A Song of Ice and Fire

Before I get to the topic at hand I want to say this rather profound statement:

Lord of the Rings is total crap.

That’s right boys and girls Ive got from modest Tolkien fan to genuine Hobbit hater. So what has fueled this rapid turnaround? A few months ago I picked up A Game of Thrones the first book of George RR Martin’s epic saga of A Song of Ice and Fire. Since that time I have been totally engrossed in the world of Westeros and its people.

The series revolves around the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and the people who occupy it. The story is told from the perspective of different characters, with each chapter switching to a different person. Each book has about 6-8 characters who’s perspective we see the story from and some of these change from book to book so we get to see the same situations from many points of view. Personally I found this structure to be extremely easy to follow and it helped give an extremely deep understanding of the thoughts and feelings of the protagonists. The cast of characters is extremely deep and well fleshed out. There are literally hundreds of characters introduced throughout the first four books. The extremely good writing however makes it easy to keep track of and I never had any problem remembering who is who.

One of the things which instantly struck me was the uncertainty of who was “good” and who was “bad”. In LOTR the conflict is very black and white; good guys over here fighting bad guys over there. In ASOIAF things are never this cut and dry. The characters who might be considered “good or bad” in the first book are very different by the end of the forth. There is a constant fluid change in attitudes of the people which makes them interesting.

Now the land of Westeros itself is somewhat different from most fantasy novels out there. First of all there are no dwarfs, elves, orc’s, or giant walking trees. At the beginning of the first book Westeros actually seems devoid of magic and it is talked about almost as legend. Dragons did exist but had become extinct hundreds of years ago, weapons were imbued with magic but that ability was lost long ago too. The people of the land almost resemble a version of medieval Europe. The Kingdom is ruled by a king and the lords of the seven kingdoms are sworn to him (the kingdoms being: Winterfell, The Vale, Casterly Rock, The Reach, Dorne, Storms End, and The Trident). The story really kicks off when (SPOILER ALERT!!!) the king dies and the battle for the throne begins. Sounds pretty straight forward? Well trust me theres way too much that happens for me to go into detail here, but it’s a great story line with more twists and turns then rollercoaster.

One thing, which struck me instantly when reading these books, is the somewhat adult themes. These books are NOT family friendly. As in most fantasy novels there are huge battles involving severed limbs, crushed skulls, blood, guts and gore. However there is also a freaky raunchy sex in here that you would expect to find your momma’s romance novels. Things ranging from brother on sister incest (lots and lots of it), to raping dead bodies, to detailed descriptions of a baby being smashed against a wall, ASOIAF really gets down to the dirty business.

Well that’s enough from me. I doubt my crappy book report will do much to convince anyone to read this series but once you start I guarantee you’re hooked. The series is planned for 7 books and the first 4 have been released so far with the 5th one coming out sometime this year. The books are: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows. Be sure to read them in order or you will have NO IDEA whats going on.

Remember the words of Levar Burton on Reading Rainbow: “Don’t take my word for it, go read for yourself!”