A Game of Thrones

Dark Paladin writes "Recently, I asked readers to recommend some good books that were out there. There were crows for the usual crowd, like Terry Pratchet, Nail Gaiman, David Eddings, Terry Brooks, so on and so forth. But one name that kept coming up over and over again as a "must read" was R. R. Martin and the book "A Game of Thrones". So after the umpteenth "you've got to check it out or I'll burn your hat", I decided to give it a shot. And discovered one of the best read fantasy novels I've read in a decade. The story is your base fantasy stuff - "long ago, some bad things happened, but things are good - but watch out - the bad times are coming again!" Read on for the rest of his review. A Game of Thrones (A Song of Fire and Ice #1) author R. R. Martin pages 807 publisher Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group rating Very Good reviewer John Hummel ISBN 0553573403 summary A gritty, dirty, disturbing fantasy tale of the court intrigues in the backdrop of an upcoming war.

But Martin does it by focusing not on one main character, but on a whole slew of them, each chapter a view from their perspective as events rage around them. Mainly around the Stark family, who's patriarch, Eddard Stark, is the Lord of Winterfell, a country to the far north who's job it is to keep up the Wall - think "Great Wall of China", only make it out of ice and stone. The Starks put a lot of stock in honor and duty, concept that must serve them well to survive a world where summers can last for years - and the winters even longer. Eddard has known war and battle once in his lifetime, when he and his best friend Robert lead an army to overthrow the Mad King almost a generation ago. Now, with his 5 children and 1 bastard child, he looks forward to a life ruling his castle in peace and training the next generation to be Starks.

Or he would, but when Robert comes calling asking Eddard to become the "Hand of the King", Eddard and his family are put into a living chess match, where loyalties shift like chameleon color, and sometimes, the pieces are lost forever. And with all the court intrigues, something dark, magical, and deadly hovers in the background, like an avalanche about to fall without warning.

What makes Martin's writing so compelling is his ability to tie us into a fictional world as fully realized as our own. It's a gritty and disturbing world, where royal families can marry brother to sister to keep bloodlines pure, Mongolian horde empires have their own brand of laws and morals, and a joust is as celebrated as a professional wrestling match - and far more dangerous. He does have a tendency to go overboard in describing the littlest detail of what armor one person is wearing and how it gleams in the sun with cloaks as soft or supple as sin (I think he used that phrase around 3 times in the book, and it was old the 2nd time), but its also those little attention to details that makes the world breath.

But more than his descriptions of the places and events are his writings about people. As I mentioned, each chapter is written from the point of view of a different character, so you get the perspective of Arya, the tomboy princess on moment, the next the view of Tyrion the Imp, dwarf (physically, not Ghimli) who's royal family opposes the Starks and reaches for the crown. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses, things you love them for and things you hate them for. And as they interact with each other, you can see all the chess pieces on the board moving, wheels within wheels spinning as Martin brings you closer into the story, making you feel a connection with each of them - even the ones you are certain are less than moral or good. He also has no compunction about killing off main characters, which means you can't trust that the "Good Guys" will make off all right in the end.

It's a book about the love of family, how it can be twisted into something terrible and ugly, or used as a tie that binds together. It's a story about the price of honor, duty and loyalty, and what those words actually mean. It's a great book, and I'm eagerly looking forward to trying out the rest of the books in this series to see if they keep up the excellent quality of this one.

You can purchase A game of Thronesfrom bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

Series

[Sloppy]

Beware that this is the beginning of a series. If you get to the end, you'll probably want to proceed to the second book. I thought it had been planned as a trilogy, but it still wasn't over at the end of the third, and there is no 4th (yet). I guess it was popular and GRRM realized there was good money to be made. :-)

So, anyway, beware: you'll be left hanging, much like a rotting corpse on a gibbet.

Re:Series

[natet]

Actually, Martin has been saying that it is a 6 book series from the very beginning. Some estimate that book 4 will be published sometime early next year. It is called "A Feast for Crows."

Re:Series

[rkz]

The world of Westeros, the setting for A Song of Ire and Fire, contains the perfect balance of realism and magic that has been missing in the genre for some time (are you listening Forgotten Realms editors?). We find moral ambiguity and the constant and real threat of an untimely demise, even for the most important characters. The characters are well-nuanced, with real motives and human passions. Magic is reserved for the few and, when it manifests, it does so in incredible displays of power.

I labeled Martin's prose "raw" and "reckless" because he does not appear to be afraid of any theme or issue and he turns many conventional fantasy elements on their collective heads. Martin, quite simply, is the best fantasy author since Moorcock.

A warning: don't buy this book unless you are prepared to purchase the entire series. The books are, at once, compelling and addictive page-turners that will leave you clamoring for more.

Re:Series

[tabdelgawad]

To be fair, I think Martin announced early on that there are to be six books in the series. The first three are out and the fourth is expected later this year. The first three books constitute one long novel (although Martin is good at giving each of the three its own structure - beginning, middle, end). The remaining three are to be set sometime in the current three books' future (a decade later?), which gives the readers the chance to see many of the protagonists - currently children - as adults. Unlike some currently popular fantasy authors (Goodkind, Jordan) who have transformed their series into episodic soap operas, Martin looks to be on track to stick to his announcement. People will disagree whether this is the greatest fantasy since Tolkien, but not many will disagree that this is in the top five of all time. Get the first three books and read them!

