Game of Thrones

With the success of last year's new HBO series, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has become known to more than just the diehard fans hoping desperately that it won't take ten years for the next book in the series to come out. I was among the new fans to the A Song of Ice and Fire series. I'd heard about it before on livejournal, but mostly in terms of how the female characters were treated. I didn't look into the posts because he was mentioned in the same breath as Piers Anthony (who I find horribly boring and very problematic in certain areas) but what I gleaned seemed to indicate that his female characters were not handled with the same respect as his male characters. Since I have a heavy bias towards well-written female protagonists, that was enough for me to cross him off of my to read list and then go on about my business. 

Then HBO made the show and Ginia Bellafante wrote a review for the New York Times calling it "boy fiction" and claiming that sex scenes were added "out of a justifiable fear, perhaps, that no woman alive would watch otherwise". The entire internet choked and then answered in rage. Millions of female fans from around the world flooded the interwebs with their displeasure over Bellafante's blatant derision and dismissal of their existence.  George R. R. Martin himself broke his habit of ignoring reviews on his work to acknowledge his female fans and comment on how  this erased them. I watched this furor and saw how many women's whose opinion I valued were fervent fans of Martin, posting pictures of themselves on the Iron Throne, and I had to know what the hype was about. So I watched the first episode and then immediately went out and bought the first book.

"Winter is coming."
-House Stark words, said often by Eddard Stark, lord of Winterfell

Game of Thrones is the first book in the epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. It takes place in the land of Westeros, the seven kingdoms, where seasons last for years and the long summer is about to give way to winter. The story begins with the king of the land, Robert Baratheon, coming to Winterfell, home of his friend Eddard "Ned" Stark, to ask him to become the King's Hand, his adviser, after the death of his previous one. This simple event pushes everything into motion. Ned Stark accepts the position and must deal with the responsibilities and dangers that come from it as do his wife and children as all of them are heavily effected by this turn of events. The Starks deal with political intrigue, magic, and mysteries as they adjust to their new lots in life as do those whose their actions touch including the exiled daughter of the previous king who is still burning for vengeance across the sea.

This book was genius. It is intricate and amazing and has me fangirling all over the place. Martin uses third person limited point of view from several different characters which each main character getting their own chapter. This method is both great and annoying because while it allows us to see the motivations and actions of characters on all of the sides , it is annoying when you have to get through a character you dislike. Still, the world building is great and the little bits of history that the characters mention makes me want to read a book just about the history of Westeros or about Valyria or about any random detail that Martin put in because he makes it that interesting and complete. 

Despite my love for the world, the characters make the story. I have my favorites, but Martin writes so that you can see the reasoning and understand the character that you don't like. Of all the points of view, I didn't like Catelyn Stark, Ned's wife. It wasn't that she was a bad female character, it was that she was annoying as heck to me and her logic often made no sense. It was slightly annoying that her primary motivation was her children, but it made sense that she would be very concerned about them and their safety and justice for them. Her treatment of Jon Snow, her husband's bastard son, was rankling as well since he's one of my favorites, but it was understandable considering her husband made her raise his obvious sign of infidelity. 

"Jon could not find it in him to pray to any gods, old or new. If they were real, he thought, they were as cruel and implacable as winter. "

-Jon Snow

Speaking of Jon Snow, he was one of my favorite male characters along with Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf brother of the Queen. Jon Snow is pivotal in the action happening on the Wall, the ancient structure built to keep the Others out, and while he is emo as all get out, he will get the job done. Tyrion Lannister faces overwhelming discrimination because of his height and deformities, but he deals with it with his sarcasm and brains. He's one of the smartest characters and awesome just for some of things he manages despite having no fighting skills to speak of and no obvious allies at times. The other male pov characters are okay; Bran does his best, but Ned just manages to keep from descending to Catelyn-like levels of annoyance for me because of his honor hang ups. I was not saddened by his fate.

The best characters in my opinion though, which is ironic considering the above article, are the women, including girls to be more precise considering that  the youngest is nine and the oldest is thirteen(the two Stark sisters, Arya and Sansa, and the exiled princess Daenerys Targeryen).

"When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground."

-Cersei Lannister

Cersei Lannister, the Queen of Westeros, doesn't get a point of view, but she doesn't need one. This woman shined and made me like her despite her incest and horrible actions towards other characters I liked. She has no trouble doing what needs to be done to achieve her ends and I loved her for it.

“Some septa trained you well. You’re like one of those birds from the Summer Isles, aren’t you? A pretty little talking bird, repeating all the pretty little words they taught you to recite.”
— Sandor Clegane to Sansa Stark

In the beginning, Sansa was grating because at eleven she is a privileged lady in training, sheltered with ideas of marrying a handsome prince and living happily ever after. These dreams are eventually crushed and she has to grow up fast, but he court-trained manners help her survive.

"Fear cuts deeper than swords. The man who fears losing has already lost.”

—	Arya Stark

Arya is Sansa's polar opposite, two years her junior, Arya is more concerned with sword-fighting, archery, and is an all-around tomboy. While her sister wants to be the princess, Arya wants to be the knight and she spends her time training for this goal, time that ends up being very well-spent.

"I have never been nothing. I am the blood of the dragon."
-Daenerys Targaryen

Thirteen year old Daenerys has the most growth in this book. Her older brother uses her in a bid to gain an army to take back his kingdom, but she gains some independence and manages to turn the situation to her advantage. By the end of her part I was screaming "Heck yeah, Khaleesi Stormborn!" and rooting for her to take over Westeros while simultaneosly rooting for the Starks and Cersei. Arya and Daenerys's pro-activeness and practicality makes them my favorite female characters of this book.

Overall, this book took me places. My emotions were everywhere and I shouted out loud at some points and cursed in others. This book makes you play favorites and then makes you second guess those favorites and change them and then bring them back again. The momentum builds up and then you hit a certain point at which you start racing towards the end and once you're finished you want to immediately start on the next one. That is how good this book is. After I finished it, I said, "did that just happen? How can he leave me like this?" And went out and bought the next two books.

This book made me rethink some of my formatting on my stories. I tend towards first person POV in my writing and reading Martin's multiple POV style, I realized that some of my stories would benefit from different POVs like that so I changed them for the better. They also made me go back to work on some of my world building. Martin also made me more certain in my desire to continue my own epic fantasy story because of how pale his world and how that struck a discordant note for me as I was reading.

Still, this book was awesome and I recommend everyone read it and watch the series. Where else are you going to get awesome house words, memorable monikers like "the Mountain That Moves", or a throne made of swords that has killed previous kings?