To continue with my reading theme, I bring you my thoughts on A Game of Thrones, which I devoured like an enormous black forest gateaux with eton mess on the side. To whit - ravenously and with relish.
I feel the need to add a disclaimer - I have not seen the Sky series. I WANT to see the Sky series though. My only knowledge of it was that the illustrious Sean Bean was in it, so I spent a lot of time trying to guess which character he was and putting his head on different people. This made the whole reading process very incestuous ad most people of the right kind of age had the same face which - considering the lineages in this series - was not entirely inappropriate.
For years I've steered clear from any high fantasy beyond Terry Pratchett and the occasional teenage magician saga for fear of becoming a whole new level of geek. But I capitulated this Christmas and, having heard some good things about the Song of Ice and Fire series, I decided to give it a whirl.
Anyway, enough waffle. Let's talk story.
Family Stark are the oh-so-serious lords of the north, whose leader, Eddard, helped put the current king on the throne. However, when the King asks him to come help out with southern political machinations, his family is torn apart because he's just not devious enough. His heir is left behind to protect the keep, another is sent north to guard the frontier between civilised lands and the supernatural border, his daughters join him to learn the ways of the court and his wife sets off on her own mission of revenge. War happens. It's awesome. You may have noticed, I rather loved this book. The scope of the storyline is absolutely vast and the world in which it's set minutely realised. The shifting perspectives every chapter means I get to see the war from (almost) every side - I love the fact that I've ended up caring about certain baddies even when I'm rooting for the goodies.
The lore is immersive - I want to know what the warrior princess Nymeria did that impressed Eddard's youngest daughter so much. There are rumours and remnants of long-gone elves and dragons, and at least three fully realised religions/cultures, with other bits on the side.
In short, I loved it. I wish they hadn't killed certain characters off, and both sorry and excited that the next book should delve deeper into the supernatural (I liked the sense of mystery), but I finished it on the train into work today, and you can be damned sure that I'll be buying the next instalment on the way home.
Three other books on my 'need to read' list
- You can't read this book, Nick Cohen
- Room, Emily Donohue
- Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
No comments:
Post a Comment