Hello,
My name is Doug and I'm doing this book report for my mom. Yes, I'm thirty and yes I live with my mother. She's making me do this because she says I "don't use my noggin enough." Well, mom, here you go you old hag. Don't worry. She knows I call her that.
To the report! (Also, mom, I didn't vacuum the dining room because I WAS TOO BUSY DOING THIS BOOK REPORT. So don't make me feed the dogs. Please.)
To the report!
Game of Thrones, the first book in George R.R. Martin's series A Song of Ice and Fire is the only thousand page tome you'll ever read more than twice. Of course this comes with the assumption that you are a literate human being and like it when words put in a certain order make you feel funny inside. I assume this for the sake of this report/review thing my mom is making me write.
So I'll start this book report by telling you to watch the HBO television show first. Whaaaat?! Yes, watch the first season of Game of Thrones on HBO before you delve into this book. I know it goes against the cultural acceptance among readers of literature (said in snobby British accent) but this is my suggestion. It's my suggestion because George R.R. Martin drops a lot of names and nicknames and titles and not so nice nicknames for just about every character in the story. Except Hodor. Hodor is Hodor. Anyway, I've recommended this book to many people and the next time I saw them they hadn't read past the first few chapters. When I asked why they were having trouble getting into the book the main complaint was they had no idea who was who. The television show allows you to put a face to a character and they cut out a lot of name drops so it's easier to grasp. It's much more manageable when you go back to read it after the show because you already have names in your memory.
Now I know it's not the greatest way to convince people to read the books. "I'll just watch the show," you'd say. I'd say it's a great show go ahead. BUT you'd miss out on George's wonderful writing, and of course, the book is better as it always is in these cases.
I better get into some of the nitty gritty so mom doesn't make me do this over again. I can hear her now. "You just talked about the t.v. show. This isn't using your head. Try again or mow the lawn." I don't want to mow the lawn or anything so here we go:
George knows how to write a chapter. The thing that makes great novelists is their ability to write compelling chapters. Chapters with a beginning, middle, and cliffhanger. Take for instance one of Catelyn's early chapters from her point of view. Her chapter here starts with "We'll make King's Landing within the hour." This quote immediately throws the readers into the action. The dialogue forces the reader to think and scramble to catch up with the scene. Then we're caught up with her journey to find out who tried to murder her son. There is tension in the chapter as Catelyn gets enshrouded in a deeper mystery as she meets the dubious Littlefinger and secretive Lord Varys in King's Landing. Then there is the final cliffhanger with the reveal of who owns the dagger used in the attempted assassination of her son Bran Stark. The last words of this chapter "Tyrion Lannister." Most of the chapters end with a "OH SNAP" moment and that's good writing.
The chapters are all little short stories and George switches point of view for each chapter. This choice to switch characters is a technique that is needed in this type of epic and global story. Ending chapters with cliffhangers makes the reader groan knowing that they will have to read and reinvest in a whole new character and place, but it makes the reader read. It is a tool that ushers the reader to keep going and you'll be rewarded with more chapters or the continuation of the cliffhanger. It's like a t.v. show except you don't have to wait a week for a new episode. All you have to do is keep reading.
I will pause here to talk specifically to you, mom. I know, I know, I know you love your karaoke machine, but for god's sake why are you using it now? It's ten in the morning. If this report isn't up to your standards then it's your fault. Your version of Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" makes me want to kill myself. Maybe I'll turn this book report into a suicide note saying "You sound like a pig squealing for slop. With love from your son, Doug."
Finally. It's over. O.k. back to Game of Thrones. While you're reading George's great writing he is training you. It's true. Great authors teach you how to read their writing. Here's what I mean: Every author has a different style and the ones that engage a reader are the ones that, from the first lines, are teaching you how to read it. Take Tolkien for instance if we're on the fantasy genre. The prose style is significantly more proper and regal than George's prose. Not to say one's better, but each style is different and from the start you are trained to read Tolkien's story in Tolkien's style. Same for George. Each style is different, yet they both engage the reader. It's their uniqueness. They are masters of the craft of writing and they can grip you within the first lines and train you to read them at the same time.
