Martin, George R.R.: A Game of Thrones
A Game of Thrones
Writer: George R.R. Martin
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 807
This book came to my attention years ago when my good friend, aliciaaudrey kept singing its praises when she learned I was working (at the time) on a fantasy novel. I never really looked into it, though, cause I didn't like the cover art at the time, and I wasn't in the mood for a monster epic. However, Martin's name kept nibbling away, and everyone I knew kept singing his praises: my friends at Odyssey, Scott Andrews and maggiedr. Then friends emerald_ibis and jeffhowell added their voices to the chorus, so I finally broke and bought the book (thankfully, they'd re-released the series with better novel art and were selling it for $3.99).
But still, I put off reading it. The whole monster epic thing, you know? But emerald_ibis, evil as she is, dared me to read it for the January/February dare. How could I refuse? Yeah, I know, I'm behind in reading it, but I've been busy lately. ;)
ANYWAY: I've finally got this under my belt, and I have to admit, it was a lot easier to get through than I feared it'd be. I finished reading it in eight days, though it would have been sooner if I hadn't forced myself to do other things. :)
I knew a few things coming into this: that it had multiple points of view and that there was a lot of politics and families involved. Good thing, because it made me focus when I started reading. I don't know if the details were related in a way that were easy to comprehend, or if I've just been prepared by other, denser novels (an aside, I think Martin does a better job with court life and politics and families than Jacqueline Carey does in Kushiel's Dart, but I think that's because of the difference in points of view). Whatever the case, I was pleasantly surprised how smooth the read was. Even more surprising was Martin's ability to create unique characters. With a cast this big, and with... *counts them*...eight?...different, limited third points of view, it'd be easy for the voices to sound all alike. But no: each character has a unique voice to go with their personalities, and that's quite an accomplishment.
I'm particularly fond of how Martin portrays his female protagonists. Each of them (and this is true for the men too, I think) starts out as a bit of a stereotype (I don't mean this badly either), and then they blossom into something more. Danys is my favorite of the women, I think, because her story is so complex and she changes so much. Sansa's is the most heartbreaking, and I look forward to seeing where her story goes, because I suspect (NO SPOILERS PLEASE!) some kind of courtly romance between her and the Hound (maybe only on his part, but still, the affection is there). I also see Sansa becoming more and more her mother.
The Queen was also well done, and I actually started liking her during the scene between her and Ned, because at that point, we understood exactly who she was and why she acted the way she did. I can't say I blame her, even though I dislike her actions. Catelyn frustrated me at times, especially her decisions such as arresting Tyrion and fleeing to her sister, but she's a strong enough character to acknowledge her mistakes, and that makes her sympathetic.
It's the characters' many mistakes that drive this book. Logical me went nuts sometimes, seeing how the plot would play out, and wishing the characters weren't such slaves to their natures, because that way, the coming tragedies wouldn't happen. Ah, but then there'd be no book, would there? Still, I feared for Ned when he played his hand to the Queen, and even though I guessed the wrong outcome of his actions, the situation was no less heartbreaking.
Martin certainly seems to have a solid handle on plot: three stories are woven into this one, three stories that will obviously play out in the later books and possibly be added to. But if there's one thing that worries me, it's the details: Ned knew everything. He knew the Queen's secret, he knows the truth of Jon's mother, both of which would have a strong impact on the events to come.
Wait, I should clarify. I might be wrong, and I can't find the passage where Robert pesters Ned about the identity of Jon's mother so I may be wrong in the timing, but I don't think Jon is Ned's bastard at all. I think that Lyanna got pregnant when she was raped by Raegar, and that's what all the promises were about: to keep the identity of her son a secret, because he'd be in line to take the throne if all of Raegar's children and siblings were murdered. Plus, if Robert were to find out the true identity of Jon's father, he'd want Jon killed. So that's my theory: Jon is a lost king wandering in the North (not quite a ranger, but close), and the time may come for him to take the throne from everyone.
If that's where this story ends up, I'll be very interested in learning how the truth comes out, since the only person who knew the truth is dead. Course, there could be others, but still.
And I may be wrong. After all, it'd make sense if Ned had a relationship with someone else, but had to break that relationship because a marriage was suddenly thrust upon him.
Anyway. I enjoyed this. The nods to LOTR are quite nice, actually (if Jon is a wandering king, how CUTE is it that he has a close friend named SAM and another friend named PYP? I know Aragorn was never a hobbit, but still, the Fellowship!), and there's a lot of lovely worldbuilding detail in this. I love the dirkwolves, and I pray that Arya gets reunited with hers at some point.
Complaints? Only nitpicks: Martin sometimes gets a wee bit carried away with adjectives, and his use of "you" in the third person point of view makes my eye twitch. He also had a habit, in the middle of the book, of starting a scene at one point, then flashing back to how we got to the point FROM the point we left off at, which was slightly annoying, but I can see the use in it.
A very, very, very good read. I intend to get the rest of the series, but I don't think I can read the second book anytime soon. I found my own writing getting a bit too influenced by Martin's style, and since he writes fantasy, and I'm working on SF, that's a bit of a problem. ;) Still, I'd easily recommend this to fantasy readers, with the warning that others gave me: it's long, with a lot of characters, so pay attention. Also, there's not a WHOLE lot of magic or "fantasy" in this, but it is there, especially at the beginning and the end. And the end is fabulous.
Next up: The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon. I need some SF in my system, and this is a required read anyway. ;)