asdar said:
I'm not argumentative but I'm a huge Martin fan so I have to stand up for my guy. No offense intended and I appreciate that you're just standing up for your favorite too.
The red woman is barely a part of the story, Sansa's journey is long and detailed but is hardly over and doesn't relate to Malta over much in my opinion and Joffrey isn't even roughly parallel to The Satrap in any way I've seen except that they're both kind of evil.
On top of that it'd be hard for Martin to copy something that hadn't yet been written when he began writing A Game of Thrones. Both are very big novels if some rough parallels didn't exist I'd be shocked just as someone in China will have some parallels with someone in the U.S. even though they have drastically different lives.
As for the writing I'm not sure what you mean by writing skills. There's a fan site for GRRM that analyzes everything from every character to his use of language and I have yet to see anything that makes me question his skill as a writer.
His use of language I would call masterful and his character development dwarfs any other author I've read.
I know the Red Woman is barely part of the story, but the character type is very similar to the Fool. I don't quite remember, but don't both of them come from some rare "race"? Like, the Red Woman is a red person, like the Fool was white? And both are prophets.
Both Sansa and Malta start out as spoiled, bratty adolescents but end up maturing later on. Both Joffrey and the Satrap are admired by the two rebellious adolescents, but their true selves are later uncovered by the girls.
Okay, so you're right -- it would be surprising if I couldn't find parallels. Like I said, I was reading these two at the same time, so things just popped out at me.
Anyways, I've only read the first two books of George RR Martin, so I don't really have a complete view of them.
As for the writing, I wouldn't be able to give you any examples because it's been so long. All I can remember was that as I read, the editor in me would be rearranging words and it would distract me a bit from the story. This rarely happened in Robin Hobb's books.
*shrugs* I'd rather not argue. Both authors are superb, I just happen to prefer Robin Hobb.
Whatever. If you want an example of good writing, try Elizabeth Haydon. Her descriptions are wonderful. They flow so smoothly (none of those extra, awkward adjectives) and she uses some very creative metaphors. Then again, her characters are awful.
