I recently read A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. I know I’m a little
late to the party on this one, but I wanted to read the books before I watched
the TV show, and people keep telling me to watch the TV show. My only message
to all-them is to read the books. They’re amazing.
George R.R. Martin wrote A Game of Thrones is 1996 where it was
instantly showered with awards. It won the Locus Award, the World Fantasy
Award, was nominated for the Nebula Award, and parts of it won the Hugo Award
for best novella. Let me just say that my top 10 favorite books have all won
the Hugo and Nebula, or have at least been nominated. It basically guarantees
that the book is going to be fantastic. The reason I’m telling you about all of
Martin’s awards is because I’m surprised his books were so removed from the
public’s radar. Martin is finally getting the recognition he deserves, and I’m
sure it has everything to do with the TV show. It’s good to know the old boob
tube is good for something.
A lot of people compare Martin to
Tolkien. I understand the desire; it is very high praise for Martin. But, to me
it seems a lot like saying apples and oranges are similar because they’re fruit
and round. The only thing similar about Martin and Tolkien is that they write
fantastic fantasy. If there were more supremely talented fantasy writers than
Tolkien and Martin wouldn’t seem so similar.
Aside from the fact that their
style is very different, I always thought Tolkien
was more of a storyteller and Martin more of a character developer. Tolkien’s
books are all about the story; they’re about the universe he’s created, the
past, the present, even the future. Martin takes character development to the
extreme. The most obvious indicator is that the books are written from about
nine different points of view at any one time. Additionally, each character is
very different. He writes a 10-year-old noble girl as well as he writes a 50
year old ex smuggler with two sons. Somehow he manages to represent the soul of
each character in a remarkably believable and subtle way. I’m not sure how he
does it, I can’t think of another author who does it as well.
A big theme in A Game of Thrones and A Clash
of Kings is the competing ides of
honor, bravery and strength. The fact that the books are written from so
many different points of view means that Martin is going to have a chance to
represent the ideals of all those characters. In this universe (kind of like
our medieval ages) honor is a very big deal. I’m very intrigued how each
character represents their idea of what it means in be brave and honorable. For
Arya strength means having the power to kill or elude people. She felt like a
mouse when she was trapped as a servant, but once she was able to choose three
people to kill she felt strong. Her sister Sansa, on the other hand, felt like
honor and bravery meant remembering her courtesies even when times got tough.
The castle was under siege, she was terrified, and still she was able to say
something polite to the Hound, even though she feared and disliked him. Tyrion
found his strength in being smarter than other people and controlling them
through that knowledge. Cersei used sex to control people, and valued beauty,
wealth and political power.
Another
big theme in the books was the duty
required to family. Tyrion Lannister would cover up any crime and support
any folly of his family for the simple reason that they were family and that’s
what you did. Yet he let his contempt for his family be very pain, and didn’t
feel the smallest bit of love for them (with the exception of Jaime). Bran
Stark, on the other hand, took enormous pride in being a Stark and believed he
was held to a higher standard of behavior because of his station. He loved his
family and missed them greatly when he was parted from them. It’s all these
different ideals that make A Game of
Thrones and A Clash of Kings.
One of the most interesting things
about George R.R. Martin’s books is the character he chooses to focus on. He writes from the point of view of
character who seem like they should almost be supporting characters instead of
main characters. For example, instead of writing from Jamie or Tywin’s point
of view he chose Tyroin. Tyroin is by far the most interesting and awesome of
the Lannisters, but he is not the obvious main character. Another example is
choosing to write from Bran’s point of view instead of Rob the heir. Another
example, to a lesser extent, is writing from Ned Stark instead of Robert
Baratheon. Martin very cleverly tells the story from the point of view from
people who are very interesting rather than the main characters. We actually
get a better view of the events because they are being told by less biased
characters. If the story was told from Jaime’s point of view, for example, we
would think Cersei Lannister was pretty great (or at least really hot) instead
of the wack-a-doodle that she is.
The take-a-way message from this
long rambling post is that you should read the books. They’re awesome.
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