Book of the Week #2: A Game of Thrones

I've been a long-time watcher of the Game of Thrones series on HBO, and I was aware that they were based on some very lengthy and very detailed books. So, since the season ended a few weeks ago, and I'm dying for more, I decided to give the books a read. Perhaps not all at once, but before the next season.

The series overall is called A Song of Ice and Fire, of which A Game of Thrones is the first installment. It covers three plotlines simultaneously, from different viewpoints.

The first plot line is that of Eddard Stark and his family. Stark is the Lord of Winterfell, with six children, one of them illegitimate. The "hand of the king", or the king's chief advisor, Jon Arryn, who is also his wife's brother in law, has recently died under mysterious circumstances. Because his best friend, Robert Barratheon, is the king, he is offered the position of Hand now that Jon is dead. He doesn’t really want to be the Hand, but Robert suggests a match between his son and Eddard’s eldest daughter, Sansa, so Eddard reluctantly accepts. The King is married to this woman who is nothing short of evil, Cersei Lannister. The Lannisters are an old, rich family that definitely has a few screws loose. My personal favorite is Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf who is clever and has some great dialogue. Due to a not-so-accidental accident, one of Eddard’s sons is paralyzed, and his wife believes it was Tyrion, so a great struggle between the Lannisters and the Starks ensues, while Eddard is trying to hold down the fort in the capital city of Kings Landing. Towards the end of the book, the King suddenly dies, and there is a large contest over who is the rightful heir. Not everyone gets out alive. 

The second plot line is that of the Wall. The Wall shields the southern kingdoms from the untamed northern lands, where it is always winter. The men, who work on the Wall, called the Night’s Watch, wear only black, serve on the wall for life, and are celibate. Eddard Stark’s illegitimate son, Jon Snow, is inspired by the idea that even a bastard can become a man of note on the Wall, so he joins the Night’s Watch. This plotline is his adventures adapting to life in the night’s watch, including battling some reanimated corpses and such. The major component of this story is Jon learning his place in the world.

The third plotline is my favorite. Across the sea, the last members of the Targaryen dynasty live: Viserys and his sister, Deanerys. It is revealed that King Robert overthrew the Targaryens, and these two are the last that remain of the dragon-lords. Dragons have long been thought to be extinct. Viserys still claims to be the rightful heir and is plotting to take back the kingdom that is his. To do that, he sells his sister to Khal Drogo, who is a warlord of a tribe of nomadic horse-warriors called the Dothraki. Viserys is planning to use Drogo’s men to conquer the land that he believes his. Daenarys finds love with her husband, learning that his barbaric ways are not so barbaric. She is also given three petrified dragon eggs as a gift. Soon, both she and her husband grow tired of Viserys’s threats and attempts at intimidation and he is eliminated. Sadly, not everything is happy forever for the lovebirds and they soon come upon great misfortune.

Honestly, I feel like since watching the series, I could have skipped this entire book. That does say something about the show. It’s so true to the book, that it makes the book almost extraneous having watched the series first. However, it does flesh out a few of the characters’ pasts, which was really nice. It’s definitely a godo read though, although it is certainly not short, clocking in at 960 pages (my copy).

If you like Lord of the Rings type adventure and plots, definitely give it a try :)