Nurni (Leave What's Heavy Behind)'s Reviews > A Game of Thrones

I finished this last night and I don't know what to think. At all. I mean, there's a lot that I think. But I can't decide what my overall opinion of the book is, or if I should continue the series.

At times, this was a challenge to get through. Something about Martin's writing style didn't completely work for me. While it was good enough to keep me considerably invested, it wasn't good enough to be immersive all the time.

For me, the selling point is the descriptions. When the style completely works, I can see everything described very clearly. When it doesn't, I just see words on a page. Not that I couldn't see it at all, but A Game of Thrones had a lot of words on a page moments.

Even more worrying, narrative is increasingly becoming a similar problem. I will read whole paragraphs of narrative and not take in what the characters are doing. I'll have to go back and read them again.

So there are three things to clarify here. The first is that I'm not saying that Martin's writing style is bad. I'm only talking about what works for me. Different writing styles work for different people. Some people won't be able to put down books that I find boring, and vice versa.

The second is that I was unfamiliar with a lot of terms used to describe structures. Despite being a fantasy reader, I'm not really a medieval architecture expert. None of this helped with visualising things.

The third is that I'm not saying Martin's writing style didn't work for me at all. It didn't completely work for me, but there were a lot of things that did work. Otherwise I wouldn't be rating this four stars, and I wouldn't be saying what I'm about to say.

I thought I'd be relieved to finish this book, but when I did finish it, I actually felt sad. I realised I was going to miss the characters. I didn't see myself continuing the series, but now I'm considering it.

First things first, and this is another thing that initially got to me: this is not an escapist fantasy. The world presented here is not whimsical or wondrous or beautiful in the ways that I tend to like my fantasy worlds. It's dark, and gritty, and bleak, maybe even a little depressing. At times, it feels even more mundane than real life.

Another thing that I had to get used to: this is not a heroic fantasy. I may have already known this to some extent, but actually reading it made it crystal clear what kind of readers A Song Of Ice And Fire fans are. They're a bunch of hipsters, edgelords and English teachers. They hate traditional morality in stories, and are averse to common tropes. They are obsessed with "grey characters" and "moral complexity," and they probably think that most fantasy is "unrealistic" and "doesn't have anything important to say" (this last claim is one I have a big problem with ... ). Basically, they're not interested in reading about good characters who succeed in what they're trying to do, because apparently that doesn't happen in the real world.

(I should note that I'm exaggerating here for impact. Obviously, not all readers of the series will hold these beliefs to such an extreme extent, but most will probably have them to some extent.)

I suppose the simple fact that Eddard Stark was my favourite character should highlight the differences between me and these kinds of readers. I love heroes. I wouldn't say I'm completely opposed to the tastes of the stereotypical fan I described. I do occasionally indulge in morally complex stories, just for a bit of a change, and I usually find it a breath of fresh air. I have liked plenty of morally complex characters, despite my tendency to love heroes the most.

The closest I've gotten to something as amoral as A Game of Thrones was probably Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, which I loved, and is billed as "perfect for Game of Thrones fans." Xifeng, that book's anti-hero, touched me profoundly in a way I wasn't prepared for and am not sure I completely understand. But even she is defeated by the end of Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix, the sequel which focusses instead on the more traditional hero Jade. Unsurprisingly, the first book drew a lot of those kind of readers, who all complained about the second.

Point being that this series was tame compared to what I just read. In A Game of Thrones, heroes do not succeed. Villains are more than just temporarily triumphant and waiting to be taken down. In fact, success changes you into a somewhat of a villain yourself. The moral is that to get what you want, you have to be a little ruthless. The question is whether this is worth it? Does the end justify the means? You know, the same universal question that crops up everywhere in literature.

Once I got past feeling depressed, I realised what a brilliant portrayal this is of ruling classes in general. Almost every character in this is a noble or related to a noble. They have their own world, their own society where everyone knows each other, and their own rules. The commoners are only considered in a vague sense, and often spoken of disparagingly as "small people."

The more powerful characters often talk about having people die for them. This struck me as an interesting double standard and not without resonance in the real world. The non-ruling class are still bound by the rules of morality, by ideals such as "heroism" and "valour." The ruling class deliberately construct a culture where it's seen as the ultimate virtue to work, fight, die and even kill for these rulers that actually care nothing about them and view them as disposable. It's like a one sided relationship where your partner expects your complete and unquestioned devotion but doesn't even love you themselves.

Anyway, onto the characters, because that was what I wanted to focus on. There are 8 POV characters. I enjoyed some POVs way more than others. I applaud the complexity of the story, with all its different interweaving storylines, and was able to appreciate most of the POV characters. I've attempted to rank them in order from favourite to least favourite.

1) Eddard Stark. As I said above, I loved him, right from that first scene where he's explaining to Bran about the execution. He is not completely pure or anything—he has done some shady things, fathering a bastard being the most prominent. But it is clear he regrets these things, although not in the sense that he wishes Jon didn't exist. In fact, he's more accepting of Jon than most lords are of their bastards. It's more in the way that he's willing to face up to what he's done wrong and improve himself, which to me, is one of the most admirable character traits ever.

