Which do you think is better?

I feel A Song of Ice and Fire is far better than Harry Potter. I do love HP but in terms of the scope, complexity and overall weight of the story, I think ASOIAF wins.

ASOIAF is, despite being unfinished, a masterpiece. ASOIAF story is complex, unpredictable, characters are deep and complex and full of gritty realism. The world world building is rich with lore. ASOIAF has a better constructed world and plot with lots of details and foreshadowing.

 

I can honestly say none of those things would remotely come into my head when thinking about which book is better than another book. It would just be purely based on what I enjoyed reading more, and I'd have to say by far Harry Potter. For all the issues I have with the Harry Potter series (especially the last three books), there has never been another book series that has pulled me in like Harry Potter did. The world she created really felt magical and fun like a place you'd like to visit. I actually think it probably makes the books better that there wasn't more world building because you have enough to pull you in and your imagination can fill in the rest.

 

Given that I've read every HP book multiple times, and I have up on Game of Thrones halfway through book 3...I think my answer is going to be quite obvious.

GRRM has created a fascinating world with lots to explore. The problem is that he's a shit writer. His books are in desperate need of competent editing.

I'm not a great fan of HBP or DH, but I've still managed to read them multiple times. JKR could have done with some better editing in those books, or perhaps a better sounding board for plot ideas. But I'd still say she comes out well ahead of GRRM.

 

I too am on HP team because if I were to pick the series right now, I'd read it with gusto. The same, unfortunately, isn't true for ASOIAF. For all its complexity, better-structured world, and everything you said about it when it comes to the reader experience it's just subpar to HP. Half of the characters' chapters bore me and I feel like I'd be better if I skipped them all. There are whole parts of his world that I'm not interested in, and after the certain book, reading became a chore.

It all comes to the fact that years and years after my first reading of HP, I'm still invested in the world JK created while I couldn't be happier that I'm done with ASOIAF. (except an occasional, well-written piece of fanfiction).

So yeah, I'm sorry, but I can't agree with it.

 

Purely based on characters ASOIAF takes it from me. Harry just feels like a terribly boring protagonist compared to the vast majority of POV characters in ASOIAF.

 

I find Harry's progression as a protagonist to be very underrated, but that's a story for another day.

I prefer HP to ASoIaF, by the way. Never really understood by G.R.R.M is so highly regarded. Abercrombie does better grimdark, Rothfuss does better prose, Sanderson does better world building, and two out of the aforementioned three actually, you know, write.

 

ASOIAF blows HP out of the water in every conceivable way. But at least Rowling had an editor with a spine and she could write more than one sentence a month.

 

At least people still talk about HP.

 

I was much more engaged by Harry Potter when I was in high school. As an adult I would much rather read ASoIaF and its fanfiction, but not to the same degree that Ibonce enjoyed HP. Different things for different times.

 

Harry Potter. ASOIAF might seem better, but HP pulls me in like nothing else. Even after all the cribbing, I can still pick up a HP book for a reread.

 

Rowling has the balls to write her own shitty ending, and the self loathing to hate her self for having balls and projecting it through transphobic rants on twitter.

GRRM chickened our out writing his own shit ending and left it up to Hollywood hacks.

 

I don't think they're comparable at all, beyond the vague 'fantasy' tag. Written for different reasons and for different audiences.

 

While they arent comparable at least imo as one is written for children (and ya) and the other for adults. When we are talking pure enjoyment Asoiaf pulls me into the world so deep its not even close

 

To better compare the two, I think we'd need to see a story about young wizards and witches gathering together and learning magic in ASoIaF: probably taking place in Asshai.

and

A story about a battle to gain the seat of headmaster at Hogwarts: after dying in a freak sherbet lemon accident (it was poison) the heads of houses backstab each other in jockeying for the position, each using their respective students as pawns in a very real and deadly war within Hogwarts.

After that we could properly judge them.

 

It's the reverse for me. I enjoyed ASOIAF, but I don't ever want to read it again. The series is devoid of humor, and it's hard to root for any of the characters. All of the political plotting is clever, but it reads like Henry Kissinger decided to write fantasy and indulge his sadism fetish. It doesn't even provide the thrill of a revenge fantasy, because it's all so bleak that nobody lives long enough to get revenge.

I'd love to read this. My money is on Sprout. Her students are fiercely loyal to their jolly meemaw, who is secretly a ruthless spider who has been taking out defense professors for years. Pomfrey is her secret lover, and the two of them poison the potions supplies or break out a mandrake when they need to kill a rival. Never trust a person who can kill you with a plant.

 

That's like trying to compare apples to oranges. Both are fruit but that's it.

What's your definition of "better"?

 

Definitely ASOIAF but those are my all time favorite books other then maybe LOTR. Ive read 'em dozens of times. (Also as an aside I cant get how anyone can say ASOIAf doesnt have humor! there is so much wit there).

I know your all shocked about that, considering how much ASOIAF fanfic I write compared to HP fanfic.

But anyway it is apples and oranges. HP is a kids book really, or at best a YA. ASOIAF is a complex adult book.

I could be wrong but i suspect many of the folks who pick HP do so because they read it when younger and it resonated with them and has meaning/connection to them. Which is perfectly fair. For me ASOIAF was maybe the defining book series of my young life heh.

I dont think there's much doubt that GRRM wrote the more complex characters, plot, and story (and dialogue). But obviously which you think is better is just going to be which impacted you more. And that will vary person to person.

But yeah, I like HP well enough (I mean why im here). But to my eyes, hands down, ASOIAF was the best book series written of my life time. I just wish they hadnt made a shitty show about it that gives people who havent read the books the wrong ideas/expectations.

 

I agree we have great protagonists like Tyrion, Jon, Daenerys, Arya, the Kingslayer's POVs. While Harry is fairly boring protagonist compared to them.

 

I think Martin is the superior writer. World building, plots, characters- he does all better than JKR. However, I still like Harry Potter better- most likely because I had read it as a child and teenager and it has that "safe and comforting" feeling about it.

 

All the people talking about GRRM being a better writer because of better world building and more complex characters in the books makes me wonder how much literature classes have influenced how people judge books and authors. I don't think more world building and complex characters make books or authors inherently better or worse. At the end of the day, I read books for enjoyment if the world building adds to my enjoyment then great, but if it causes the book to be longer without adding enough enjoyment to justify the added length then that's bad because that's when books start to feel like they are dragging. That's a major complaint I have when it comes to GRRM.