A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
by George R.R. Martin
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Book Summary Information
Author: George R.R. MartinEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-05-28
ISBN: 0553381687
Number of pages: 720
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
Book Review: It is what it is: a well-written story.
Summary: 4 Stars
It's not the great American novel, but it is worth reading. I'm going to summarize the good points of the book, then the book's weaknesses, then conclude by mentioning some common criticisms that I think are unwarranted.
A. What's right:
1) Plotting. There's plotting and then there's plodding. In a genre with so many plodding volumes of misdirected adventures, it's nice to see one done this way. The book is long, but not cumbersome. Many theorists have said that plot comes down to one central conflict, the major dramatic question. Example: "Will X marry Y?" So much fantasy has had very indefinite major dramatic questions, usually in the form of "Will Frodo or whoever survive his fantastic adventure?" It's a question that can only have one obvious answer, and can only be revealed in the simplest of ways. This book's major dramatic question is both complex and distinct at the same time. Will the kingdom survive? Both the answer and the way it is revealed will compel you.
2) Execution. While no author can fulfill every reader's expectation, all authors should accomplish their own intent. Martin does this, and his intent is clear: medieval realism. The heraldry, the ubiquitous lack of education and accurate depiction of feudalism all add flavor to this stew. And masterfully, the author depicts these in all their positives and negatives, right down to the senseless patriarchal succession of kings that underlies the principal conflict (as the title suggests). Overall, the desired setting was rendered to near perfection.
3) Characters. It's impossible to map characters that someone somewhere won't judge to be stereotypes. As a species, let's face it, we're not all that different from one another. The trick, therefore, is to take common traits and throw them together to reveal unexplored angles. Martin certainly does this. Who would fault an Englishman his honor? Yet, there's one character whose honor kills him. And the playful caprice of children? What about when said child is put on a throne? And true to the realistic setting, these problems are historic, arising inextricably somehow out of the feudal system itself. Fantasy has glossed over them, while Martin expounds upon them. The characters are real and florid, reacting to their setting as is perfectly natural.
4) Multiple layers. Whether you're a stickler for detail or a speed reader, you'll find your own comfortable level of immersion. If you care about what happened to the characters twenty years ago, you can find out. If you don't, you won't be left behind. Martin has found a way to satisfy all bands of the spectrum here.
5) Depiction of women and children. For a male author writing in such a misogynist setting, you'd expect to see some contrivance. And although you can if you look hard enough, the women and children are sufficiently real to play their role. You know what they want, and what they want is something that does not allow you to forget they are women. But certainly, the author did better with some than others. Daneyrs and Caetlyn are written near perfectly, while Cersei and Sansa are possibly the weakest of all the characters in terms of authenticity.
6) It's adult. Fantasy from Tolkien was originally packaged as children's literature for good reason. And in a modern society where many adults are pampered into thinking and acting like children, maybe that kind of story will carry. Harry Potter certainly did. But making someone evil by slapping a label on them and giving them a black staff cheapens true Evil. Evil subsists in a lack of commitment. Everyone falls into it unless they find Good. In this book, you see those who strive to find Good and those who fall or have defaulted into Evil. There's no black mage trying to find a dark orb with which to destroy the world. You don't have a barbarian with a battleaxe and a robed wizard plundering dungeons for a magical broadsword necessary to defeat said evil mage. And as suspected, fantasy for adults is by comparison both possible and richly fulfilling.
B. What's wrong:
1) Expectations of some readers will be unfulfilled. A good author knows his audience. Martin was either trying to find a new audience or was holding the existing one in contempt. A lot of readers expected fantasy, the orcs, goblins, elves and magic. These were fooled with a few scenes of otherworldly beings, but are generally justified in their disappointment. This is 16th century England, not Middle Earth. It's literally only a few shades away from being labeled alternative history rather than fantasy.
2) Transplanted world construction. As much as Martin did not follow Tolkein, he followed history. The Seven Kingdoms is England and the Khalassar is a Mongolian horde. Some would justifiably begrudge the lack of creativity, especially in a genre that lauds it.
3) Naming. The author uses the chapter titles to explain whose viewpoint you are in. The only problem is that this name is not the one by which the character is called in the scene, and furthermore most characters have a few different names. The names and abbreviations are authentic English, but in my opinion, the confusion is too much of a price to pay for the scant payoff in setting detail.
4) Unnecessary scenes. As said above, the major dramatic question was well selected. The problem is that substantial space is dedicated to events that do nothing to drive the plot. Jon Snow and Danerys could have been left out entirely and nothing would be lost to the reader. If the author wanted to write their stories, he could have done so in separate books (and even made more money doing it). If you want to shorten the read, take my advice and skip the chapters with those viewpoint characters.
5) The dialogue. The authenticity of the dialogue is full of contradictions. For example, the novel uses the archaic spelling of "sir" as "ser", but it carries all of our modern four letter words. This may have been necessary in practicality to achieve the desired effect, but nevertheless this stands out as a crack in the plaster.
