- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Gollancz; New Ed edition (4 Dec 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1857988973
- ISBN-13: 978-1857988970
- Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 2.3 x 17.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 570,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
A whisperjewel from Gwen Delvano calls Dirk t'Larien across space and beyond the Tempter's Veil to Worlorn, a dying Festival planet of rock and ice. Warlorn is slowly drifting through twilight to neverending night; as the planet sinks into darkness, so its inhabitants face annihilation. Seven years ago, on Avalon, Gwen was Dirk's lover, his Guenevere; now she wears the jade-and-silver bond of Jaantony Riv Wolf high-Ironjade Vikary, a barbarian visionary, an outcast from his own people for his acts of violence. And Garse Janacek, Jaan's *teyn*, his shieldmate, is also bound to Gwen -- in hatred. Dirk, a rogue and a wanderer, is called to be saviour of the three who are bonded together in love and hate. But in breaking their triangle, he could lose all . . .
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
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
George R R Martin's First Novel...,
By
This review is from: Dying Of The Light (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
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A superbly evocative piece of SF,
By Richard Laven (Dumfries Scotland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dying Of The Light (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
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, but very slow to get going,
By A. Whitehead "Werthead" (Colchester, Essex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Dying Of The Light (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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