Good God! A TV Show…

Button fiddling

Long, long time ago, when the grass was greener and the sky a deeper shade of blue, I was naive enough to believe that there was no better epic fantasy than Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

Somewhere in the gap between n^th and (n+1)^th book I grew bored and decided to look for new options. Immediately A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin caught my attention.

Several reviews praised it to the stars yet also mentioned that no other author was so prone to crippling and murdering his characters like Martin. I knew how attached I might become to the characters so the doubts lingered. Then at some point I decided to give it a shot.

Prelude

ASoIaF is not just a book. Every book is a story but this one is a Story. As much as I respect Martin for that one, the discover of his earlier books (Sci-Fi of luscious-ladies-in-tight-outfits-with-laser-guns type) would never make me look in the direction of his work again. So I believe that this is a case of those sparkles of inspiration that simply have to find its way into somebody’s mind.

Dragons and magic (thank God, no elves!) might attract you to this story if you’re into that stuff, but they have been playing a somewhat desaturated role so far. When I read it first, I found it very refreshing that the amount of magic was cut down to premonitions, dreams and old stories.

The story is set in kingdom of Westeros, what immediately manifests as Europe of Dark Ages: knights in shiny heavy bloodstained armour, stench of war, deadly intrigues and poisonings, bastards, trueborns, lordlings and matters of inheritance.

Key figures, families of Starks and Lannisters are the easiest allusion of all, the War of Roses. The plot follows the fall of Stark family to the hands of Lannisters and their underlings, the civil war tearing the realm apart and the wild tribes stirring at the border. Among other things the surviving child of the previous dynasty is sold to the great clan leader in the Far East.

Other hints are not so eager to be spotted. I have a reason to believe, for example, that the world of Westeros will never see its Genghis Khan

Intercourse

One of the most appealing and wonderfully done feats of the book that truly sets it apart is the way of narrative: each chapter is told from the point of view of another character, sometimes, the “good” guy, sometimes, the “bad”, never judging and never failing to underline that the world is not black and white but the shades of gray.

Besides making it more subjective and objective at the same time, this way of storytelling truly connects you to the characters.

I’m an escapist, what I demand from a book is to take me away, to make come to life in my head, and this is the greatest magic Martin could have possibly invoked. The characters live and breath with you, and you laugh/suffer/love/hate/die with them.

Each chapter is told in the unique voice, even the choice of words used is often specific to the character.

The atmosphere is terrific. Descriptions of balls and battles, knights’ armour and kitchen utensils, sophisticated outfits and meals are very graphic and sound very authentic to what I have read about that era. You can almost smell the scented oils or rotting flesh.

Getting back to magic, it seems to be on the same level that was believed in those times: witches, martyrs, stories of dragons and creatures of the night. The news never travel fast, gossips arising from the news are wildly out of proportion which makes it strike even closer to home.

There are layers and layers and layers of subplots, e.g. the religious confrontation: old pagan gods, the Christian-like seven-faced god and more harsh and strict concept of Red God of Light.

Underneath it all it is an apocalyptic story of the world on the verge of catastrophe: the long winter is coming, the comet paints the skies crimson and long forgotten evil is awakening from its several thousand years slumber. And people are still playing their little games, fighting their petty wars, and that is another ‘so true’ point.

Climax

I could talk about this book for ages. I have read the whole series twice already and I’m sure it’s not going to stop there. Four books have been published to the date. I was lucky to have started reading when there were three already or I could have gone mad.

A cigarette after

Funny thing: first time I was reading the books in Russian, and each book was divided in two parts and published that way. I managed to mistake the second book for first, thought it was author’s plot to immerse the reader in the thicket of the action explaining things in characters’ recollections. Imagine my surprise when the last book I had and started to read in high hopes of finding out what happened next (lots of cliffhangers) occurred to be the first!

I enjoyed the first book nevertheless, learning how it all began, and took a sort of pride in the fact that I rebuilt most of the events in my head. The fourth book came a year later and I devoured it in three days. It wasn’t what I expected but that’s the way of Martin.

Here are some final thoughts that might let you decide whether you wish to mess with ASoIaF:

1. It’s VERY LONG. War and Peace? Multiply by 2 and that sounds about right. For the books already written.
2. Yes, it’s far from being finished. The fifth book is on the way (and been there since 2005), and Martin said, he felt like seven books were enough to tell the whole story. If judged by the rate so far, it might as well take another 10 years.
3. It’s complicated: a whole another kind a pleasure was to pick up things only slightly hinted at and never stated for sure.
4. There are lots of characters, some major, hundreds of other people; historical figures are mentioned constantly. If your memory is good and enjoy puzzles of the kind, then it’s a good read.
5. This book will do things to your head. I keep catching myself speaking to the characters in my mind, even yelling at them and wishing to appear in the scene and kick some ass.

P.S.

Martin is a cruel author. Not only are the books gritty, the characters do really die (quite messy, I must say, especially the good guys) and his cliffhangers are just VIOLENT.

Here, look at the smirking face of this ruthless bastard and hate him as much as I do.

I LOVE you, Mr. Martin. Do publish The Dance with Dragons this year, PUH-LEEEAASE!