A GAME OF THRONES review by KeLP
As for A Game of Thrones ... after I said it was getting better, I almost quit it. But I finished it, and have been analyzing why it was so irritating to me.
Let me say again, the writing is excellent in style and readability, so I'm not knocking the author on those counts. But after over 800 pages, I still don't know what the novels are about, really.
Sometimes I want to accuse George R. R. Martin of being unfair to his readers. But I've come to think more that he sees Fantasy fiction as too Heroic and needing more of a Mainstream ambience, and maybe that works for many of his readers. And if so, the constant change of protagonist (every chapter being from another viewpoint) and "surprises" may be suspenseful.
But it lacks, so far, the Fantasy in Fantasy fiction, at least for me. Or suffers from Silent Running syndrome: it holds up until analyzed, then falls apart.
The Prologue starts with three characters, introduces the Others (the undead?), and promptly kills off two. Then in the first chapter, that character is beheaded for desertion with no evidence that he deserted or would have deserted, and no explanation of what he said in his defense and how the tale was received and why, etc. First unbelievable action.
The protagonists find the Direwolves, two female and three male, one for each of Eddard's children with the extra portent of his symbol being the wolf. Yet one is killed, one driven off, and the remainders treated as large dogs. A hint of Fantasy, and he draws away from it.
Bran overhears the Queen and her Brother plotting. Southerns having come just days ago to a very COLD climate where the Lord's Southern wife of 15 or more years can barely stand the temperature, and they are engaging in naked sex with the window open? That Greek Dog strikes again! Unbelievable. It wasn't totally gratuitous, for it introduced the incest that figures in the main story, but he could have handled it much better.
Bran becomes a paraplegic, and while in a coma dreams of things happening that no-one at the castle would have known. Does the clairvoyance continue? No, unless you include a dream he shared with his younger brother, but then why do they both gain the power? No, again he hints at Fantasy and draws away.
The Dorthraki have a marriage party and 8 are killed in brawls that no-one interferes in. Reminded me of the Italian Sci-Fi movies with the bands of humans dedicated to destroying humanity. Self-destruction is not a part of any culture I'm aware of. A warrior culture that kills off its warriors? Not believable.
Then it got better. I could empathize with the characters some, and the political machinations were absorbing.
Eddard is deposed as Hand of the King and offered life on the Wall if he confesses falsely to treason. The Master at the Wall hints to Jon Snow that Eddard will choose this course. Then the author has Eddard beheaded!
Treason indeed, to the reader! Martin set the stage for one thing, and had the other occur: for the shock value, or why? Bad enough, but the same chapter ends with Arya grabbed by a character that should not have been there, again at a That Greek Dog time. I said at this point, enough!
I relented and finished it. The hatching of the dragons was expected, mostly, but he'd hinted twice at it earlier and so if it had not occurred I'd not been surprised, either.
So I ask, Where is the Fantasy? The Others could as well have been just large, strong fighters, for as little interest as the characters show in them. The direwolves are large dogs. Fate is brought in when wanted, and dropped out at the author's whim when not; it seems not to be active, and Fate is a large part of most Fantasy tales. Even the hatching of the dragons, could have been parakeets for all it matters so far.
If this is a political series, then the Others and the dragons and the hints at clairvoyance could as well have been dropped. If it is a tale about the return of the Others and dragons, this whole novel should have been made a 5 page prologue or the history brought out as needed.
Or I miss the point of it. I don't know. But I expect a Fantasy novel to have Magic and maybe a defined Quest or Purpose. One more point, not meant disparagingly. George R. R. Martin, according to the bio in the book, was once a writer for TV. He may have gotten the style of separate chapters-separate character viewpoints from that, and it works. But the book/TV series it most reminds me of is Shogun, set in a Fantasy land.
Am I overcritical? Probably.
As for A Game of Thrones ... after I said it was getting better, I almost quit it. But I finished it, and have been analyzing why it was so irritating to me.
Let me say again, the writing is excellent in style and readability, so I'm not knocking the author on those counts. But after over 800 pages, I still don't know what the novels are about, really.
Sometimes I want to accuse George R. R. Martin of being unfair to his readers. But I've come to think more that he sees Fantasy fiction as too Heroic and needing more of a Mainstream ambience, and maybe that works for many of his readers. And if so, the constant change of protagonist (every chapter being from another viewpoint) and "surprises" may be suspenseful.
But it lacks, so far, the Fantasy in Fantasy fiction, at least for me. Or suffers from Silent Running syndrome: it holds up until analyzed, then falls apart.
The Prologue starts with three characters, introduces the Others (the undead?), and promptly kills off two. Then in the first chapter, that character is beheaded for desertion with no evidence that he deserted or would have deserted, and no explanation of what he said in his defense and how the tale was received and why, etc. First unbelievable action.
The protagonists find the Direwolves, two female and three male, one for each of Eddard's children with the extra portent of his symbol being the wolf. Yet one is killed, one driven off, and the remainders treated as large dogs. A hint of Fantasy, and he draws away from it.
Bran overhears the Queen and her Brother plotting. Southerns having come just days ago to a very COLD climate where the Lord's Southern wife of 15 or more years can barely stand the temperature, and they are engaging in naked sex with the window open? That Greek Dog strikes again! Unbelievable. It wasn't totally gratuitous, for it introduced the incest that figures in the main story, but he could have handled it much better.
Bran becomes a paraplegic, and while in a coma dreams of things happening that no-one at the castle would have known. Does the clairvoyance continue? No, unless you include a dream he shared with his younger brother, but then why do they both gain the power? No, again he hints at Fantasy and draws away.
The Dorthraki have a marriage party and 8 are killed in brawls that no-one interferes in. Reminded me of the Italian Sci-Fi movies with the bands of humans dedicated to destroying humanity. Self-destruction is not a part of any culture I'm aware of. A warrior culture that kills off its warriors? Not believable.
Then it got better. I could empathize with the characters some, and the political machinations were absorbing.
Eddard is deposed as Hand of the King and offered life on the Wall if he confesses falsely to treason. The Master at the Wall hints to Jon Snow that Eddard will choose this course. Then the author has Eddard beheaded!
Treason indeed, to the reader! Martin set the stage for one thing, and had the other occur: for the shock value, or why? Bad enough, but the same chapter ends with Arya grabbed by a character that should not have been there, again at a That Greek Dog time. I said at this point, enough!
I relented and finished it. The hatching of the dragons was expected, mostly, but he'd hinted twice at it earlier and so if it had not occurred I'd not been surprised, either.
So I ask, Where is the Fantasy? The Others could as well have been just large, strong fighters, for as little interest as the characters show in them. The direwolves are large dogs. Fate is brought in when wanted, and dropped out at the author's whim when not; it seems not to be active, and Fate is a large part of most Fantasy tales. Even the hatching of the dragons, could have been parakeets for all it matters so far.
If this is a political series, then the Others and the dragons and the hints at clairvoyance could as well have been dropped. If it is a tale about the return of the Others and dragons, this whole novel should have been made a 5 page prologue or the history brought out as needed.
Or I miss the point of it. I don't know. But I expect a Fantasy novel to have Magic and maybe a defined Quest or Purpose. One more point, not meant disparagingly. George R. R. Martin, according to the bio in the book, was once a writer for TV. He may have gotten the style of separate chapters-separate character viewpoints from that, and it works. But the book/TV series it most reminds me of is Shogun, set in a Fantasy land.
Am I overcritical? Probably.