ellilo's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, War, Rape, Mental illness, Infertility, Homophobia, Drug use, Cursing, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Injury/injury detail, Incest, Genocide, Excrement, Sexual violence, Hate crime, and Racism
fifteenthjessica's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
So, this is my second time reading it. After feeling like Wizard of Earthsea was a drudge and a few dnfs, I thought I should reread something I liked, and picked Game of Thrones (first read in summer of 2013) because, for the better part of the year, my urge to write fan fic of it has returned. I spent about a month and a half on this.
I'm still invested in a lot of the characters, both ones who played a major role in this book and ones who don't play a major role or even appear until later, but reading it when you know a lot of the shocking moves, wasn't as fun for me. George R. R. Martin's prose alternates between gorgeous descriptions and awkward or uncomfortable in ways that I don't think served Martin's goals. Dialogue can be iffy as well. Like, characters who probably haven't talked much all refer to the political games in King's Landing as "the game of thrones" which comes off as a heavy handed title drop. Between how long it took me to read this and Dreamsongs, volume 1 this year, the rest of his writing doesn't do as much for me as his characters.
I have heard a lot of people praise his world building, and as an aspiring writer/actual dungeon master who has dabbled in world building her own fantasy settings, Martin's quality is very inconsistent at best. Daenerys spends a lot of time with the Dothraki over the course of five hefty books, but the culture comes off as very one dimensional and most members of it are forgettable. I don't think I'm alone in remembering all Dothraki characters except Khal Drogo exclusively in terms of their relationship to Dany and maybe a name because they are very unimportant. Heck, there's a short paragraph in one of Dany's later chapters that feels like Martin is just dumping the personality of the youngest of her future bloodriders (Aggo? The three of them really blur together) on us in place of letting it unfold naturally as he interacts with Dany. The culture is mostly a combination of raiding and horses, almost to the point of impracticality (how many horses do they keep if they need them for transportation, fighting, clothing, and meat, plus burn horses in the funeral pyres of their leaders so they have a mount in the afterlife? There's a reason real world horseback nomadic cultures usually herd other animals). This is especially bad if you compare them to the equally raiding focused Ironborn, who in later novels are fleshed out through four point of view characters and with a number of memorable side characters that show that not everyone is raiding every waking hour of the day.
I'm still invested in a lot of the characters, both ones who played a major role in this book and ones who don't play a major role or even appear until later, but reading it when you know a lot of the shocking moves,
Spoiler
like Bran's fall, the incest, the death of Eddard Stark,Spoiler
Part of the reason I rooted for Viserys Targaryen's death was because I thought after he died, I'd hear less about 13-14 year old Daenerys Targaryen's breasts and nipples.I have heard a lot of people praise his world building, and as an aspiring writer/actual dungeon master who has dabbled in world building her own fantasy settings, Martin's quality is very inconsistent at best. Daenerys spends a lot of time with the Dothraki over the course of five hefty books, but the culture comes off as very one dimensional and most members of it are forgettable. I don't think I'm alone in remembering all Dothraki characters except Khal Drogo exclusively in terms of their relationship to Dany and maybe a name because they are very unimportant. Heck, there's a short paragraph in one of Dany's later chapters that feels like Martin is just dumping the personality of the youngest of her future bloodriders (Aggo? The three of them really blur together) on us in place of letting it unfold naturally as he interacts with Dany. The culture is mostly a combination of raiding and horses, almost to the point of impracticality (how many horses do they keep if they need them for transportation, fighting, clothing, and meat, plus burn horses in the funeral pyres of their leaders so they have a mount in the afterlife? There's a reason real world horseback nomadic cultures usually herd other animals). This is especially bad if you compare them to the equally raiding focused Ironborn, who in later novels are fleshed out through four point of view characters and with a number of memorable side characters that show that not everyone is raiding every waking hour of the day.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, War, Alcoholism, Death, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Racism, Alcohol, Abandonment, Torture, Rape, Injury/injury detail, and Infertility
Minor: Self harm and Trafficking
ultimatecryptid's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Read this book for the first time in middle school, and rereading it now is an interesting experience.
For me, the most important part of GoT is divorcing it from the genre of political fantasy. Some of our protagonists may be nobility in a feudal society, and as such participate in politics, they are not the ends of the book, or even the means. GoT is intensely character-driven, and is about the wide variety of ways people may view the same actions. Most of the time I think Martin excels here, and is only circumstantially hindered. However, he undercuts his own character building sometimes, especially with the racism built into the Braavosi storyline, which is intense and unescapeable in Daenerys' chapters.
Also worth noting: GoT is one of the few fantasy novels I have read which explore the idea that manhood is also a destructive institution in the same way womanhood is.
For me, the most important part of GoT is divorcing it from the genre of political fantasy. Some of our protagonists may be nobility in a feudal society, and as such participate in politics, they are not the ends of the book, or even the means. GoT is intensely character-driven, and is about the wide variety of ways people may view the same actions. Most of the time I think Martin excels here, and is only circumstantially hindered. However, he undercuts his own character building sometimes, especially with the racism built into the Braavosi storyline, which is intense and unescapeable in Daenerys' chapters.
Also worth noting: GoT is one of the few fantasy novels I have read which explore the idea that manhood is also a destructive institution in the same way womanhood is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
dracula's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
An absolutely brilliant first book. This was a re-read for me but was still like reading for the first time. I still found myself surprised by events I knew were coming and found myself warming to characters that I hadn’t in the first season of the show. Unsurprisingly Arya remains my favourite POV character, but Daenerys was a close second. There were several interesting distinctions from the show in characterisation that I feel would’ve made me more sympathetic to particularly Sansa from the very beginning.
While this probably won’t be my favourite in the series, I most definitely enjoyed it and look forward to continuing ASOIAF.
While this probably won’t be my favourite in the series, I most definitely enjoyed it and look forward to continuing ASOIAF.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, and War
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