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pinkmooon 's review for:
A Game of Thrones
by George R.R. Martin
Second reading. I got into the ASOIAF series when the first season of Game of Thrones came out. I didn’t watch it, but I heard it was good, so I figured the books would be even better.
Martin’s prose is solid — great for a fantasy writer, but still occasionally clunky. (I don’t understand why he decided to put so much sexual violence into his fantasy universe if he was going to call rapists “rapers”. It diffuses any horror inherent in the scene in which the word appears.)
The biggest entry hazard is the sheer number of people that appear in book 1 alone. It was hard for me to grasp the characters as opposed to the names. I didn’t realise Tywin Lannister appeared in person in this book on rereading, because I was so confused by all the people suddenly gearing up for war the Riverlands chapters became something of a hazy blur. The book is quite a commitment to thoroughly enjoy, because knowing how much relevant detail Martin packs into every chapter makes it remarkably satisfying to reread. So much makes sense. I was caught up in Ned’s chapters on my first read, but didn’t care much about his weird flashbacks — we all know how crucial they are now. I didn’t like Daenerys’ chapters in general — too harsh, alienating, far-removed from the Westeros plot — but now I find them fascinating, and more consciously engaged in the alienating relationship between Daenerys as narrator and the reader. She’s difficult to like, in this book at least. Her world is too fucked up. She’s difficult to even understand. Of course, that distancing is intentional, too.
I look forward to continuing my reread, though part of me wants to put it off until TWOW has a release date...
Martin’s prose is solid — great for a fantasy writer, but still occasionally clunky. (I don’t understand why he decided to put so much sexual violence into his fantasy universe if he was going to call rapists “rapers”. It diffuses any horror inherent in the scene in which the word appears.)
The biggest entry hazard is the sheer number of people that appear in book 1 alone. It was hard for me to grasp the characters as opposed to the names. I didn’t realise Tywin Lannister appeared in person in this book on rereading, because I was so confused by all the people suddenly gearing up for war the Riverlands chapters became something of a hazy blur. The book is quite a commitment to thoroughly enjoy, because knowing how much relevant detail Martin packs into every chapter makes it remarkably satisfying to reread. So much makes sense. I was caught up in Ned’s chapters on my first read, but didn’t care much about his weird flashbacks — we all know how crucial they are now. I didn’t like Daenerys’ chapters in general — too harsh, alienating, far-removed from the Westeros plot — but now I find them fascinating, and more consciously engaged in the alienating relationship between Daenerys as narrator and the reader. She’s difficult to like, in this book at least. Her world is too fucked up. She’s difficult to even understand. Of course, that distancing is intentional, too.
I look forward to continuing my reread, though part of me wants to put it off until TWOW has a release date...