Defenestrating Thoughts from the Bivouac

I recently finished reading George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. This series and author were highly recommended to me by a number of friends (including Jason) and I wasn’t disappointed. The books has a complicated plot, excellent characters, and enjoyable writing.

The plot is similar to the actual War of Roses, where an already fractured kingdom falls into a complicated war over the throne. Since this is set in medieval times, most of the participants are armies of feudal lords that unite under common cause, but there still squabble and jockey to come out on top.

Martin presents a plethora of characters, yet they are all well developed and very realistic. A lot of good authors say that they don’t write stories; rather they create characters and settings, put them together, and see what happens. I think that this is applicable here. Martin’s characters very real, and the reader sees their both their virtues and short-comings.

Because the numerous characters are true to their attributes, the plot takes lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed this a lot more than the traditional “good” vs “evil” of the genre. That style is much too simplistic and far from realistic. In this Martin’s book, even the “good” characters do lots of stupid and evil things, because they too are just human.

I also really liked the lack of cliched elements of fantasy. There aren’t any “noble elves” or “cantankerous dwarfs”. This added to the already gritty, medieval feel of the book to give it a very realistic feel. Plus, lots of characters die. While it’s disappointing to see a good character get killed, it’s realistic. The feudal times weren’t a fairly tale — like most fantasy books would have lead you to believe — it was an incredibly bloody and horrible period of history.

The writing is also good. I particularly enjoyed how each chapter is from a different character’s perspective. This reinforces the “shades of grey” feel of the book. You get to see how each character feels and reacts to the same circumstances and this gives a much greater and enjoyable perspective to reader.

I very much enjoyed reading it and am looking forward to reading the next one in the series. I definitely recommend it! :-)