It is wild: about 50% of Slate's columns are really interesting and informative. The other 50% are just flame fodder. I don't get it.

Is Slate trying to piss people off? Oh, wait, yes, it is. Because then people will post links and they'll get more traffic.

My thoughts exactly. The headline is pure clickbait, so what's below it doesn't much matter.

there may be some value in that review, but it's buried in the impenetrable prose.

Also this. My eyes glazed over after about the first paragraph. (I'm pretty sure the writer was trying to parody the kind of dense prose she thinks the books are written in? Unfortunately, she's no George RR Martin and my brain immediately filed the whole thing under tl;dr.)

[eta: Oops, don't know where I got "she" from - Troy isn't usually a girl's name.]

It is wild: about 50% of Slate's columns are really interesting and informative. The other 50% are just flame fodder.

this.

I'm pretty sure the writer was trying to parody the kind of dense prose she thinks the books are written in?

Yeah, except IIRC, Martin's actually a pretty competent prose stylist.

I wonder how long it will be until Abigail Nussbaum has a chance to review the series. Probably not until it's out on DVD, since she lives in Israel (although now she's blogging for Strange Horizons, maybe they'll get a review copy). But she's one of the best SF reviewers around, IMO.

I fell in love with Martin's short stories years ago. I found a couple of big, thick books (remaindered! yay for me!) with reprints of those short stories. They hold up well.

I read the first of the Ice and Fire series, but avoided the rest, but I'll probably go back and gulp them down.

I didn't know Martin met his wife at the 1975 Kubla Khan. I was there.

ooh ... I recently got a book that seems to be a Very Buffista story - kind of a steampunk-old west story, with Thomas Edison, Wyatt Earp and his cohorts. Called "The Buntline Special" and, yes, Ned Buntline's in it.

And "Bat" Masterson? turns out he didn't get his nickname from his cane (snerk).

I'm skimming and posting because I have a somewhat important deadline looming and thought the literary hivemind might be able to help. I'm looking for a well-written* book accessible for a 13-14 year old that follows the hero's journey archetype and has either a female protagonist or a strong female character in a major role. Ideas? This is for a summer reading assignment for rising ninth graders at my school (all girls, fwiw).

• Can be YA or adult so long as its not too controversial.

Pix:

Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men. Tiffany Aching goes on a quest to rescue her brother from the Queen of Air and Darkness, learns how to do magic, obtains knowledge of the world, comes back to her home. (To be fair, she doesn't share that knowledge with her people yet because they hate witches there, but she gets around to it.)

Ooh, yeah, that's a great one!