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Dying of the Light [Paperback]

George R. R. Martin
2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: £10.51
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Book Description

Sep 2004
In this unforgettable space opera, #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin presents a chilling vision of eternal night—a volatile world where cultures clash, codes of honor do not exist, and the hunter and the hunted are often interchangeable.
 
A whisperjewel has summoned Dirk t’Larien to Worlorn, and a love he thinks he lost. But Worlorn isn’t the world Dirk imagined, and Gwen Delvano is no longer the woman he once knew. She is bound to another man, and to a dying planet that is trapped in twilight. Gwen needs Dirk’s protection, and he will do anything to keep her safe, even if it means challenging the barbaric man who has claimed her. But an impenetrable veil of secrecy surrounds them all, and it’s becoming impossible for Dirk to distinguish between his allies and his enemies. In this dangerous triangle, one is hurtling toward escape, another toward revenge, and the last toward a brutal, untimely demise.
 
Dying of the Light blew the doors off of my idea of what fiction could be and could do, what a work of unbridled imagination could make a reader feel and believe.”—Michael Chabon

“Slick science fiction . . . the Wild West in outer space.”—Los Angeles Times

 
“Something special which will keep Worlorn and its people in the reader’s mind long after the final page is read.”—Galileo magazine
 
“The galactic background is excellent. . . . Martin knows how to hold the reader.”—Asimov’s
 
“George R. R. Martin has the voice of a poet and a mind like a steel trap.”—Algis Budrys

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Dying of the Light + Fevre Dream (Fantasy Masterworks 13) + Windhaven
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Product details

  • Paperback: 254 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam Books; Reprint edition (Sep 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0553383086
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553383089
  • Product Dimensions: 15.6 x 1.6 x 23.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 291,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Book Description

Three people, bound together in love and hate, are all that stand against annihilation for the inhabitants of the planet Warlorn. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

SALES POINTS * ¿It's the Wild West in outer space, complete with a chase that will keep you awake . . . Slick science fiction¿ Los Angeles Times * Bestselling author of the epic fantasy series A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE * ¿grabs hold and won¿t let go. It¿s brilliant¿ Robert Jordan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars George R R Martin's First Novel... 11 Dec 2002
Format:Paperback
...and it kinda shows. On one hand, George has delivered one of the most creative settings I've ever seen in Sci-Fi, complete with fascinating alien cultures. On the other hand, I felt quite dissatisfied with his main characters, and there was little action. However, it was still fun to see the master honing his skills.

The planet of Worlorn is a rogue, simply meandering through space on its own. Recently, it has come to drift near 'The Wheel of Fire' -a constellation, which has brought it to life for a few decades. The wandering planet became a wonderful tourist attraction for a while... a festival, with fantastic cities built by each of the known races. Now, Worlorn is pulling away into cold darkness again, and its becoming uninhabitable once more. The Festival of Worlds has come to a close, yet a few people can still be found living among it's deserted cities as the planet slowly dies. Dirk travels here in answer to a call from his old lover, Gwen, and ends up the pawn of an intercultural conflict.

As I said before, this is a fantastic place I'd love to see with my own eyes, but the characters were too dry and unrealistic. There really wasn't any motivation to keep turning the pages here. Since reading A Song Of Ice And Fire, I've been hunting down all of George RR Martin's earlier out-of-print works, and have enjoyed the ones I've found quite a bit. He has quickly become my favorite author, but Dying Of The Light could have been skipped.

-Lysander

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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A superbly evocative piece of SF 21 May 2003
Format:Paperback
For those coming to this book because of the Song of Ice and Fire be warned this is not high fantasy, it's a piece of straight cultural science fiction. It is very different from his current work. Science fiction and fantasy are often linked together, but despite this overlap there are huge differences between the genres. If you like space opera and great SF ideas this book is for you, if you want a high fantasy romp and have never liked hard SF then look elsewhere
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, but very slow to get going 6 Jan 2008
By A. Whitehead TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
Dying of the Light was George RR Martin's first novel, published in 1977. It is set in his SF 'Thousand World's' mileu, but no prior knowledge of the setting is required. As GRRM's first experience of the long-form novel, it is perhaps unsurprising that Dying of the Light is somewhat rough around the edges, lacking the trademark expert pacing of his later works. The first half of the novel is terribly drawn out. Whilst Worlorn, its flora and fauna and its dying cities are beautifully described, there is the feeling of the plot meandering around without a purpose for a while. In the second half, the book's various strands coalesce into a much more driven storyline and the pacing ramps up to the ambiguous finale in a manner which is classic GRRM.

The protagonists are well-drawn. Once again (see also many of the short stories in Dreamsongs), anyone who has been been through a painful or awkward relationship can identify with GRRM's main characters, Dirk and Gwen. The Kavalar are also a well-drawn species, whose complex codes of honour are logical, although the exploitation of legalistic loopholes in their traditions and customs occasionally makes the book feel like a 'Klingon honour' episode of Star Trek. Some may also bemoan the Butch & Sundance-style ending.

Overall, the novel has aged reasonably well, although the odd pacing means the first half of the book has a tendency to drag somewhat. Once the reader hits the second half of the novel, however, things improve immeasurably. As usual, it's fun finding precursors to George's later work (particularly the similarities between Bretan and A Song of Ice and Fire's Sandor Clegane), but Dying of the Light is a somewhat slight work compared to ASoIaF, Fevre Dream or The Armageddon Rag.
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