A Game of Thrones

In an alternate universe, George RR Martin is famed for his fantasy epic that tells of the fools and jesters in the courts of seven kingdoms, as they plot and scheme to outdo one another for the popularity and renown of having the most contrived jokes. There are few fans who have not read his seminal work, 'A Fame of Groans'.

Sorry.

I am a little disappointed by A Game of Thrones. I was what I expected, in terms of scale and content, but it lacked the 'something special' that I had been led to believe it contained. People talk about it with this hint of awe, and I kept waiting for the book to wow me. It never did. It's political fantasy on a grand scale, but not such a scale as to be truly eye opening. But, then, have I actually finished the story? I was left with the sense that the story was only just beginning. Do I have to read every volume for the magnitude of the thing to really get to me? Perhaps.

I probably will keep reading, because, despite what I have said, I did enjoy it, I am left with quite some interest in where it goes next, and I still think that it has the potential to develop into something that is really special.

Setting aside expectations and disappointments, here's what I made of its content: It's quite a cold, impersonal novel. All of the Northerners are cold, hard people who do not really brook association, or, alternately, they spend their time sullen and miserable. This is obviously intentional, the people of the North reflecting their icy world is an old device and it creates here the atmosphere I'm sure it was intended to. But all the PoV characters save for Tyrion are of this mould, and it does sometimes make it hard to care about them too much.

Eddard is the most rounded character, to an extent he is the 'main' character, and he does show some warmth when talking to Robert early on. But he spends the majority of the story being harangued and beaten down, and after a while I found I was not so interested in him. He's a 'straight as an arrow' type character and mostly responds to everything in exactly the same way, so I found myself somewhat ambivalent over his fate. His story is still among the most interesting of strands, but that is more for the supporting case: Varys, Littlefinger, the mysteriously absent Stannis, the dead Jon Arryn. These characters are all wrapped up in mystery, and after a while reading Eddard's chapters was for interest in them, not him.

The children (Bran, Sansa, Arya) and Catelyn all put me off. Sansa is plot-stupid, and I find it hard to credit just how obtuse she is. She does nothing remotely interesting throughout the story, and rather than have the good grace to merely be ephemeral, is instead actively annoying. Arya is better, but she is such a stereotypical tomboy warrior-princess that I found her somewhat tedious as well. Plus, she throws tantrums perpetually, making her a deeply unlikeable brat. Bran is better, giving a more credible child's-eye view of proceedings than Sansa, but he's also pretty bland, as characters go. There's very little in the way of character to him. Catelyn is just a whiny bitch and I wish she'd shut up. Her sister is even worse and I wanted to hit them both throughout the sections at the Eyrie. I know that's the point, but it dragged on too long, so that irritating characters started to render the book itself irritating. Thankfully her chapters often meander away from her, and the characters she's accompanied by make for more interesting reading (Tyrion, Rodrik, Robb, Littlefinger again).

Robb is actually far more interesting than his mother, and it's quite a shame he never gets his own chapters.

Then there's Jon. Jon I found agreeable, because he actually acted like a person. Plus, he actually spends all his chapters doing interesting things, AND surrounded by interesting and likeable characters. I actually sympathise for Jon when he confronts breaking his oath at the end of the book, long after I stopped caring what became of all the other PoV characters (Except Eddard, but he was dead, and Tyrion, more on him later.) I have a different issue with Jon's sections, not related to characterisation. I'll come to that shortly.

Lastly, there's Tyrion. I think Tyrion probably sold the book to me. I'm not sure I'd have kept my interest were he absent. Tyrion is by far the deepest, most nuance character in the story, and also one who actually acts like a human being. His plot thread is also the longest and most winding, seeing him go North to the wall as a sort of counsellor to Jon, then taking East as Catelyn's captive, rendering him powerless, before finally he comes west again, as an unlikely leader of wildmen. The plot is interesting, and gives Martin a chance to explore all the facets of Tyrion and still leave him quite a curious and intriguing fellow. And now he is going to court! There is no end to the interest that flows from this guy.

This was my main issue - two genuinely interesting characters balanced against one who is enjoyable to read but gets offed before the end and four that I disliked to a greater or lesser degree. Meanwhile fascinating and human characters come and go, and are given only cursory glances. Robert is good to read about, and whilst the story follows he and Eddard, everything is pretty good. But he gets offed at the two-thirds mark too. Varys is deeply interesting, and possibly quite tragic. I hope he was not lying about his motivation toward peace, as that makes him quite an interesting character indeed. But Varys barely shows himself. Littlefinger, too, is quite peculiar. We never find out what his deal is, though I imagine it is coming in a later book. But until we get some glance at the underlying truth of Littlefinger, he is a bit too much of a 'textbook enigmatic' character, mysterious just to be mysterious. I think Martin felt that these characters had to be kept peripheral to maintain the mystery, and if so perhaps he was right, but I did wish we heard more from them.

There's also issues with the plot, and this relates to the character I have yet to mention; Daenerys. Daenerys' plot it only tangentially related to the rest of the story and seems as if it could have been excised completely. It's not even in the same tone as the rest of the story. I sort of get that this is the 'fire', whilst the other characters are the 'ice', and so where the rest of the plot is far more intellectual, this is far more emotional. But it doesn't change the fact that it didn't feel like it belonged. Nevertheless I actually liked all the characters here, who were far more human than the cold Northerners. I am curious as to what is afoot with Jorah, sending letters to Robert yet seeming to honestly care for Daenerys. What I didn't like, at all, was the ending of this strand (and the novel), in which the dragons hatch and Daenerys walks into the fire. The explicit hocus-pocus of this didn't feel like it belonged AT ALL.

The other plot that seemed barely related was Jon and his northern war, with the return of the Others. Whilst I see how Daenerys' story is going to eventually merge into the main story, I don't really see how Jon's will. It seems it will be more a case of 'Oh, and this is happening too', as none of the characters in either half really have any link to the other. (Indeed, most of Jon's story is about HOW he severs all his bonds to what's going on elsewhere.)

Also, what somewhat threw me: Throughout the first half of the novel, it really felt like I was primarily reading a murder mystery, with Eddard playing the 'detective', and everyone keeping secrets and following hidden agendas. Then the truth came out, and everything seemed to be swept aside as if none of it was really important anyway. (The latter third-ish of the book is more a straightforward war story, but it does really pick up the pace and excitement, and so I was not too disappointed that the mystery-thread seemed to come to nothing.)

I suspect though, that the real issue is that I have been tripped up by my assumptions. The series is split into several books, and I naturally assumed they would be at least somewhat episodic. Now I get the impression that that isn't the case. I've just read the first 15% of a story and stopped, which is why the book has no real ending, it's why some plots feel ephemeral, it's why some characters seem not to have been given enough screentime, why I have not yet seen the grandeur I expected, and possibly why I haven't given some of the characters a chance to grow and engender more interest. And possibly it means the Baratheon-bloodline-mystery plot will resurface (with the return of the mysterious Stannis?)

Anyway, I am still sufficiently intrigued, in fact, quite considerably intrigued, and in spite of all else, it was ultimately an enjoyable read, so I will definitely read the next volume.