What are we left with?
But, between you, me and the wall, that’s just silly. Isn’t it?
And that’s how daft most comparisons are. Because on one hand nothing is ever exact unless it’s itself, and on the other the sort of mash-up I described above is worse than useless.
The irony is that I don’t think that calling George RR Martin the American Tolkien does him any great service (but we all know it makes a great headline!). In fact it’s unhelpful because it’s so reductive that it creates false expectations.
He’s no more that than he is the male Melanie Rawn, or Mervyn Peake with a faster-moving plot, or…
You get the picture.
He’s his own author creating his own stories in his own particular way, and doing it quite successfully to boot (if a little slower than many might prefer).
Demosthenes has been an incredibly nerdy staff member at TheOneRing.net since 2001. The views in this article are his own, and do not necessarily represent those of other TORn staff.
