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Abandoned A Song of Ice and Fires That Weren't All My Fault by Puzzle - ASOIAF/Dresden

Discussion in 'Dresden Files' started by Rhys, May 14, 2015.

  1. Lion

    Lion Denarii Host DLP Supporter

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    I am and I've rather enjoyed it.
     
  2. Skykes

    Skykes Minister of Magic DLP Supporter

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    I thought I would bump this thread just in case some of you have missed out on this. I find I usually check in on it every couple of months.

    It's starting to catch up on the books so I am a bit worried that the author will run out of material- Although the next season of GoT is out soon- so that should give plenty of stuff to work with.
     
  3. echosama

    echosama Squib

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    This story is a strange one by my reckoning. As far as voice and characterization goes, pretty much flawless, but as far as plot?

    It's a solid meh.

    I don't think the author really knows where to go with it. It's fun having Harry play Connecticut Yankee, but I'm missing the bigger picture. Hoping for some more Winter/Beyond the Wall stuff.
     
  4. Azrael83

    Azrael83 Second Year

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    I found the store to be very intriguing and satisfying still want more though
     
  5. Otters

    Otters Groundskeeper ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    I'm a big fan of this story. The plot can be a bit meandering at times, which is a bit jarring when we contrast it to the fast pace of the Dresden source material. In a lot of ways it feels like we're seeing things which would have happened between books or off-screen in Chicago to allow the action to shine. But that's not what this is - it's not about a magic detective, it's about a wizard tourist in Essos. And that's pretty great.

    The scenes with the island reminded me a great deal of Esama's Island of Fire. Almost a pseudo crossover with Minecraft, in some ways. It's a plot device I absolutely adore but rarely see, so that's a big win for me.

    Things like the scene with the giant statue spirit coming to life in the Nevernever was a fantastic touch which smacks of how Butcher integrates shark-jumping moments in a good way (Sue the T-Rex, for example).

    My interest flagged a little in many of the more plot-oriented sequences. I suppose what I was enjoying was the tamer slice-of-life style feel.

    4/5
     
  6. Ched

    Ched Da Trek Moderator DLP Supporter ⭐⭐

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    I have to agree - this is good stuff. I just finished reading what's been posted on SpaceBattles and I'm of much the same mind as CareOtters.

    In other words it doesn't quite feel like Dresden and it doesn't quite feel like ASoIaF and it's worthy of about a 4/5.

    It's interesting, engaging, and fun to read. Characters are fairly well fleshed out. But most of what keeps me reading is the curiosity about what's going to happen next.

    There's not much suspense. Harry is bigger and badder than most things in this world, and in general I like that, but in some instances (like the Kraken) I feel opportunities are lost to push him. Much like the dragons themselves the Kraken could have been significantly more difficult for Harry to deal with, even if other opponents up until that point weren't. That's the first time when I felt he should have had significant trouble and didn't.

    But there are more minor instances as well. Maggie doesn't feel like a girl aged approximately 11 (?) at the start of the story and 15 (?) now. She feels more like Molly did at 20 when she's 11, minus the sexual tension. There's almost none of the typical tension I'd expect between a father and a daughter this age. On one hand I like that she realizes the seriousness of situations and is willing to follow orders (in a children's book she'd be the hero and doing stupid shit - in this story it gets it more or less right that she'd do as instructed in life and death situations). On the other hand there's almost no instances in which they clash or in which she acts more her age. And no - not all of that is explained by her experiences at Chichen Izta, especially as Harry implies she doesn't remember much of it clearly.

    And Lydia... it's like the drawbacks dangers are stated but aren't actually dangers. In the books there would be a lot more growing pains there, I think. The mantle also seems suspiciously easy to deal with in terms of influence, but that might be explained by the lack of connection to the nevernever.

    There's a few other things that are more editing issues. I think once the author got confused about when Harry entered ASoIaF because they referenced something from a later book, but that's minor. Sometimes little things will be mentioned and dropped, or else I just didn't pick up on them (Syrio was pissy with Harry for a while and I never figured out why, then they were fine).

    Dresden isn't as snarky as in the books, nor does he take every opportunity to thumb his nose at authority. That's the biggest deviation from his character I think. It's explained somewhat, since now Dresden is the biggest fish in the pond and he's had to mellow out a bit to protect Maggie (rather than piss everyone off). But book!Dresden would mouth off just to do it, and this one doesn't. But it is explained.

    I'm not sure of Dresden's stated idea that... well, essentially he seemed to think that ideally one faction would have dragons (Targaryens) and keep everyone else in line and out of war. But that's like saying everyone will be fine and happy so long as just one country has nukes - WTF? Using superweapons to keep the rest of the world in line isn't something I'd expect Dresden to actively go for, especially since who is in charge of them would change as Kings and Queens lived and died, and even if you trusted the person you put on the throne you couldn't promise things wouldn't go to hell. It doesn't feel like something Dresden would think.

    But those are all complaints. The story does a lot of things right - in particular I like some of the clever magic. My favorite is that the Wall is (maybe) a massive ward blocking a chunk of the planet (?!) off from the Nevernever.

    It's good and it's worth a shot. I think this is one of those stories where if you try the first chapter or two you'll know if it's for you or not. None of that BS about how it gets better, etc. The style is more or less the same from the start, so go check it out if you have any interest in these fandoms.
     
  7. Anarchy

    Anarchy Half-Blood Prince DLP Supporter

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    Seeing recent activity in this thread, I went back through it and realized I never really gave an update after my first review. I'm not caught up with the story. I think the last time I read about it was sometime in 2016, but it doesn't actually look like I missed that many updates (which is a shame that there isn't more). Maybe 8 updates behind or so. Despite it's flaws, it's a good story. I would say it's the best DF/GOT crossover, but it's a small bunch and doesn't mean anything.

    A lot of my complaints about the story still ring true. Dresden's kid just isn't that interesting (I don't want to say she's kind of a dead weight in the story, but she pretty much is), and one of my lingering thoughts about the story is that I'm still not sure why that particular time was chosen, both in regards to Dresden's age, and the time in the asoiaf universe. It gives time for the author to build a re-imagined world I guess, but the re-imagined world just is kind of shallow beyond a handful of inventions.

    I guess I wish it was more exciting, especially since I dislike how the Winter Mantle was handled at well. I don't want to say that it's squandered potential, but it definitely could have been done better. As it's, it's just the awkward plot device that exists for the sake of existing.

    But overall, if I were to rate it, based on my memory of the story (which is honestly pretty good. It's fairly unique compared to dozens of samey HP stories), I would give it a 4/5