Book Review: A Song of Ice and Fire book 1: A Game of Thrones

Winter is coming..

A Song of Ice and Fire, is widely acknowledged as one of the best modern fantasy series. In fact, A Song of Ice and Fire, is commonly compared with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. This series has gained massive popularity since the first book was published in 1996, and became even more popular with HBO's TV adaption  A Game of Thrones".

This series is critically acclaimed, and Martin has said A Song of Ice and Fire is his "Magnum Opus". Currently the series is not finished yet, and Martin is writing the last 2 books of the series.

Personally, I found the TV series a bit too graphical for me. This is why I've always hesitated to read these books because I thought the books might be too explicit for me. But as a lover of fantasy epics, I just couldn't resist the call anymore, so I purchased the collection in a box set of 7 books, and started reading them. After reading through the first book in the series, I am quite eager to talk about it.

Synopsis:

A Song of Ice and Fire, is an epic story told in third person, by POV (point of view) characters. The story is set in the fictional world of Westeros, where 3 major stories are inter-woven: 1) Great houses  engaged in conflicts and struggles to win the throne to the kingdom of Westeros, 2) The rise of the dormant, supernatural beings called "The Others" in the frozen wasteland to the north, and 3) The rise of Daenerys Targaryen, an exile princess to a king who was murdered in the previous civil war, her ambition was to come to power and take back the throne with her fire breathing dragons.

Martin drew inspiration from historical events and places such as, the war of roses, Rome, and Hardin's wall. The series is also well known for its moral ambiguous characters, things are not always black and white, but in shades of grey. Furthermore, in this series, major characters are often killed off in unexpected manners at unexpected time. In contrast to traditional fantasy novels where major characters are always safe and have happy endings, A Song of Ice and Fire provides a sense of realism, surprising twists and turns where the outcomes are never predictable.

In the first volume, A Game of Thrones, Lord Eddard Stark, a lord in the northern land of Winterfell, was appointed to be the Hand of the King. He was asked to help the king to rule over the 7 kingdoms of Westeros, while his daughter was to marry the prince, the heir who will one day become the king. Eddard Stark felt uncomfortable about this position of power. Yet he has no choice but to obey the king's call. As he took on the role as Hand of the king, Eddard Stark discovered political conspiracies so great that will threaten the peace of the entire kingdom. In the meantime, other great houses of Westeros are seeking to gain power and control the Iron throne. In the game of thrones, you win or you die. The future of Westeros and the struggle for the throne has just begun...

What I think about the book:

What do I think about this book? Excellent! The truth is, once I started reading this book, I couldn't stop reading it. Martin created a vivid world, with ultra-fascinating characters. One of the strong points of this series, is the way the story is told, by POV characters. This type of story telling ensured in-depth character development, and enables readers to engage with characters more deeply, seeing the story develop through their eyes. As a reader, you can really see how each character has developed by the end of the book.

Another things I noticed, is A Song of Ice and Fire, could be classified by "dystopian literature . It is the opposite of "utopia". This is best reflected in the characters and the world they inhibited. In A Song of Ice and Fire, while some characters are more evil than others, but no character is perfect. Everyone has their flaws and shortcomings, and a background story to inform the readers why they are the way they are. Martin skillfully reflected the best and the worst of human nature in these very human characters. As a result, there are a lot of redemptive qualities in most of these characters as the story and events unfold.

I really enjoyed A Game of Thrones, and I cannot wait to read book 2: A Clash of Kings. But in the meantime, I also have to say some contents in this book are explicit, and not for children. These explicit contents are written in a way that emphasize the bleakness and corruption of the fictional world created by Martin, which is surprisingly similar to our own.

Similarly, I am quite struck by the way Martin has described the human nature, in its best and worst reflection. In the kingdom of Westeros, humans are capable of good, yet they are also capable of evil, everyone fell short of the standard. Obviously Martin build these characters and his world with a mind to reflect the real (our) world, so isn't it striking, that when we truly reflect about ourselves, we know the ideal, yet we struggle and are unable to do what we are suppose to do, as if something is stopping us?

The bigger question will be, with our deeper realization of our human imperfection, who can help us to overcome this? Perhaps this is a question worth your every effort to investigate.