Ned is undoubtedly a good person and the most stable character in the series. He is brave, resilient, caring and has a lot of conviction and integrity. He knows his morals and he sticks by them. These are all my favourite traits in a character. I love heroes. I already said that. And Ned is certainly a tragic hero.

(view spoiler)[ By the time I was halfway through the series, I knew Ned was going to die. Not only because I seem to have an unfortunate tendency for picking favourite characters who die, but the way the story is going, that outcome seemed inevitable. I was bracing myself for it, and deliberately attempting to emotionally detach from the story and make myself not care about it. Honestly, though, I think I did that because what happens to Ned is painfully close to the aspects of real life that I can't handle looking at. The aspects of real life which I attempt to use fiction to distract myself on.

At first glance, at least, it reinforces the idea that heroes don't stand a chance against the system. They will be more than just ridiculed and smeared. More than demonised or even fought. They will be effectively snuffed out of existence. No one will ever know their side of the story. They will never make any sort of impact, and over time they will be forgotten. It will be almost as if they never existed at all.

When Ned died, the truth died with him. Everyone else who knew the truth was committed to keeping it secret. In fact, I bet Joffrey himself didn't even know he wasn't the king's son (not that it makes me like Joffrey any more, mind you). And instead of a hero fighting for truth, the public see an evil traitor. Ned's family, of course, will say they don't believe he is a traitor. But all they can do is speculate. They don't know the full picture. No one does, or ever will. It really makes you wonder how many dark secrets have been buried in a similar way throughout history.

When I looked at exactly how things played out, however, I realised there's a bit more hope to Ned's story than I realised at first. Truth be told, it played out the way it did as a result of his foolish actions. Honestly, how can someone be smart enough to figure out that the "king's children" weren't really his children, but stupid enough to literally go to Cersei and tell her he'd figured it out? If he hadn't done that, Robert would still have been alive! And what was his reason for this ... "mercy?" Whatever, Ned. You could've saved your best friend's life by leaving Cersei out of it.

And then to completely miss his last chance at telling Robert (and thus fixing it all) because "he didn't want to hurt him?" Absolutely ridiculous! You could've saved your own life, saved your family a whole lot of grief and saved the family from a tyrannical rule.

The more you think about it, Ned's case becomes less of a "heroes don't stand a chance" tale and more of a "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." Someone could totally succeed at exposing a secret such as this if they were smarter about it! And this is where I think the moral about being a little ruthless rings the truest. Being too softhearted was his downfall and the kingdom's. If only he had done what had to be done, he would've spared everyone a lot of suffering, including himself.

I'm glad he at least did the right thing when it came to confessing. It's sad that the truth died with him, but at this point, he'd worked his way in too deep and he no longer had a choice. If he'd decided to endanger his family, I would've been thoroughly disappointed in him. Thinking about Joffrey, though, and how he decided to kill him anyway, makes me too angry for words.

It really makes you wonder ... what mistake did Jon Arryn make to end up in the same position as Ned? Were the two Hands exactly the same? Isn't it weird, then, Robert's propensity for choosing Hands with that exact same paradoxical smart-but-stupid brand of heroism? It does signify his desire but lack of commitment, doesn't it? Of course, he also grew up with both of them, but somehow turned out rather less brave himself.

Honestly though, I am upset that he died in only the first book. The fact that he won't be in the sequels makes me a lot less interested in reading them. I wonder if they will replace his POV with someone else's and if so, with who. (hide spoiler)]

2) Daenerys Targaryen. She is actually the main reason I'm considering continuing the series. I will say she had to grow on me a little. I never actually disliked her, but at first, her chapters were hard going. I think at first it was a little hard because the other 7 POVs are very connected to each other and in the same place a lot of the time, whereas she's the only POV in her storyline. She's basically just got this whole separate storyline, and while it's connected to the backstories of the other 7 and I'm sure will connect up again honestly, it's also just its own thing and is very cool.

People will inevitably have issues with the representation of the Dothraki. Honestly though, while I can see the issues, I still enjoyed reading about them. I found them fascinating, and their culture rich and colourful and fascinating and beautiful. It was a very different feel from the stiff, cold Medieval England inspired Seven Kingdoms, and there was something that really moved me about it in a spiritual way. I think it was the connection to nature, the celebrations and revelling, the colour and expression and being out under the stars.

All that isn't about Dany herself. But it provides the backdrop for her epic character arc, which is intensely satisfying and deeply beautiful. She starts out very insecure and scared, but over the course of story we see her gaining confidence, and it's beautiful to watch her perspective on the world grow and change throughout the story. She is like Xifeng from Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, but with the potential to be even more amazing. She is still relatively innocent by the end of this book, but I'm expecting she will probably become a villain in a similar way to Xifeng.

