PerpetualIntern’s #CBR4 Review #01: Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
I felt like I was late to the game when it came to this book. My friends had read the series and highly recommended it and I was just coming off a Hunger Games high, so I picked up Game of Thrones. And then promptly put it down. Then picked it up again. For the first 300 pages, I struggled. I struggled with characters I didn’t care for and grotesque violence. Then just as I started to care for a character (person or otherwise), Martin seemed to know and would kill him or her off. This cycle continued until one day I realized I couldn’t put it down.
The synopsis has been written by so many different people, I’m not sure it really needs to be recapped. The book moves from character to character by chapter, introducing the reader to a few main characters who are all on separate sides of an impending war. It is a story of warring families fighting over the throne to the kingdom in a medieval landscape, where historically things seem to be accurate except that the seasons don’t change for hundreds of years, there are unknown creatures who may or may not be zombies, and dragon’s eggs are cherished possessions.
What Martin does well is make the reader believe in such a world. It is so absolute, so finely detailed, that very little is left to the imagination. I haven’t seen the HBO series yet, but there was so much good material to work with I hope that the show has brought his meticulously created world to life well. As eventually I grew more engrossed, I became invested in their characters and their fates. The strong women characters in particular are a pleasure to read. Dani, Arya, Sansa, Catelyn, and Cersei are the reason I will pick up the second book. However, the intense violence means I will take a break before I start A Clash of Kings.
I want to read this, but I just…I don’t know. I don’t know if I can handle it. :’D Let me rephrase. I want to read this, but probably only because I feel so behind everyone else, and that might not be the right reason.
That’s how I felt too. And I wanted to read it before watching the series. As I said, I liked it enough to pick up the second book, but I don’t see myself sticking around for all 5.