Book: The Armageddon Rag
Jun. 11th, 2009 11:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livAuthor: George RR Martin
Details: (c) 1983 George RR Martin; Pub New English Library 1984; ISBN 0-450-05766-6
Verdict: The Armageddon Rag is just as impressive on rereading.
Reasons for reading it: I've more or less run out of new books, so I started rereading some old favourites.
How it came into my hands: Birthday present from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rysmiel
I fell in love with The Armageddon Rag when I first read it. Rereading it was odd, because although it's been more than three years, I remember it extremely well. I could almost recite it, not word by word but certainly scene by scene. That didn't stop me from enjoying it, by any means. On rereading I got more into the final third with all the supernatural stuff, whereas before what I loved was the characterization. I think the characters already feel like dear friends, so I didn't get quite as much impact from how well they are evoked, but I deeply cared about things turning out well for them. And I still love the way that they're both archetypes and people.
I again loved the quality of the writing, the sheer craft of how well the book is put together. This time I was just that bit more detached from it so I was more able to appreciate the symbolism, and the way that elements within the story act as metaphors for the overall arc. It's a book that makes you think about the big questions, but it's also very engaging to read and flows very well as a pure story.
Even with the happy ending, which I still think is a little too convenient, I found tAR rather melancholy on this reading. It's about the stage of life that very rarely gets written about, not the transition from youth to adult but the transition from young, idealistic, passionate adult to middle age and acceptance of one's limitations. There's a sort of muted but realistic kind of hope to the way that is portrayed, though. You can make a difference, and it's important, by caring about the people who matter to you and shouldering your responsibilities, while eschewing melodrama and the kind of ideological obsession that can only lead to violence rather than lasting change. Obviously with the imaginary rock group being called the Nazgûl there are lots of Tolkien references, but I am just starting to get a grip on the way that the story is the same shape as LotR. There's a quest, a fellowship, an evil and powerful villain, a defeat of terrifying power by ordinary decency... but there's also the sense that even though the world may be temporarily saved, it's still in decline, and there is a sort of scouring of the Shire in the way the ending jumps from the climactic rock concert scene to the characters just doing their best to pick up their normal lives again.
This is one of the first things I pressed onjack when we were first going out, and to my delight he was as thoroughly impressed by it as I was. It doesn't quite fit into any standard genre, it's neither mimetic nor SF, and people who have a strong preference for one or the other might find it off-putting. Still, it's incredibly well written and not very much like anything else.
Details: (c) 1983 George RR Martin; Pub New English Library 1984; ISBN 0-450-05766-6
Verdict: The Armageddon Rag is just as impressive on rereading.
Reasons for reading it: I've more or less run out of new books, so I started rereading some old favourites.
How it came into my hands: Birthday present from
rysmielI fell in love with The Armageddon Rag when I first read it. Rereading it was odd, because although it's been more than three years, I remember it extremely well. I could almost recite it, not word by word but certainly scene by scene. That didn't stop me from enjoying it, by any means. On rereading I got more into the final third with all the supernatural stuff, whereas before what I loved was the characterization. I think the characters already feel like dear friends, so I didn't get quite as much impact from how well they are evoked, but I deeply cared about things turning out well for them. And I still love the way that they're both archetypes and people.
I again loved the quality of the writing, the sheer craft of how well the book is put together. This time I was just that bit more detached from it so I was more able to appreciate the symbolism, and the way that elements within the story act as metaphors for the overall arc. It's a book that makes you think about the big questions, but it's also very engaging to read and flows very well as a pure story.
Even with the happy ending, which I still think is a little too convenient, I found tAR rather melancholy on this reading. It's about the stage of life that very rarely gets written about, not the transition from youth to adult but the transition from young, idealistic, passionate adult to middle age and acceptance of one's limitations. There's a sort of muted but realistic kind of hope to the way that is portrayed, though. You can make a difference, and it's important, by caring about the people who matter to you and shouldering your responsibilities, while eschewing melodrama and the kind of ideological obsession that can only lead to violence rather than lasting change. Obviously with the imaginary rock group being called the Nazgûl there are lots of Tolkien references, but I am just starting to get a grip on the way that the story is the same shape as LotR. There's a quest, a fellowship, an evil and powerful villain, a defeat of terrifying power by ordinary decency... but there's also the sense that even though the world may be temporarily saved, it's still in decline, and there is a sort of scouring of the Shire in the way the ending jumps from the climactic rock concert scene to the characters just doing their best to pick up their normal lives again.
This is one of the first things I pressed on
jack when we were first going out, and to my delight he was as thoroughly impressed by it as I was. It doesn't quite fit into any standard genre, it's neither mimetic nor SF, and people who have a strong preference for one or the other might find it off-putting. Still, it's incredibly well written and not very much like anything else. 
(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-15 02:10 pm (UTC)Top 40 Musical Novels
Date: 2009-11-11 09:10 pm (UTC)My name is Ashley Bridge; I work for Coral Press, an indie publisher of Musical Fiction.
Not only do we publish musical novels, but we are also becoming a prominent source for all things musical fiction. To that end, we have launched The Charts – our list of the Top 40 Musical novels of the past few decades compiled by Kellie D. Brown, author of The Annotated Bibliography and Reference List of Musical Fiction.
As part of our list of Top 40 Musical novels, we’ve included comments on the books from prominent bloggers. We’re pleased to let you know that we are referencing your blog and including a link to this post about The Armageddon Rag.
We hope you’ll check out The Charts at http://coralpress.com/playlist/charts/category/top-40-rock-and-pop/. And we’d love it if you created a link back to Coral Press: www.coralpress.com.
All the best,
Ashley Bridge
info@coralpress.com