Alright, so I recently finished A Dance with Dragons, the fifth and last of the available volumes in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. So now that I’m all the way through it, what did I think of the series as a whole?
Well…I loved it!
OK, that’s it, folks, review’s over. Fire the confetti cannon, give out the trophy and let’s all go home. I’ll see you soon for my next mini book review.
…alright, I’m not goanna make it quite that brief. Calm down. I’ll say a little more about A Song of Ice and Fire (while trying not to spoil it too heavily for those who haven’t read it yet, or seen the TV show).
I first heard about A Song of Ice and Fire, of course, through the TV show, Game of Thrones. I was in high school when Game of Thrones first came out, but don’t remember hearing a lot about it until I was in university a few years later. When I did first start hearing about it, I resolved not to watch the show until I’d read the books: after all, the books are almost always better than the onscreen adaptation, and if I was going to expose myself to that story eventually, I wanted at least one pass without any images of the show in my head.
Years went by, though, and I never got around to reading the books. I always had other books on my radar. That changed, though, when, about a year ago now, I picked up A Game of Thrones from a local used bookstore. It was super cheap – I picked it up for, like, five bucks – and I figured if I didn’t like it, I could just stow it in a dusty corner on my shelf (or, more accurately, in my drawers) and never think of it again.
Well, more time passed, and eventually I started running out of things to read. And so, I decided to finally pick up A Game of Thrones, and see whether these things were any good.
Before I was even finished book one, I was already at Chapters, buying books 2 and 3. So you can guess how that went. When I read, I use what I call the one-quarter rule: I’ll read any book I pick up at least a quarter of the way through, and if I’m not at least somewhat interested by then, I toss it aside. Well, by the quarter mark of A Game of Thrones, I was thoroughly engrossed. By the two-thirds mark, I couldn’t put it down. And then, by the end, I was already itching to start book 2.
I could go on forever about how strong a writer George R.R. Martin is, and how artfully he makes his world come alive, but I want these BS&K book reviews to be brief, so I’ll give a snapshot of three big areas where I think GRRM particularly excels: character, plot and setting.
First of all, the characters in A Game of Thrones (and, really, the whole series) feel real. There are no caricatures, at least not among the main cast. There are no stock characters. Each is as unique as the last; all have their points of pride, and their demons to overcome. All have their strengths and flaws. Perhaps a reader will relate to some more than others, but with the viewpoint characters I felt like I was getting to know real people. And none are either perfect or wholly irredeemable; GRRM has in the past expressed his fondness for “gray” characters, and it certainly felt most of the characters here fit that profile.
Second, and perhaps as a consequence of the strong character building, the plot is nothing short of riveting. With certain characters, you want them to succeed: with others, you want them to fail, but you also sympathize with them to a degree. Certain characters may do things you don’t like, or may hurt (or even kill) the characters you do like, but in almost every case you see why they’re doing it. The world of Westeros is a complicated and messy one: the battle for good and evil is not externalized, is not waged between a dark lord and a ragtag band of pure-as-snow heroes, but within the hearts of each of the characters. Considering how many viewpoint characters there are, this creates a plot that’s both intricate and intriguing.
And third, of course, we have to talk about the setting. A lot of people compare A Song of Ice and Fire with The Lord of the Rings: in many ways, though, the two are fundamentally different works. One way they’re similar, though, at least for me, is the setting…or more specifically, the reality of the setting. Westeros feels like a real place, just like Middle Earth does: when I open up A Game of Thrones I feel less like I’m reading about a place some guy made up in his head, and more like I’m reading a world-beating traveller’s account of some faraway corner of the world. From King’s Landing to Winterfell to Casterly Rock, from Lannisport to Dorne to the Iron Islands to the nine free cities…all of these feel like real places, with real, complex histories. GRRM himself has said repeatedly that he’s a history buff, and boy, does it show. If it weren’t for the brutality of the world – and, you know, the lack of modern medicine, electricity, and all the other comforts we 21st century denizens take for granted – I’d love to visit there. As someone who writes myself, I find this extremely impressive…and if I can do half as well with my own books, I’ll know I’ve done something right.
Overall, the books of A Song of Ice and Fire make up my favourite series that I’ve read in quite some time. The world George R.R. Martin created lives large in my imagination now, right alongside some of my other all-time favourites. And now, of course, I get to join in on the wait for The Winds of Winter. I’ve said this elsewhere, but whenever that book finally appears on bookstore shelves, I’ll be doing whatever I have to do to get my hands on a copy that day.
When you have someone saying that, I think you’ve succeeded as a writer. So hats off to George R.R. Martin: in my humble view, A Song of Ice and Fire deserves every bit of success it’s had. If you’re at all a fan of fantasy – or even historical fiction, as the magic content in ASOIAF is relatively minimal for a fantasy series – and you haven’t checked these out yet, you need to.
Rating: Astounding
P.S. Since this is my first mini book review, I thought I’d quickly go over the rating system I plan to use for these.
Astounding: One of my new favourites. This rating means I fell head over heels for the book(s), and will likely carry the story with me for the rest of my life.
Great: Not quite pantheon-worthy, but still excellent. This rating means I was thoroughly entertained and would highly recommend the book…it just didn’t quite ascend to the level of astounding.
Good: Enjoyable, but nothing I’ll think about extensively or come back to often. I don’t regret reading it, but it’s not something I’m going to gush about. May still recommend it: after all, others may like it more than me.
Meh: Means I didn’t really feel anything while reading this book. In all honesty, the likelihood of me finishing a “meh” rated book or below is pretty low: we only get so many years on this planet, after all. Life is too short to read books you don’t enjoy.
Below Average: Means there was something I disliked about the book or which annoyed me enough to ruin my experience, but not enough to truly descend to the level of bad. This is the lowest rating where I may still suggest others read the book, in case they like it more than me.
Bad: Means I actively disliked reading this book, or was bored to tears by it. Awful: Reserved for the truly terrible. To earn an ‘awful’ rating, a book has to either insult me, disgust me, or make me so bored I forget who I even am. It’s relatively rare that a professionally-published book will reach these depths.
