George R. R. Martin

[raisindot]

I've read all of the PTerry's books and the entire Martin Song of Fire and Ice series.

They're completely different kinds of books. Martin is essentially writing in the traditional fantasy genre while shaking it up by turning a lot of its conventions on their heads. Pterry is essentially a satirist who uses the fantasy genre as a means of parodying
'roundworld' culture. (There's actually a lot more to him, but that's a simple summary).

If I had to choose between one, there'd be no contest. Pterry wins hands down. Martin's last two Fire and Ice books were exceedingly ponderous, unfocused, and, in many cases, just plain dull.

Pterry, on the other hand, has varied the themes and characters of his DW books over the years and, in many of them, has created incredibly intricate and profound examinations of religion, morality, power, belief systems, and history. There's not a single character Martin has created that comes even close to possessing the depth and complexity of Sam Vimes, and none of the hundreds of pages Martin has written about the religious beliefs of Westeros possesses any of the profound insights Pterry delivered in Small Gods.

[Bouncy Castle]

What Jeff said.

[Quatermass]

There's not a single character Martin has created that comes even close to possessing the depth and complexity of Sam Vimes, and none of the hundreds of pages Martin has written about the religious beliefs of Westeros possesses any of the profound insights Pterry delivered in Small Gods.

Disagree on the former, agreed with the latter. I'd say that Jaime Lannister, while a far more immoral character than Vimes, is beginning to approach his depth and complexity, despite being an utter a-hole most of the time, and Tyrion, Daenerys, and Jon also spring to mind. In fact, Jon Snow is an excellent example because like Vimes was in The Truth, when the POV is from someone who is not family, Jon does come across as being somewhat arrogant, albeit not due to any true nastiness but simply because he was raised in better circumstances than most of the Night's Watch.

The main difference between Martin and Pratchett is that Martin is more of a pure deconstructionist (in other words, he's taking standard fantasy tropes and seeing how they would work in a semi-realistic world), while Pratchett, while he does deconstruct a lot, also reconstructs a lot and uses more humour. Martin is a glass half-empty kind of guy, and Pratchett, despite the dark places he goes to, is a glass half-full kind of guy.

[stripy_tie]

I am having a severe dilemma. I have 2 authors I really really like. One is the obvious Terry Pratchett, and the other is George R. R. Martin. They are both geniuses at combining humor and drama, but they have one major difference: George R. R. Martin writes tragedies while Terry Pratchett writes comedies.
My dilemma is that they're both absolutely amazing authors, and I don't know which one to support.
So I'm simply going to advertise this genius on these forums and plug Terry on a different forum I go to.
He's written a lot of great things, in many different genres (even though he claims it's all one). He's written a story collection/autobiography called Dreamsongs that comes in 2 volumes, and a fantasy series called A Song of Ice and Fire that starts with A Game of Thrones. He also has a few excellent stand alone novels, The Armageddon Rag (a fantasy/horror/60s/many many other types of book) and Fevre Dream (American civil war/horror/vampire novel). He's also written Tuf Voyaging, but I've never read it, so I can't say anything.
Give this author a try, and tell me what you thought.
Also, he's American, and I'm an anti-Brittish bigot, so that's already about 1500 points to his favor.

This whole post makes my head hurt.

[Antiq]

I've read all of Pratchett, and all of Martin's Song of Ice and Fire (amazed some people haven't heard of him since Game of Thrones - HBO series based on the books - is so hugely popular) and the big difference between them, to me, is that Martin is not a particularly good writer but is a very entertaining storyteller, while Pratchett is great at both

I have really enjoyed both authors, but it's Pratchett I would take to a desert island with me, no hesitation.