Sandkings

A fun and creative take on the man playing God story. Looking forward to Gore Verbinski's film adaptation even more now! If you like the insect action sections of Starship Troopers, this is definitely a strong recommendation.

Sandkings is my first ever book by [a:George R.R. Martin 346732 George R.R. Martin https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg]. Not a Song of Ice and Fire book, not a Wild Cards book, not even something like [b:Windhaven 67957 Windhaven George R.R. Martin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388467654s/67957.jpg 2960816].Bearing this in mind, I can't compare the writing style when he wrote Sandkings with the one used on more recent books. What I can say is that I see a lot of ideas and details employed in this short story that no doubt can be easily identified as a “George idea”.For once, there's lots of gratuitous violence, a despicable character and yes, deaths, lots of them (i'm not even counting the poor Sandking's losses).I enjoy the writing style. Even though the world and characters are well described, the sentences are well defined, short and direct.While reading the first pages I couldn't shake the feeling that I was reading a book from someone that only then was writing it's first story and thus too focused in playing by the rules of what should be a good writing. The thing is, it works.The writing being so simple and structured, the story becomes the main focus offering a pleasant and effortless reading.This is a short book, so, as always when I write a review for one. I have no second thoughts when I recommend people to read it. Being short and addictive, there isn't a reason to not do so. (Plus the ending is really satisfying, even if it was predictable.)My first foray into [a:George R.R. Martin 346732 George R.R. Martin https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg]'s imagination was great. Left me curious about his other books. Maybe [b:Windhaven 67957 Windhaven George R.R. Martin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388467654s/67957.jpg 2960816] will be the next.

A quick reread.
Some of the best short storyage this side of Christendom.
The title story is easily one of the best ever sci-fi short stories (also published as a novelette).