The only trope Martin has undermined, aside from killing Ned and Robb, is having Jon work and earn his way up the ladder. His name has not helped, unlike Aragorn and to an extent Dany, but his rise is done so legitimately and through accomplishments i.e. the Tudors which culminated with Henry Vii

Eexcept he isn't dead in the book........that is show nonsense. He also isn't an idiot....that is also show nonsense......

Dany is the biggest red herring in the books.....ignore the show people.

No he isn’t. There is more evidence that he is not dead. You, like too many people, have allowed the show to corrupt what is actually happening. The idea that Dany struggled other commenters) for anything is laughable and completely contrived by the show runners. Jon ruled badly? (Also othrts) If by badly people mean…

Bad logic. Books 1-3 were written in very quick succession (4 years for all 3), then book 4 was a 5 year wait. Utter trash. Then we waited until 2012...Dance was mediocre at best. In fact, it seems the longer he takes, the worse his books are to read. His best books...were put out quickly. 

Not really a dumb comment. Feast for Crows was utter rubbish (great example of world building gone awry). While some people liked the book, most agree that it was flat terrible. Dance I was more sympathetic to, but that is because we get the Stark povs, otherwise the book ended with far too many cliffhangers for an…

But he did....

Ehh stop making excuses for this guy. He deserves all the flak he gets. If we failed to make deadlines in my field....say goodbye to your tenure. 

Don’t forget Wildcards.

Then that is his folly. HBO, if I recall, rarely runs a series longer than 6 or 7 seasons?

Yes because Feast for Crows was a masterpiece.....

Again that point would hold had the last two books not been dismal failures. Less time equated to better books in Martin’s case...

I think that is the problem. Many fans wanted Martin to give us the ending, not HBO, Facebook, and every other media outlet known to life.

That tired line again? Stop making excuses for poor, confused work ethic. All criticism directed at him is fair. No he is not our bitch, but he will be the first to begin sniveling when people start downloading pdfs of WoW and DoS because they are annoyed that he allowed the show to surpass the books. I mean after…

In most cases I would agree with you, but books 1-3 were easily the best (although GoT had many awkward passages...). Feast was an unmitigated disaster; and it doesn’t matter how many times I try re-reading it, I just can’t get into it. Dance was marginally better—mostly as the Starks are my favorite characters and of…

The post was a bit over-the-top, but I agree to a point. It isn’t entitlement to expect someone to finish their work. Anyone else in most professions would be fired if they boasted his lack of productivity. There is a common misconception among Martin apologist to suggest that certain ancient greats (i.e. Leonardo)…

You mean like Quentyn Martell’s book plot? I agree that the show butchered Dorne, but so to did Martin.

Please don’t refer to him as a historian; that is an insult to those who actually work in the field. Much of his “historical” analysis is garbage and based on the work of non-historians who are equally erroneous. He is a fantastic author, but he is not a historian.