Since I'm talking about Tolkien I might as well mention he basically created the fantasy genre or pushed it into popular culture. So many bookshelves are lined with Tolkien imitators and almost plagiarists that the genre has become a joke. Tell your lit professor you want to write a paper on a fantasy novel. He or she will laugh and say kill yourself. Ask them why there isn't any fantasy on the syllabus. They'll say because it isn't literature. It's no better than Romance novels. (I don't care if you like them mom. They're all formulaic garbage that anyone can write. I just haven't written one because YOU MAKE ME DO ALL THESE DUMB BOOK REPORTS.) Fantasy, like romance, crime, erotica, and even teen fiction are all genres that are subject to the "formula" tag. What it means is that it's a cliched genre. Fantasy is evil dark lord vs. young good-to-a-fault hero. It's cliche because it's good. People love that stuff. Who doesn't like it? But that's been done and done and done. Seriously, go to a book store find the fantasy shelf and you'll find exactly what I've talked about. Black and white characters.
Here's what George R.R. Martin does that's different. George does what literature does, or attempts to do. He makes grey characters. Grey characters are real people not the fantastical evil-just-because dark lord. Everyone is a human and has faults. Let's use Cersei as an example. Cersei Lannister is one of the most despicable people in the story. She's abused by her husband. Her one motivation in life is her children. This is a real human. There is no dark lord. She serves herself and her children. She protects her children and herself by having a hand in the death of her husband King Baratheon. She is fueled by reasonable and realistic human desires. Yeah, she is a bitch about how she goes about it, but you can't say you wouldn't want to protect your children. Sometimes I wish my mom cared about me that much.
This different shade of character instead of the same old black and white, good and evil, characters breaks the genre cliche. This and the lack of magic. Let me show you what a lot of fantasy is like: Magic, Magic, Magic, Magic, Magic, Magic, Magic, Character development through magic, Exposition through magic, and magic.
Now this isn't always the case and neither is it always bad to have a lot of magic in your story, but there can be too much of a good thing. Often times the fantasy genre indulges in the "Oh it's magical" trope. Nobody has any responsibility. It's magic it can fix anything. Too much magic diffuses the tension in a story. Writers use it as a crutch. George uses a crutch to beat back magic when it enters his story. His use of magic is subtle.
Example. Dragons, magical creatures, are a distant memory in the setting of Game of Thrones. They are like dinosaurs. Only their bones remain and those are kept in the dark dungeons so as to not remind King Baratheon of them. It's a fresh take on the usage of dragons in fantasy. Usually dragons are you know, hoarding gold like my mom hoards all her money. I mean all I need is a few hundred dollars and then I can get my own computer so we don't have to share this crappy laptop. Just saying. And I know what you're going to say so let me say this: I would get a job if I DIDN'T HAVE TO DO ALL THESE BOOK REPORTS!
There are hints of magic throughout the whole story. Bran's abilities with his dreams that can be explained away as "just dreams" or Varys' ability to know almost anything. But these are all subtle. You have Varys always saying he has informants everywhere, but there is still the little hint that he may know stuff because he has magical abilities. It's just never said out right that he's magic.
Then you have Daenerys. Dany for short. What happens to Dany doesn't come easily. Her one magic moment comes with great cost. And it takes place at the very end of the story. The whole story builds up to it. It's a subtle build up to a very costly magical experience. It's also a great cliffhanger ending.
Finally, (oh I know, mom) the last and possibly the most important reason I'd like to mention about why I think you'll re-re-read this thousand page book is the mystery. All great fiction is some sort of mystery fiction. Mystery's are what keeps the reader reading. The author has set up a burning question that the reader needs to know. Google Game of Thrones theories and you'll have pages and pages of links to pages and pages of novel length crackpot theories. My personal theory is my mom hates me and that's why she makes me do these book reports nobody cares about.
Part of the reason these theories are so prolific is the fact that the series is still unfinished. But the fact that George has so many questions that need answering is a testament to his storytelling. Questions like: What caused the Doom of Valyria? What happened to the Children of the Forest? Who are the Others and what do they want? Why is Hodor named Hodor and why is that the only word he can say?
The fun part about all these questions is that at times we get contradicting or incomplete answers to them from different sources in the story. We have all these different point of view chapters and opinions on what really happened in certain points of the story that it comes down to the reader. The reader is left to make the assumption. It's just like history. I mean who shot JFK? Depends on who you ask, right? Mom says JFK is still alive. This is the true genius of George. He builds worlds with mystery's that are sustained and built upon within the world. It creates a sense of history that layers the world of Westeros even deeper in realism than the billions of characters he's put in it or the delicate descriptions of the terrain or food ever could. He loves to mention what people are eating by the way.
So that's all I have to say on Game of Thrones. I hope mom doesn't make me do another one of these, but I might have to if she threatens to make me do laundry for a week if I "don't use my noggin." Who says that anyway? Noggin? Old hags do, that's who.
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