Books – A Game of Thrones

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Fire and Ice – series) by George R.R. Martin – (1996-?) The sweeping story of the lands of Westeros where seasons last for years.  Summer is ending, Winter is coming and the world of the Seven Kingdoms must face more than just the beginning a long hard winter.  The king’s crown is in play with many reaching for the Iron Throne.  The series begins following nine story lines and expands with each of the succeeding novels to more than thirty.

There’s simply no short way of describing the plot of this series.  In the first place, it isn’t finished yet.  There are two more books to come in the next couple (?) years.  I include the question mark because the author works at his own pace which can be eccentric compared to standard publishing schedules.

There is a lot to recommend this series.  At the same time you should know going in that there’s plenty of violence and sex.  Rape is not only a common topic of discussion among the characters, it takes place regularly during the story.  At the same time there are strong women (one of the most ruthless characters is a woman) in the story. The other thing to note is that the vast majority of these characters are simply awful people.  I’m talking “You’ll think Darth Vader and the Nazis might have just been misunderstood” kind of awful  It may be a challenging balance for some people and you ought to be aware of that before you begin.

I have to admit that I am seriously divided on these books.   Martin has created a world that runs on people being horrible.  There is a level of misogny in a lot of fantasy novels but this falls at the high end of the spectrum.  I have an ongoing concern about the “entertainment” value of so much violence in our society.  It seems to be clearly increasing during my lifetime and I worry about what that says about our culture.  I hit the point of the “Red Wedding” in the third book and very nearly walked away from the entire series.  I find no “entertainment” in vile people doing vile things.  I’m not sure if I’m going to resume reading or not.

Why I Liked It – Brilliant story telling and excellent writing.  I was seriously torn as I read the first book because so many of the characters were so repellent.   The question was – did I really want to invite people like this into my life for seven long novels?  What won me over was the quality of Martin’s writing.  He creates a vile clan of folks in the Lannisters but at the same time creates a member of that family in Tyrion that hard not to like.  You shouldn’t ever trust him but it’s hard not to root for the Imp.  The story telling puts this into the “I don’t want to put the book down” category.  I roared through the 700+ pages of the second novel, “A Clash of Kings” in less than a week.

Why You Will Like It – The story telling, the characters, the sweeping breadth of the story and the amazing detail of it all.  Martin creates a unique and special fantasy world without ever falling into the stale traps I so often see.  Overly complex stories, ridiculously arcane names or use of created languages to the point that you need a translator to follow along are deadfalls that Martin sidesteps adroitly.

Rating – **** Recommended (With Reservations)