The Trouble with Fantasy, George R.R. Martin’s “A Game of Thrones”

There are a lot of fantasy fans on both sides of this fence.  They either really love this series or hate it.  All you have to do is look at the comment fights going on in any highly ranked review of these books to figure that out.  Now, many of these reviews are valid, many are written by fans jumping on the “game of thrones” popularity train, and some are by fantasy fans who (for lack of a better term I’m stealing one The Literary Man did a blog post about) have decided that George R.R. Martin is their writer-nemesis.

I don’t think the Song of Ice and Fire series is groundbreaking.  It will not change the fantasy genre as we know it and start a legacy of new, better, more engaging fantasy books.  Nor is it filth not worthy to lick the blood off Elric’s soul stealing sword.  It’s the first book in a series of epic-length fantasy novels (like so many other fantasy serieses out there) and that’s how I plan on reviewing it.  As a book.  Because it is a book.  (See how easy it is to state the obvious?)

In the North winter is coming, regardless of how long the summer has lasted, and the Starks (the lords in the north) are preparing for it because that’s what they do.  It’s even their house motto.  The South, however, has long forgotten about how bad winter can be and instead of worrying about the possibility of undead killers rising out of the snow “behind the wall” and attacking them in a war they’re obviously not prepared for, they’re worried about which royal family has the right to the iron throne.  As you can expect a lot of political intrigue ensues: who killed who, who is plotting revenge, who may be trying to poison your food, who slept with who, and which bastard is which.  Tie that all together with some decently written battle scenes and an (in some cases) overabundance of sex, rape, and incest and Martin has written a fantasy novel that has currently sky-rocketed to serial success.

There are a few things I don’t like about this book.  The first being rape.  I understand and willingly acknowledge rape has its place in literature, but only if it is done well and for a purpose.  Otherwise it’s out of place and insensitive.  Martin toes the line pretty closely, but nothing in his novel has crossed it to the point of me feeling I have to put the book down.  And don’t make the mistake of confusing the book for the HBO series.  Yes, the novel has lots of nudity and sex, but it’s not quite the flesh fest HBO makes it out to be, so if you’re concerned to pick up the book after watching seasons 1-2 don’t be afraid you’ve already seen the worst.  Some of the characters seem a bit stereotypical. But I try to forgive because in fantasy that sometimes can’t be helped.  You always have your wise wizard/scholar/maester character that tries to speak wisdom when it’s not wanted, or your witch-crone that you think is on your side but turns against you.  It’s fantasy.  Doing something 100% original is practically impossible.

Issues aside there were things I loved about this book.  Tyrion Lannister is a refreshing take on the “loud mouth dwarf who drinks a lot and sleeps around comic relief” character and by the end of the book was one of my favorites.  The Stark family wolves were endearing (being the owner of a large and possibly vicious dog myself I couldn’t help but fall in love) as was the Stark family.  And Dani Targaryen quickly become my heroine favorite although closely in competition with Sansa Stark.  The brothers at the wall adds another layer to this story and I always enjoyed when the narration switched to Jon Snow, I felt like I got a purer adventure story there than elsewhere in the story and I’m looking forward to seeing it progress in the later books.

*this is the cover my copy has, in case you were curious*

Now, in case you couldn’t tell by the nature of this review, there is a lot going on in this book.  There are characters to remember, houses to keep straight, and about four different novels going on at once.  Such is the nature of the epic fantasy.  Be prepared if you’re picking this book up for the first time, you’ll be confused for a while.

But once I figured out the names, started following the plots, and assigned my allegiance for the battles I really enjoyed this book.  It’s fun, fast paced (the majority of the time), and creative in the sense Martin creates a world you can lose yourself in.  It’s a series that’s well worth the effort (I enjoyed the tv series as well but I’ll try to keep this a strictly book review).  Now, if you’re jumping on the “Game of Thrones” bandwagon just because it’s popular and you want something to talk about with your co-workers but have never loved fantasy ever in your life this is not the book for you unless you’re seriously willing to give genre-fantasy a shot.  It’s a great genre, but a little long-winded and overly complicated for those not willing to invest.  If you’re an epic-fantasy fan (and while I might not be as up-to-date or informed as I used to be I have written several papers over the Silmarillion and creation of Middle Earth so I’m not ignorant) don’t just hate the series because of the hype.

The reason fantasy fans love fantasy (or at least the reason this fantasy fan does) is because it gives the reader a chance to be transported into a new world.  You can get lost there.  You don’t just fall in love with the characters you become them.  You forget about reality and embrace the impossible and the magical.  I felt all these things while reading “Game of Thrones” and can’t wait to pick up book 2 and lose myself all over again.