Re:Series

[belgin]

Just to clarify...

Martin originally intended an event halfway through the third book to be in the first book when he thought he would write a trilogy. This means that he obviously knew it would be more than three books when he published the first book.

Early on, he said six books:
A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Dance of Dragons, The Winds of Winter, and A Time for Wolves. (Though he was never happy with the sixth title.)

He has now scratched the five year gap that was supposed to come between A Storm of Swords and A Dance of Dragons, because he realized he couldn't effectively tell about certain events in flashbacks. Thus, the next book is A Feast for Crows, and covers the five year gap. He has said he intends to write little from the point of views of the children in the story because the five year gap was partly because writing so many children's perspectives on a war was driving him nuts. He has admitted, grudgingly, that scrapping the gap may force him to take seven books instead of six.

Again, for details, visit westeros.org. The Citadel contains most of anything you might want to know. (Though also many spoilers for the story.

Re:Series

[Aanallein]

"A Feast for Crows" is expected to be released in August.

No, that is the amazon date. The one thing every science fiction and fantasy reader should know is do not trust the amazon dates. (Which is a specification of the age-old "do not trust the bookstore people", which lives right along with, "don't bother the nice lady at Tor")
George R.R. Martin himself says, "STILL SORRY. STILL NOT DONE YET." - even if he were to finish right this instant, you couldn't expect the book before September. December 2003 or January 2004 would be a more reasonable guess at this point, though I won't be surprised at all is several more months will be added to that.

Re:Series

[Aanallein]

I don't think GRRM has ever written a stnad alone book. He almost always writes 6+ book series.

Uhm... name one other such series Martin has written?
Right... there are none. (Okay, stretching things really far you could call the Wild Cards Anthologies a 6+ book series, but c'mon...)

On the other hand, at the stand-alone novel front, there's Dying of the Light, Windhaven, Fevre Dream, The Armageddon Rag and Tuf Voyaging, plus of course dozens upon dozens upon dozens of short stories.

Seconded

[dewie]

Martin is an excellent writer, and the Song of FIre and Ice series in particular is highly reccommended.

One aspect of his writing I particularly like is the moral ambiguity of his characters. There are no clear-cut "good guys" and "bad guys". What bad guys there are are sympathetic characters, and have understandable motives, and the good guys aren't your typical fantasy heroes. They're human, they have a dark side, and they don't always do the right thing.

All in all, if you're a fan of the genre, you won't be disappointed, and even if you're not he's well worth checking out.

George R. R. Martin

[natet]

has become one of my favorite authors. I have read all 3 books in the Song of Ice and Fire, and am anxiously awaiting book 4. In fact, I am re-reading the first 3!

If you liked the first 3 books, I recommend going to you local library and picking up a copy of Legends. It is a collection of short stories by various authors. It includes a story by George R. R. Martin called the Hedge Knight, which is a must read for any fan of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Re:George R. R. Martin

[Llywelyn]

If you've enjoyed the series so far, try and find a copy of Windhaven by him and Lisa Tuttle. Its an absolutely piece of work.

Be aware of explicit content

[Batfang]

One thing people need to be aware of with this series is that it is extremely explicit, with graphic descriptions of violence, including torture, maiming, rape, murder of children, and just about every other repulsive act you can think of.

While the quality of writing is excellent, I would not recommend this series to anyone but the most jaded fantasy reader who is bored with the reams of cookie cutter fantasy in bookstores and is ready for something different, although in my opinion, it's different in a bad way. While J.R.R. Tolkien might hint at the horrors of evil, George R.R. Martin describes it in loving detail. I had enough after the second book.

Re:Be aware of explicit content

[l810c]

This needed to be said. This series is definately not for children.

However, I enjoyed it precisely because it is not cookie cutter fantasy. There's some seriuosly evil acts going on in this series and Martin holds no punches in describing them. I want real cuss words, not "Blood and Bloody Ashes":)

realistic - because it's based on history

[Xtifr]

Not to take anything away from Martin's excellent work, but anyone who is familiar with the Wars of the Roses (1455 to 1487) will recognize the storyline immediately. If it seems more realistic than your average fantasy novel, that's because it's based on reality, unlike your average fantasy novel. :)

That said, it's still an excellent tale, well told.

And if you like this sort of thing, then I strongly recommend checking out the works of Guy Gavriel Kay, who is (afaik) the real pioneer of retelling obscure bits of history reset into realms of fantasy. My personal favorite is The Lions of Al-Rasan, based on the latter days of Moorish Spain. None of these have quite the scale of the Thrones series, being mostly standalone novels, but they're still pretty hefty novels, and all quite good. (Kay is also known for his work with Christopher Tolkien, editing the unpublished works of Chris' faither, J.R.R., and for his pure-fantasy Arthuriana-soaked trilogy, The Fionavar Tapestry.)