A review by josiah17
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

"Winter is coming."

Finally, I have begun my plunge into the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, something I've been extremely excited about for a while. I had very high expectations, which may have resulted in myself feeling rather "whelmed" in some areas of this first book. But overall, I had a good time with it.

"What is honor compared to a woman's love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms...or the memory of a brother's smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy."

I quickly found myself satisfied with Martin's prose, but more specifically his dialogue. He writes such great dialogue. It flows perfectly and elevates the abundance of political intrigue and the relationships between houses and families. He writes solid banter as well, especially with Tyrion early on. I love the worldbuilding too, despite it being pretty generically medieval. But no matter how many times I have heard about the North and knowing what lies beyond the Wall, it always managed to still pique my interest, and I love the way Martin describes it; it's chilling.

"A craven can be as brave as any man, when there is nothing to fear. And we all do our duty, when there is no cost to it. How easy it seems then, to walk the path of honor. Yet soon or late in every man's life comes a day when it is not easy, a day when he must choose."

Now, my main reason for feeling "whelmed" with this, or simply not loving it as much as I had hoped, was really a severe lack of emotional investment in the characters. I had already known the fate of so many of these characters, and I knew the plot twist that happens at the end of this book. Therefore I could not find myself connecting to them enough, nor did I really feel any of the tension that I should've felt with the politics and subtle machinations of characters. I guess I completely overlooked how knowing the fates of characters could've detracted from the experience of reading the books, which it unfortunately has.

Though all that being said, I still found myself pretty attached and invested in Jon and Ned (especially Jon, I just love his character archetype), and other characters for certain chapters or moments. But not thoroughly as I would for some of the other series and characters that I love. Regardless, it was still nice to get inside the head of these characters. Martin writes nice inner monologue for each them, bringing out depth and nuance to who they are. I think most of the characters are well-written, that's for sure. I simply didn't connect with them as I had hoped/naively expected I would. And another element to this could've been the ages of characters as well. I've simply grown a little tired of very young protagonists in fantasy, especially in darker stories. But I do expect my attachment will begin to grow the more I read, as the books divert further from my preexisting knowledge of the characters and general plot of the TV show.

Something else which resulted in a bit of dissatisfaction is the way Martin began some his POV's. Or maybe it was the way information was seemingly transported around Westeros? I'm not entirely sure, but it has to do with characters reacting to information. That's always something I like to see, but it felt lacking here. There's some of it, but most of the time a POV would begin a few chapters after a major event with the character having known what transpired via messenger, and then touching upon it a few brief times in monologue and having dialogue about it with those present. I just wish I could actually see them receive the information and their following actions and thoughts. That seems pretty standard in most fantasy books, especially medieval based ones, so it stuck out to me when I noticed Martin wasn't doing this and I realized it's something I really enjoy. It gave a slight sense of disconnect throughout the whole book. But in the end, it's also not the biggest deal to me because the overall writing was good enough to make up for it.

Anyways, apologies for this review focusing on my middling feelings. It's also just what more can I say about this book that already hasn't been said? It's pretty good. I'm very glad I finally read it and I remain excited to continue through ASOIAF.

"The High Septon once told me that as we sin, so do we suffer. If that's true, Lord Eddard, tell me...why is it always the innocents who suffer most, when you high lords play your game of thrones?"
Expand filter menu Content Warnings