Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

135 reviews

fifteenthjessica's review against another edition

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,

like Bran's fall, the incest, the death of Eddard Stark,

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.

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.

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.

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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

raelie's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Incest

helenastinks's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Incest, Sexism, Infidelity, War, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Grief, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, Pedophilia, and Slavery

madzia's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

it is not that bad as i heard. It's amazing book, obviously with some guestionable scenes. What can i say more? I love some characters and hate the others. The world is stunning and all of the creatures, dragons (even if the appeared in the last chapter), direwolfs and everything else. The plot is that literally everyone eventually dies, but for sure i will read the rest of the books in the series

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts

priya_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Blood, Death, Incest, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual content

hckilgour's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This book is very good but it being 807 pages long makes it a bitch to get through. Though it does also help make its slow burn aspects well planned.

Ned as a character frustrated me. He was so blinded by being honorably that he died for it. Like there was very little awareness of the world around him and that not everyone was like him. He easily could’ve avoided death by literally paying attention.

Catelyn was another frustrating character. Her mostly because she’s useless and her only function in the book is the be “the perfect wife and mother”. And yet she fails terrible at it! Like when she sitting with Bran she refuses to eat or leave. Then at the drop of a dime she’s tramping across the world to tell Ned about a rumor more or less.

Bran was just boring. He didn’t do a damn thing. He was just a way to show what was happening in Winterfell and it showed.

I did laugh a bit at Jon’s character in the first hundredish pages. Actually all the children in that part of the book. You could see there was a learning curve Martin went through with writing children and it best shows with Jon. First at the feast he acts like he’s 8. Then with Arya he acts like he’s 40. Then the rest of the book he acts his age.

Dani… oof. I forgot just how creepy her marriage to Drogo was. Like she’s 13… can you not. And I took a lot of issue with her wedding night scene. She’s 13, terrified, and has never had sex. Yet suddenly she’s horny and very into being fingered. Like… bruh, that is not how that works. Also the dragons suckling from her at the end… like how does home girl have nipples anymore?!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Cursing

jaimc's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Incest, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, War, and Ableism

Minor: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, and Fire/Fire injury

mindaee's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I want to preface this review by saying I’ve seen the first season of the TV show before reading this book. However, I think the book is really good! Very good pace, at times uncomfortable- as expected when Dany is 13/14 years old and so forth- but overall had me wanting to know what happens next (even though I already knew all along!). I’m excited to move onto the next book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Pregnancy, Rape, Animal death, Sexual violence, Death, Miscarriage, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

karolinakubinova's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Sexual assault

lisa00's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, War, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Child abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Infertility, Infidelity, Body shaming, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Incest, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Death, Sexism, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Animal death