Review: #813
Title: A Game of Thrones
Series: A Song of Ice and Fire - 1st book
Author: George R.R. Martin
Comments: The first thing that overwhelms you within A Game of Thrones is the fact that there are so many characters rapidly introduced. Having each chapter be from a different character’s perspective doesn’t help and it’ll take you a while, probably until the halfway point, before you are comfortable with who is who. The plot is complex and very political, as the first novel in the series, we’re introduced to the world and how the current king had overthrown the previous. However, there are hidden battles within as each party strives to outdo the other. The amount of backstabbing and treachery, coupled with the plentiful amounts of sex, incest and rape makes for a bleak world. At times, these gets too much and you would rather that the author just skip over these events rather than putting so much detail into them. Nonetheless, the novel is gripping as the characters that you have come to like, most of whom are part of the Stark family, start to go their own way. Now, in addition to jumping from each character’s perspectives, it also jumps at the physical place that the story is being told, leading to more than a few jarring transitions from the end of a chapter. It takes a while to set everything up, with the first hundred or so pages being quite slow and confusing. The relationships between characters are complex and the world building is solid. You really do feel as if this is a real world with its own customs and lore. One of the things that the author did amazingly is how unlikable he made some of the characters. Unfortunately, there is no justice in this world as your favourite characters will probably be cast off or die, while the unlikable ones ascend in rank and status. We never get to see people getting proper karma. Thanks to the different perspectives, we understand the justifications each character has for their actions, making it a lot more believable and not simply handwaving it to them being evil. It takes a while before the crux of the plot ends up being revealed (which ended up being a significant element) and once the climax was done and dusted, you wonder how it will end. The ending is satisfying, never relenting in its pacing.
Rating: 7/10