Aditya Shevade

A Game of Thrones

Tweet

Fantasy books have always fascinated me. I don’t know why, but it seems that I prefer the hypothetical magical worlds more exciting than the mundane real world. It’s one of the reasons that 60% of the books I read are from the fantasy genre (Something which is bound to change in days to come). Coming back to the topic of this post, A Game of Thrones, a book by George R R Martin depicting the fictional world set in the seven kingdoms and the struggle of the political and empirical powers to gain the upper hand and rule the realm. Winner of many fantasy book awards, this is the first book in the series A Song of Ice and Fire which sets the series up very nicely for the reader.

I have almost finished reading this book, only a final few pages remain. I could not stop myself from writing the review here. The main idea behind the book is more political as opposed to  the general fantasy adventure-ish storyline which again is based on the more common Tolkien style conflict between different races and the adventure uniting them stuff. This book is different. It circles around the lives of a few characters and is more plot driven than character driven.

The story of the book is quite a lot similar to medieval Europe. Except for a few mentions about magic and dragons, the book can pass as a history book of some celestial body far away in some galaxy. The book begins with King Robert Baratheon coming to his old friend Ned Stark, asking him to be the hand of king – the second most important position in the kingdom. 15 years before appointment of Ned as the hand, Robert and Ned had led an army killing, then the king of 7 Kingdoms, Rhaegar Targaryen and taking his place as the king. From here on, the book turns to how the lives of the Starks are affected by Ned’s appointment.

In the meanwhile, the last survivors of the house of the Targaryens are living  far away on an island and are planning to win the kingdom back. Then there’s  Mance Rayder who wants the kingdom as well. Defending the kingdom from Mance Rayder is the Wall. A really long, thick and tall wall separating Mance Rayder’s realm from the rest of the 7 kingdoms. Working on the Wall, defending the kingdom is Ned’s brother Benjan – The story is complex, and as I said, it’s neither solely plot driven or character driven. It’s a mix of the two and that is good.

So, in all, the book is a very exciting and an engaging work. True, the character development is not as close to what you might find in a Tolkien book, or even the fantasy aspect is not as exciting as some of Neil Gaiman’s works, but the plot is strong and the rest just fits properly into place and never feels underdone (or overdone for that matter).

I know this has not been a good review by my ‘usual’ standards but, I am trying to come back into rhythm after writing so many technical articles at a stretch. My Rating: I am yet to read the end, but up till now, 4.5/5.

EDIT: My friend mentioned that he thought the series is for kids. Believe me, this is not a book for kids. Plenty of violence, treachery, incestuous sex, brutal murders and graphic descriptions of the war. And some weirdness as well – like drinking horse blood. Definitely not for kids.