Synopsis:
Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
4.7 out of 5 stars
*TRIGGER WARNING* This book features a plethora of explicit language and content, including themes of sexual assault, incest, rape, and details of gory violence. Proceed at your own risk.This isn't a post about taxidermy (though the animals in the image header seem to belong in one that is strangely indicative of said practice), but you knew that. No, today I'm reviewing A Game of Thrones, a book that the entire world and her third cousin had expected me to have already read; it's right up my alley! Everything I want in a book is in A Game of Thrones: Dragons, political intrigue, the looming threat of an undead army, dragons, the vestiges of powerful families, the lamented golden age of magic, the numerous and seemingly clear-cut moralities of characters belonging to said families, and did I mention the dragons?
At the risk of deviating from the matter at hand, I beg your leave to make a brief insertion: After I hesitantly gave my rating of five stars (4.7, really) for A Game of Thrones on Goodreads (I always second-guess my higher ratings, lest I forget to consider one gripe or another) I snuck a peak at a few fellow readers' reviews (a perilous sin). To my horror, the most upvoted reviews were three one star reviews. There was one particular reviewer that really grated on my nerves. They had so many perplexingly underdeveloped criticisms that almost rendered their entire review incomprehensible. I chalked it up as belonging to the "let's hate on GoT and George R. R Martin 'cause its fun" club. Other long-winded grievances can be summed up in a few points: Martin seemed to conform to the direction that other authors were attempting to steer the genre of epic fantasy in that, needless to say, said reviewers were not very fond of, 1) the "gritty" realism that does away with the formerly ever-present standard of "glory" and replaces it with one of "hardship", and suggest that the succeeding theme is just as predicable as its predecessor. But that in itself isn't a great feat, according to one reviewer, its just emotional appeal. And God forbid us readers sympathize with the characters. Along the same lines of the "failed realism" sentiment, is the notion that GoT = tHe ReAl woRLd "such and such character mirrors this historical figure" or even the "this political situation can't possibly be such and such historical event, because this element is missing" arguments. Readers are trying too hard to draw parallels to the real world, parallels that are likely inspired by the real world, but not intended to be read and dwelled upon as such.
2) the overly-risque language and descriptions of sexual situations. This criticism, I grant, is somewhat reasonable. I watched the television show first, so I was a little numbed to the language in book, as a result. But I can see how off-putting it can be to an unfamiliar. The reason I bring up this point, however, is because I came upon various complaints about unfavorable events and themes in the storylines (e.g rape of a Dothraki woman; the subject of rape in Dothraki culture, in general). Listen, I will stand on my soapbox and advocate for women's rights day in and day out, and will express visible and very audible disgust if I ever hear the shit said about the fictional characters in this book to a live, human woman. But in the context of high fantasy, it's not totally condemnable. Especially when the vulgarity and lawlessness isn't without purpose: Earlier I mentioned that the characters in GoT are fairly easy to figure out, that's partially due to the fact that said vulgarity is used as world-building and literary device. And that's not unique to Martin's present work. The nuances of language, and even the less subtle differences, are often used to highlight differences in mannerisms, ideals, motivations, and traditions of characters and geographical cultures, at large.
In the end, to each their own. Everyone has a right to their opinions about the book. It seems the criticisms of others is what I will leave you with in this quasi-review. That said, if you can get with Patrick Rothfuss's fantasy, you can get with A Game of Thrones.
Comments
Post a Comment