual kingdoms might be considered to be powerful, but not the whole continent.
while the continent with all the brown people is mostly made up of disparate city-states and warlike savages
While I definitely agree that the Dothraki are a pretty dumb portrayal of a steppe culture, those disparate city-states are quite wealthy, and powerful at least in an economic sense, if not a military one. They are also arguably more culturally developed, if we consider an oligarchy of merchants to be more developed that feudalism, and while they may be disparate now, most of them trace their origin back to the Valyrian Freehold, which controlled all of their territories and more as a unified state.
Besides, there's more to the further east of the continent - Slaver's Bay is also incredibly wealthy, and similarly used to be part of a unified empire until it collapsed. There's various states around the Bone Mountains, and Yi Ti even further east.
Europe was a balkanized backwater while the Islamic world was a cultural powerhouse and China was already a thousand year-old empire
That's basically the case in ASOIAF. Westeros IS and has historically been a balkanized backwater, while the Free Cities are more politicaly and economicaly developed and used to be part of one of the world's greatest empires, and Yi Ti has been around since the Long Night, with the Great Empire of the Dawn that it (allegedly) succedeed being even older.
And I forgot to mention that Martin's construction of highly racially divided societies is painfully outdated. Maybe you could find pseudo-ethnostates in the pre-modern world, but any major trade route or port city would have a much more diverse range of people. I suppose it's kinda convenient that Westeros, the place with all the white people, is the most powerful nation in that world, while the continent with all the brown people is mostly made up of disparate city-states and warlike savages. Fans argue that since we're seeing those cultures from the eyes of white people we aren't getting the full story, giving Martin the benefit of doubt, but if that's the case it probably should be made a little more explicit in the text. And in the War of the Roses time period Martin is most directly inspired by, Europe was a balkanized backwater while the Islamic world was a cultural powerhouse and China was already a thousand year-old empire and I'm sure other peoples were also very impressive compared to Europe but I'm unfamiliar with their histories. But, it could be argued that Martin is commenting on the modern White Supremacist state of the American Empire moreso than any obtuse point about Europe in the Middle Ages so I'm not sure how to feel about that particular point.
Fuck I'm such a nerd. Read theory you dumb bitch. GRRM literally doesn't matter.
My real favorite book is Caliban and the Witch. Which I haven't read, but seems like the sort of thing I ought to like.
It is a good book, but it is better to not have read it, as you can project more onto it from yourself and less experience what it is about.
In terms of Rothfuss / King Killer,
Is something that I shared, too. But then I gave up after the not ideal writing of women and power fantasy trips that are happening and enjoyed it as Isekai light anime in which I don't take stuff serious. Did help the vibe quite a bit. Of course the exterior - the tavern and such - are a different vibe. There are also slight elements of a weird early 2000s progressive homophobia or trans phobia to be found at some edges.
Some phrases of the books are quite nice though and the description of scenes does paint a picture and feels somewhat like an old TTRPG group you are sitting with on a table.
Westeros is as much a "nation" as the Holy Roman Empire. The Seven Kingdoms, as implied by the name, aren't very unified, and even this low level of centralization has only been the case for 300 years. Before Aegon's Conquest, the various kingdoms were independent and waged constant wars with one another, and even after the Conquest there was still the occasional civil war and lots of instability. As for power - far more powerful empires have existed, like the Great Empire of the Dawn (although that one's possibly mythical), the Valyrian Freehold, the Old Empire of Ghis, and one still exists - the Golden Empire of Yi Ti. Seeing as Yi Ti is basically fantasy China, it would probably be the most powerful state, although it seems that at the time the books are taking place it's been pretty weakened. Westeros however definitely isn't the most powerful "nation", because it simply isn't a unified political entity - some of the individual kingdoms might be considered to be powerful, but not the whole continent.
While I definitely agree that the Dothraki are a pretty dumb portrayal of a steppe culture, those disparate city-states are quite wealthy, and powerful at least in an economic sense, if not a military one. They are also arguably more culturally developed, if we consider an oligarchy of merchants to be more developed that feudalism, and while they may be disparate now, most of them trace their origin back to the Valyrian Freehold, which controlled all of their territories and more as a unified state. Besides, there's more to the further east of the continent - Slaver's Bay is also incredibly wealthy, and similarly used to be part of a unified empire until it collapsed. There's various states around the Bone Mountains, and Yi Ti even further east.
That's basically the case in ASOIAF. Westeros IS and has historically been a balkanized backwater, while the Free Cities are more politicaly and economicaly developed and used to be part of one of the world's greatest empires, and Yi Ti has been around since the Long Night, with the Great Empire of the Dawn that it (allegedly) succedeed being even older.