6) The prose. It's indelicate. Martin is perhaps himself a good example of a male fantasy fan reader, and you don't forget it. A lot of brute, physical description thrown in with words that no one would ever use in conversation, all pushing the reader toward an objective meaning. There was too few beating hearts, cool waves of perspiration and bated breaths, and there was too much this object goes there (even with the sex scenes). There's little subtlety. But just because it's no Jane Austen doesn't mean it isn't good in its own way. Most I expect will not notice it.
C. What's not wrong:
1) Vulgar content, bleak setting. There are a lot of complaints about the dismal feel. And aside from the story not being as bleak as accused, any uneasy feeling is in complete harmony with the medieval setting. In the England that Martin depicts, people married young. It wasn't a crime! The sex scenes with Daneyrs are only objectionable when viewed with modern eyes, more specifically, modern American eyes. The same thing with the degradation of women. What do you expect from a society with rigid patriarchal right to succession? It was common then, and it would be insincere not to depict it. It's honestly not a political statement, but even if it were, which is more degrading to a feminist, a gang rape or Rapunzel, Polyanna and all the toadying female characters that the dissidents probably love? Viewed in that way, Martin does the issue justice. If the reader doesn't understand the concept of an alternate setting, he/she shouldn't be reading "fantasy". The label should have tipped it.
2) No one to root for, it's unsentimental. I've seen this complaint a few times, and I can't understand it. The story has a family to root for, the story starts in their perspectives, and it continues for a good while without detracting from the establishment of empathy. The family is separated and danger comes to some of them, but you still know who to root for. And with any further characters, you're given clear indications of who is good and who is not. No one will honestly say that they think Tyrion is a "bad guy" and Jaime a "good guy". And suitably, the viewpoint character is never someone that the author holds out as a "bad guy".
3) Too many characters. Many have complained that they have difficulty keeping track. To put it delicately, it's not the author's fault. As mentioned, there is only one well established center of reader empathy, and most of the characters either offshoots of that core or affect it antagonistically. And you can't ask for more in the change of viewpoint, he even names each chapter after the viewpoint character.
4) Deaths of main characters. You either know it's happening from the foreshadowing, or this is your first exposure to true literature. If it's the latter, you should still read this book for the experience of learning. From the opening scene in which a wolf is found dead after giving birth, you should know that a specific "wolf" in the story is going to die. As if the abundant references to heraldry didn't make it obvious. Stop feeling so let down.
5) It's written by a man. Like I said before, there's no forgetting that Martin is a man. It's not Charles Dickens. But it's not to the level that you could accuse the story of being a delusion of grandeur. You should expect very results oriented flow, and if you're disappointed by it, it's not the author's fault.
6) Lack of an Ending. This isn't a valid flaw, but I can understand why people say it is. First, the major dramatic question is: Will the kingdom survive? The only ending satisfying to many would be a "yes" answer. But, the answer is "no". Still, just because you didn't expect or didn't like the ending, it doesn't mean it's not an ending. The book even ends just as a certain person is named King of his own realm, solidifying the question that the Kingdom was doomed. What more could you ask for?
7) It's part of a series. I'm getting tired of this complaint. Yes, the book is part of a series. No, you do not have to read them all. You probably shouldn't. You'd get more of the "experience" for your time if you read about new characters anyway. And if you want to criticize further volumes, do a critique of those volumes. This one stands alone, and is sufficient to the task. And if you really can't help but read the second because you loved the first so much, where's the crime? It's not the author's fault. And for the record, this series is not near as vacuous as the Wheel of Time.
Summary of A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
A NEW ORIGINAL SERIES, NOW ON HBO.Here is the first volume in George R. R. Martin?s magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R. R. Martin?s stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.
A GAME OF THRONES
Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom?s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.
Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
Readers of epic fantasy series are: (1) patient--they are left in suspense between each volume, (2) persistent--they reread or at least review the previous book(s) when a new installment comes out, (3) strong--these 700-page doorstoppers are heavy, and (4) mentally agile--they follow a host of characters through a myriad of subplots. In A Game of Thrones, the first book of a projected six, George R.R. Martin rewards readers with a vividly real world, well-drawn characters, complex but coherent plotting, and beautifully constructed prose, which Locus called "well above the norms of the genre."
Martin's Seven Kingdoms resemble England during the Wars of the Roses, with the Stark and Lannister families standing in for the Yorks and Lancasters. The story of these two families and their struggle to control the Iron Throne dominates the foreground; in the background is a huge, ancient wall marking the northern border, beyond which barbarians, ice vampires, and direwolves menace the south as years-long winter advances. Abroad, a dragon princess lives among horse nomads and dreams of fiery reconquest.
There is much bloodshed, cruelty, and death, but A Game of Thrones is nevertheless compelling; it garnered a Nebula nomination and won the 1996 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. So, on to A Clash of Kings! --Nona Vero
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