Well, since I review fanfics in here, I may as well extend the same courtesy - if you can call my rambling reviews a courtesy - to published novels. So, because I just finished A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, that's gonna be the one I talk about. I'll try to refrain from spoilers, though I don't promise that more minor ones won't slip through the cracks.
I'm picky about the fantasy books I read. I've picked up too many books and started reading them only to find the characters annoying and shallow, their concerns nothing like mine would be if I were placed in a life-or-death situation with a prophecy of my own doom hovering over my head like the blade of a guillotine. The writing in many fantasy novels is just as formulaic as romance novels, and that's why I have a hard time going to the library, picking something up, and getting deeply involved in a series. A Game of Thrones is part of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, which is so far four books long, as far as Amazon and Google have told me, and supposed to be seven books at its completion. But that's not really the point.
As I haven't read anything but the first book of the series, I can only tell you what I want to happen - but Martin is spectacular at turning what you want to happen on its head, and the characters suffer hideously not only for their mistakes and misjudgments, but for being in the wrong place at the wrong point in history. Some of the characters who suffer most are entirely innocent of anything except being born to what turns out to be the wrong family. Of the viewpoint characters, I think those who suffer simply for their family name are Danaerys, Bran, and Jon, though one could argue that Tyrion suffers because of the expectations and schemes attached to his family. It probably doesn't help to blather about who does what without a brief introduction of the viewpoint characters, so here:
Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell in the north, is an honorable, intelligent man who helped the current king gain his crown from the previous dynasty.
Catelyn Stark, Lady of Winterfell, is Ned's wife, who seeks only to protect her children but is learning that they must protect themselves.
Jon Snow, Ned's bastard son with Ned's honorable outlook, lives with the Starks but feels cast out from the family because of his heritage.
Bran Stark, second of Ned and Cat's three sons, is an active boy, lively and friendly. He is always exploring and getting into trouble.
Sansa Stark, eldest of Ned and Cat's two daughters, is a well-behaved, ladylike girl who loves stories and wants hers to have a happy ending.
Arya Stark, second of the Stark girls, goes against the grain of femininity by practicing swordplay with boys; she has a fierce temper.
Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf called "the Imp" who comes from a family of beautiful, crafty people - but he's no less crafty despite his looks.
Danaerys Targaryen, last of the previous dynasty, and at first timid, she is slowly coming into her own despite - or because of - her impending marriage.
I think you'll be able to tell who my favorite characters are through my review, so...I won't talk about that yet.
The plot is, I've heard, based off the Wars of the Roses in England, and it is an equally bloody conflict that faces Westeros in A Game of Thrones. At first, as we're meeting the viewpoint characters one by one, we're introduced to the problem: the current king holds power only because he threw down the previous dynasty, with the help of a man known as the Kingslayer for his role in destroying the last monarch of the land. However, the capital city is teeming with plots against the king, and those who are just biding their time to strike out at him and place their own candidates on the throne. For his part, King Robert is almost pitifully oblivious to the danger, even when his Hand dies under - shall we say, mysterious circumstances. From the outset, it's clear he's in a pit of vipers just as Eddard, called Ned, is not going to be able to remain isolated in the north for long. See, in this world, some magical intervention has lengthened the seasons so that if you get, say, nine years of summer, you may face decades of winter, and so on. The novel begins in the middle of a long summer, nearly a decade long, and the younger characters have never experienced winter in Westeros.
That's kind of the basic setup for what happens in the novel. But I'm not gonna summarize much else except as needed, or I'll try not to.
Martin is brilliant not only for the way he punishes and kills his darlings, but for the way he depicts humans and their motives. Some, like Sansa, may have pure intentions that wind up tangling around other people until she truly does pave the road to hell. As she is told at about the middle of the book, "Life is not a song," but she doesn't learn that till it's too late. A lot of the characters, even the cynics and pragmatists, learn that their good intentions and clever ideas will come to naught, or have brought a rain of death and pain down upon them and those they love. Nobody is safe. Normally, that would bother me; I can tell you right now that by the time I was to page two hundred-something, I had cried three times. By the end, I lost track. (One of the most painful chapters for me came at the end, but it's a huge spoiler so I won't tell you why it was so awfully sad for me.) Knowing that no one is safe, as you get to know the characters, you start rooting for them and screaming, "No, don't do that!" as you read. It makes A Game of Thrones incredibly compelling.
Humans in A Game of Thrones are flawed. Mortally so, and I use "mortally" to mean that their flaws often lead to their demises. One wrong step, one ill-conceived plan from a green commander in battle, and he loses half his men or worse. Too many times displaying wilfulness and disobedience, and it's going to land you in a heap of trouble with no doors out. And it's not just inherent flaws - it's each character's actions. If a character insists upon saving his family, it seems as if it will eventually come at the price of his own life. If a character tries to step in and stop the violence, that character will be a victim of violence. It never really seems to end. The violence continues to pile up and stack higher and higher as the story progresses. This is only the first book, too. And I'm sure there will be moments in the coming books when I have to set the book down and walk away for a while. That doesn't mean the book is bad, or Martin's writing isn't up to par.
It means that Martin is extremely clever and realistic, and that he's a great writer. He knows what will pluck at our heartstrings, but he also knows what would really happen in a situation. There are moments during which every single character does something so detestable that we have to sit back and wonder why we were rooting for them, but I think every single person in your life will at some point do something, or have done something, that rendered them imperfect or outright unlikable. After they redeem themselves, I realized why I liked that character so much. One example is toward the end, when a character does something so foolish that I burst into tears before she even got her comeuppance. I wanted to strangle her, but I couldn't stop reading even though her blind naivéte was breaking my heart and wrecking her life. After she rose from the ashes of the mess she made, I liked her even more because she was stronger and she revealed that all her growing bravado wasn't for nothing. This is a character who has suffered, but she doesn't cry and angst and throw a fit. The same goes for the other characters. Jon, who as a bastard has a lot to angst about when his entire society looks down on him for not being trueborn, doesn't go about decrying his terrible fate and condemning his father for in turn, condemning Jon. He shuts up and deals with it as he has to, though he does have moments during which he wonders why this had to happen to him, and why he can't be with the people he sees as his family, as he so obviously wants to be.
The situation, too, is fascinating. Rather than a few dopey nobles plotting against the king, being easily caught and uprooted by a brilliant protagonist, there is real danger. King Robert's obliviousness will soon cost him, as I noticed while reading Ned's chapters. The plots are real, and the schemes are deadly. The stakes are high. In some cases, they're too high for anybody to escape unharmed. People respond well to money and sex as bribes, as they do in real life, and those who try to speak up are silenced - permanently, if need be. Glory and glamour are an illusion, and not just because a beautiful princess is being abused behind the scenes or forced to wear a dress (oh, horror of horrors - insert eye-rolling here), but because people are about to die.
The Stark family's words are Winter is coming, and I think that's a good summation of A Game of Thrones: it's only the first part of a confict into which all our characters have entered for the long haul. As one character notes around the middle of the book, "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die." Lots of people die. But who wins? Find out in the next exciting episode of Dragonball Z A Song of Ice and Fire!
I really should get something to eat for lunch before Mandy comes over, or I go over there. We're gonna try to post some progress pics in
ellipsiscosplay before the night is over, so Ellipsis members, keep watch over there! ♥
"There is a still higher school for him who would kindle his fire with coal from the altar of the loftiest and purest art. It is the school of all grand actions and grand virtues, of heroism, of the death of patriots and martyrs - of all the mighty deeds written in the pages of history - deeds of daring, and enthusiasm, devotion, and fortitude."