The book finishes with her POV, and without spoiling anything, I just wanted to say I was really proud of her at the end, and my final thought on closing the book was: "I LOVE HER!!!"

3) Sansa Stark. Poor, poor Sansa. Aside from her overdramatising everything making her chapters invariably fun to read as there was always some huge, life altering catastrophe, I loved her because I really saw myself in her (especially myself at her age, but even myself now to some extent).

She's a sensitive, naive dreamer who can barely handle the real world. She's extremely judgemental but it's in an innocent, childish and oversensitive way ("i cAnT hAnDlE aNyThInG nOt BeAuTiFuL") rather than a malicious way. And she's a hopeless romantic (emphasis on "hopeless"). Her whole character arc is coming to terms with the fact that the things she loves are nothing like her romanticised image of them. That's traumatic, and painful, and something I deeply sympathise with. She has some awful things happen to her.

(view spoiler)[In fact, when Joffrey killed Ned, it wasn't even Ned I immediately felt sorry for. He's a hero. He'd accepted his own death, plus I'd already spent a lot of time feeling sorry for him and trying to extract myself. No, my first thought was "poor Sansa." What kind of person does what Joffrey did? What kind of person promises to spare his girlfriend's father and then kills him anyway? I already didn't like Joffrey, but this scene made me hate him with a passion. And then to start abusing her afterwards and force her to stay with him? Sansa was so determined to see the good in him even though he'd already shown her what a piece of trash he was, because she really loved him. To her, nothing was worse than the person she loved turning out to be bad.

I'm convinced that Loras Tyrell would've been a way better match for her. She shows interest in him at one point but it's just kind of forgotten about. (hide spoiler)]

4) Jon Snow. Jon was another character who captured my attention right from his first POV. There's something about his POV that just causes you to immediately feel for him (and no, it's not his upbringing, it's his POV—I don't automatically feel for characters just because of their past, the characters themselves have to be likeable). His internal monologue is always interesting, and he seems like a good person despite having anger issues.

(view spoiler)[ He ends up joining the Night Watch, of course, and it pleased me to have a POV character there, especially as the book opened with it. I love how the Watch becomes a family to him, and the way he fits in so well with the other boys. I love how kind he is to poor Sam. Sam's backstory is the most tragic in the whole series to me. When I read it, I experienced this intense reaction that I don't often get anymore. I really enjoyed watching him grapple with his confused loyalties and desire to completely fit in with the Starks, and how he even ran away from the wall, but his friends cared about him so much that they came after him to stop him. (hide spoiler)]

5) Arya Stark. There is a sister war between her and Sansa. I found it interesting how opposite these girls are. Where Sansa is the girly girl, Arya is the tomboy. She doesn't mind getting dirty. She hates being a lady and wants to learn to use a sword ... you know, all the usual tropes. She's also a lot more resilient and resourceful than Sansa.

What's the most interesting thing about her, though, is how much anger she has in her. That's what makes her compelling. I also loved her bond with Jon, and wished they could've spent more time together.

Weirdly, her chapters started out engaging but became less so as the story went on. I'm not sure why, especially as it was only later on that she started having actual adventures.

6) Bran Stark. To be honest, he doesn't deserve to be so low down. I love him. I feel nothing but love for him. I especially loved reading his earlier POV chapters. He's one of those precocious child characters who you can't help but fall in love with.

(view spoiler)[ However, after he had that fall and became a cripple, I found his chapters incredibly difficult to read. I would dread them, even. I think it was just because what happened to him is so devastatingly sad. I even think death would've been kinder. Keeping him alive like this is just cruel, Martin. (hide spoiler)]

7) Catelyn Stark. I'm not sure how I feel about her. Her chapters were always boring for some reason, and as a character I didn't find her particularly interesting. In fact, for a large part of the book I found her incredibly annoying, but I realised she had grown on me significantly while reading her final chapter.

(view spoiler)[ Her last scene, where she's begging Robb & co to make peace, was heartbreaking. It really showed what a sensitive and loving soul she is. The poor woman has lost her husband, is about to lose her father, had one son become crippled and the other beginning to start down a dark path. (hide spoiler)]

8) Tyrion Lannister. Ready for an inflammatory opinion? Okay. I HATED Tyrion. His chapters were a chore to get through. Despite his obvious struggles due to his size, I couldn't make myself feel sympathy for him. As I said above, I have to like a character to find them sympathetic, and Tyrion was just a horrible person. If I decide not to continue the series, it will be because of him.

Other thoughts:

I would've liked Robb's POV. I'm confused why he didn't get one, to be honest. He would've been so interesting.

Also, if this is meant to be the kind of book I think it is, why so few Lannister POVs? We only get Tyrion, who's a bit of an outcast. The vast majority of POVs being Starks (I'm counting Jon here, which would please him), naturally I sided with them. Why not give us at least one other Lannister POV, just to show some perspective? Or maybe I'm missing the point. Maybe I'm supposed to hate Lannisters. I thought we were getting something more complex!