Neil Gaiman told a fan, impatient for the next instalment of Game of Thrones, that 'George Martin is not your bitch'. It's become quite famous and has a sort of glib smart-aleckery about it but it's hardly Oscar Wilde, now is it? It's also quite wrong. George Martin IS the bitch of anyone who has paid to read his books, same as every writer is. Because when you pay for say, a hamburger, you are entitled to a meal. And when you pay for a book you are entitled to a beginning, a middle, and an end. Because you've PAID for it. And don't tell me a book is not a hamburger; the point is that every book ever written has had an ending, so my expectation of one is as legitimate as my expectation of a bad meal at McDonald's.
But this convention doesn't apply to Game of Thrones, apparently. It doesn't have a start because the story we join has been going on for hundreds if not thousands of years, and we've missed all the stuff regarding the young Robert Baratheon, Ned Stark and all the rest. And there's absolutely no sign of an end. It's just keeps dragging on, an infinite middle. The characters we followed from the beginning are dying off and new ones we care nothing about are coming in. So it seems George Martin either doesn't want to finish or doesn't know how to. In this scenario if a 'bad' guy -or girl- gets his comeuppance it doesn't matter, because he or she will have children or grandchildren to take up the reins. Or the 'good' guys will die too. Or a new character can just blow in from nowhere. So the story can go on forever.
Someone should tell Martin that a novel is an episode in the life of the central characters; it is NOT life itself. Nor should it try to be. Anyone remember the frog who tried to blow himself up as big as a bull? He exploded, and became a big ball of nothing. And that's what Game of Thrones is in danger of doing. Readers empathise with certain characters in books, and care about them, but if the characters we care about die, so does our interest in the story. But Game of `Thrones has too many lead characters, most of whom I at least care nothing at all about (Sansa, Ayra, Littlefinger, Cersei, Brienne, Samwell, etc, etc). And if the characters I DO care about die, so does my interest in the book. And if they don't die I want some resolution to their story. Their STORY, not their life from beginning to end. Because a story should only contain the most important, defining episodes in a character's life. I say a character, not a person, because they aren't people, no matter how hard the author tries. There are very few 'real' characters in literature, and none at all in this kind of genre novel.
George Martin said he wanted to create a huge, epic story that would rival The Lord of the Rings. Well, he failed miserably. Instead he has created dozens of little stories about little, mean people. In LotR there was a huge, central bad guy that everyone could hate and fear, and everyone in the book was more-or-less for him or more-or-less against him. It was end of the world stuff, and pretty much every action either helped or hindered Sauron. This is what gave it epic scope, NOT the number of characters in it, nor the richness of their back stories. Or the ridiculous amount of wasted time and effort Tolkien put into creating new languages and whatnot. In LotR there were people who either sacrificed themselves for the greater good or at least were WILLING to sacrifice themselves to fight the ultimate evil. To save the world. In GoT there is none of this nobility, so there is none of this epic scope. The wall and whatever lies behind it is a sop in this direction but we don't know what's behind it, and neither does the characters, so there is no single great central focus. For us or the book's characters. In GoT everyone is out for what they can scrabble for themselves. The wall is big but the story of the wall isn't big enough within the book to create an epic. And neither are the petty, selfish little characters. You like them being human, you say, with human flaws and characteristics? Fine by me; so do I. But to become an EPIC the characters must rise above their flaws and their fears and their desires for an unselfish end. Otherwise it's just a long story about a lot of little people. And taking the black rather than being hanged as a criminal doesn't cut it. And neither does taking the black because you're a bastard and cannot inherit. Or staying rather than break a solemn vow.
All of which brings us back to where we started. To George Martin I say; stop trying to create an alternative life and instead finish the goddamned STORY you started to write. About the characters you first created. And if you can't, or won't, then give me my money back, because I paid for a story, not just a piece of one. Sex is great but if there's no climax it eventually just becomes an irritating chore. And that's what GoT is becoming. I don't want an infinite, unending journey. If you paid a prostitute for sex and she stopped you before you finished, you would demand either an ending or your money back. And a writer selling his stories to the public isn't all that different to a prostitute. So to George Martin I say; you ARE my bitch, and I want a climax or my money back. About a hundred dollars by this stage. So cough up, George, either the ending or the cash. Because you OWE me.