A Game of Thrones Review

I rated this: four out of five stars

So many people before me have loved the Song of Ice and Fire novels. A Game of Thrones is the first book in the series, written by George R.R. Martin. It follows the twisted paths of the Starks, of the Lannisters, of the Baratheon king, of the once-royal Targaryen siblings, and of the castle politics that swallow all of them. There is death and life, destruction and change, hope and fear. Often I had no idea where the plot was going, and that’s what I loved most about it. It wasn’t a lost blindness but rather a charge forward at full speed. Usually.

The world itself is incredibly rich. It feels like another existence. The main setting is the Seven Kingdoms, of which Robert Baratheon rules from his castle in King’s Landing. The story starts when Robert asks Eddard “Ned” Stark, his old friend and former ally against the royal “dragons” of the Targaryen line Robert deposed from the throne, to become the new Hand of the King. The former, Lord Jon Arryn, the man who was both Robert and Ned’s ward when they were younger, was recently deceased. But there were suspicious circumstances. Ned wants nothing more than to stay north in his cold Winterfell, but Robert, being king, insists. His Lannister wife, Cersei, and their three children go to Winterfell to see Ned. However, the Lannisters and the Starks don’t get along — and for good reason.

From there, the plot propels forward as Ned and his family are thrust further into the game of thrones than they cared for.

However, the plot also follows the last surviving Targaryens, Viserys and Daenerys. They managed to escape their family’s destruction. Viserys constantly plots to uproot the Usurper Baratheon from the Iron Throne. But they are far away to the east, where the barbarian Dorhtraki have the greatest power outside of the Free Cities (of which you see very little until later books, or so I’m told). Viserys sells Daenerys to Khal Drogo in exchange for the Hun-like horseman’s khalasar — fourty thousand men strong. Viserys plans to use these men to take the throne back. But all doesn’t go as planned, and the perspective is from Daenerys’s point of view.

Personally, my favorite characters were the Imp — witty dwarf Tyrion Lannister — and Daenerys. Both seemed to have the best, most complex personalities. Daenerys in particular made me want to root for her the entire way.

I give this novel a four out of five stars for plot and character as well as long term scope. You can tell this world is going to be massive and the conflict even grander. It keeps you hooked, especially as each snippet is told in a linear way from various perspectives, including Bran Stark (Ned’s son), Catelyn Stark (Ned’s wife), Daenerys, Jon Snow (Ned’s bastard son), Tyrion Lannister, Arya Stark (Ned’s youngest daughter), and Sansa Stark (Ned’s other daughter), and Ned himself.

But therein lies the novel’s greatest problem. How many characters is that? Seven? Eight? Sometimes George R.R. Martin will end a chapter at a cliffhanger and go on from another character’s perspective, then go on to yet another chapter from yet another character’s perspective. Finally, three chapters later, the conflict is resumed, usually some days later. Sometimes I found this annoying. I wanted to see some resolution or action in various places where it was denied, and that detracted from the overall experience. It created a very choppy pace at times, and the head-hopping could be a little disorienting, which caused the pace to slow.

Still, in the scheme of things, that issue is a crack in an otherwise grand masterpiece. While the crack can be jarring, the overall mastery of the story can’t be ignored, especially in the final chapter. But that could just be because I like Daenerys. Either way, I want to know what happens to her and the others. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in a “castle politics” sort of epic fantasy.