Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - A Game of Thrones

‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ is a deeply special series for a whole host of reasons, having helped shape the very landscape of modern fantasy for generations of readers.

The story is most-known, most-loved and most-reviled through its fault riddled HBO adaptation named after the first instalment in this series. But the adaptation is a pale, disfigured comparison to the source material.

In reality, George R. R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ is a sprawling, captivating high fantasy which follows a cast of deeply flawed, deeply compelling protagonists, antagonists and everything in-between. It is a story I have been wholly captivated and obsessed with for the better part of a decade.

As a teen, I would scour the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ wiki between seasons, reading through pages and pages of lore on the world that Martin had crafted, scribbling half-baked theories into a notebook — to the point where I’d read the books without ever actually reading them. This is now my second full read of the first instalment ‘A Game of Thrones’ — though I’ve periodically re-read chapters over the years — and god it is as good as I remembered, if not better.

In the battle for the throne, no one is safe, not even the virtuous ones; oftentimes the good and honourable men frequently suffer all the more. The sense of unpredictability and danger sparked from Martin’s freedom to hurt and kill off the crucial main characters in the series—after making his readers care for them—brings an intensity to the storytelling which is seldom found elsewhere.

The world-building in ‘A Game of Thrones’ is subtle in its beauty and its storytelling. With kernels of information drip-fed to the reader in an organic and captivating manner, the book so rarely dumps exposition onto the reader; and if/when it does, it is well earned. Mostly, the world is taught through the protagonist surviving it. The reader learns of Valyrian steel through the introduction of the ancestral greatsword Ice, they discover the ancient magic of the Stark’s blood through their connection with the direwolf pups and feel the loss of the dragons of old Valyria through Daenerys’ trauma.

It’s fascinating to me that readers talk about ‘A Game of Thrones’ is an anti-fantasy when it is one of the most complex and fascinating magical worlds one can read. It’s just subtle and clever in its storytelling. The magic is unfolding, awakening as the pages turn.

The prose is captivating in its simplicity and beauty. Never veering into overt purple prose, Martin’s skill with the written word is a beast to behold. There is a magic in the way he writes; how he effuses the simplest sentences with such poetry. There is a grandiose and majesty to paragraphs like: “As Daenerys Targaryen rose to her feet, her black hissed, pale smoke venting from its mouth and nostrils. The other two pulled away from her breasts and added their voices to the call, translucent wings unfolding and stirring the air, and for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons.” In such simple language, Martin leaves the reader with a sense of wonder that is almost heart-stopping.

Likewise, Martin utilities the tool of alternating perspectives perfectly. Oftentimes, an off-the-cuff comment from a side character in one chapter has the potential to resolve the conflict experienced by the protagonist of another — if only they had been there to hear it said. There are several instances of this occurring throughout the book, interweaving the plot lines of characters that are hundreds of miles from one another.

The characterisation is so strong with each perspective.

Stylistically, Martin’s prose and tone remains the same however he is able to invigorate each character with a distinct voice that makes it clear who the narrative is following. It’s hard not to become invested in the characters Martin has crafted here: even those which are deliberately unlikable are fascinatingly complex, making you root for them in spite of yourself. For me, the stand-out characters are Daenerys, Jon, Catelyn, Tyrion and Sansa. Not only does this book give a fascinating insight into their characters and their motivations, it shows just how clever, funny, cruel and kind all three are — the depth of which is lacking when it comes to their on-screen counterpoints. Personally, I am a Sansa apologist — that little girl can do no wrong.

There are definitely aspects of this series that I do feel are worthy of heavier critique. Oftentimes the ages of the characters feel uncomfortably off; Daenerys being no more than thirteen when she is sold to and impregnated by a thirty-something year old Drogo is uncomfortable at best and disturbing at worst. Likewise, the questionable objectification and sexualisation of young girls in the series is… weird. It’s weird. Unreliable narration and the in-world societal context aside, it doesn’t sit comfortably with me.While the narrative and author do critique this sexualisation in parts, this critique not always executed well and doesn’t necessarily justify its prevalence throughout the series.

While Martin’s portrayal of women and their suffering is not without flaw and can be, at times, gratuitous in nature for the most part he manages to depict female characters that are as nuanced as their male counterparts. Again, this is not without flaw. However, I disagree with the notion that Martin’s female characters are one-note or uninteresting. Rather, Martin has managed to craft female characters which encompass a breadth of strengths, weakness and motivations; creating a cast of multi-faced and flawed women. From Cersei and Catelyn; to Sansa and Arya; to Daenerys and Missendei — no two female characters are the same.

Although not perfect, ‘A Game of Thrones’ is considered one of modern fantasy’s best for a reason. George R. R. Martin is an expert at his craft and the world he has built is one that I have found myself revisiting year after year. With characters that have cemented themselves as among my all time favourites and a world whose mysteries are yet to unravel, it’s no wonder it has been a cornerstone of the genre for so long.

It was fantastic to revisit this book, it definitely won’t be the last time.

[Note: I read and rated this book sometime in 2018 - 2019 and gave it two stars. I do not stand by that rating. In fact, I’m pretty sure I was just being an edgy loser.]

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