Speaking of meetings, so far it seems to be the general consensus that our in-person meeting will be Saturday, August 11th and that we'll get together June 29th or 30th to see our favorite president kick some vampire booty. Please head over to the previous post to voice your opinions on the matter if you haven't already.
Now on to the review! Spoiler alert as always!
If there is one word that describes A Game of Thrones, I think it is epic. Everything about this book is on a huge scale. There's a giant wall made of ice. There are wolves as big as horses. The country of Westeros is filled with so many different places that they had to put the map on two pages. The books itself has 8 different narrators, if you don't include Will in the prologue. They have to provide you with maps and a guide to the major houses. Everything about this book is epic.
That being said, it does make it a bit of a challenge to review. You feel like you're going to miss something important if you don't include it all. So I'm going to try my best not to get too lengthy.
This book is centered around Westeros, a land in which seasons last for years and used to be divided into 7 kingdoms. Far to the north, a giant wall made of ice separates the kingdom from the wildlings and other creatures that live beyond it. The Wall is manned by an army known as the Night's Watch. Although it used to be an honorable calling to serve as a man of the Night's Watch, it is now largely made up of thieves and other criminals. The land is ruled by one king, but each area has it's own major family and their bannermen. In this book the most important families are the Starks, Lannisters, Baratheons, and Targaryens. The Starks, led by Eddard, have ruled the North for centuries and are among the first men to settle in Westeros. The Lannisters control the West and are the kingdom's richest family. The Baratheons are from the South, and Robert Baratheon is king of Westeros. He led a successful rebellion against the Targaryens, who have been largely wiped out except for two of last king's children. The Targaryens conquered Westeros hundreds of years ago with dragons, but the dragons died off and the Targaryens' power faded with them.
A Game of Thrones is set several years after Robert Baratheon's rebellion and rise to the Iron Throne. Kingship has not been kind to Robert, who would much rather drink and whore than rule the 7 Kingdoms. After his Hand (a sort of 2nd in command), Jon Arryn, dies, he turns to his old friend, Eddard (or Ned) Stark, to be the new Hand. Robert and his court arrive in Winterfell just as Ned's wife, Catelyn receives word from her sister, the old Hand's wife, that her husband was murdered by the Queen, Cersei Lannister, and her family. Ned, despite the fact that he doesn't want to go to King's Landing, agrees to be Robert's Hand so that he can protect the King and get to the bottom of John Arryn's death. Just before they are to leave, Ned's son, Bran, "falls" from an old tower and nearly dies. Little does anyone know, but Bran had been climbing the tower and witnessed Cersei and her brother, Jaime, making love and Jaime threw Bran out the window to cover up their affair. Grieving for his son, Ned departs Winterfell with his two daughters, Sansa and Arya, while his bastard son, Jon Snow, leaves for the Wall to join the Night's Watch.
Here's where reviewing gets especially tricky, because everyone goes their separate ways, so I'm going to review by narrator from this point on.
Catelyn Stark
Constantly at Bran's bedside, she is attacked by a man who is trying to kill Bran. Bran's direwolf kills the attacker, but Catelyn and Maester Luwin notice the man was carrying a Valyrian steel knife- not something a poor man like him would ever be able to afford. Determined to find out why someone would want to kill her young son, she leaves for King's Landing in secret. Once there, she finds out from her childhood friend, Petyr Baelish, that the knife was his, but he lost it in a bet to the Queen's brother, Tyrion Lannister, the Imp. She leaves King's Landing but on the road to Winterfell, is recognized by none other than Tyrion Lannister. She takes him prisoner and takes him to her sister, Lysa Arryn's home in the Vale. There, she finds her sister to be different than the girl she knew- paranoid and overprotective to her son, Robert. Eventually, Tyrion is freed (see his summary below) and she leaves the Vale to join her oldest son, Robb, who is leading troops into battle to free his father (see Ned's summary below). Robb defeats the Lannister forces around Catelyn's childhood home of Riverrun and they capture Jaime Lannister. Robb is proclaimed the King in the North by his bannermen.
Ned Stark
Once Ned arrives in King's Landing, he finds that the King would much rather let him rule and that the kingdom is in huge financial debt to the Lannisters. He also begins to investigate what Jon Arryn was doing before his death. When the Lannisters find out that Catelyn has taken Tyrion prisoner, Jaime and his men attack Ned and kill several of his men. As he is recovering, the King leaves to go hunting and Ned discovers what Jon must have before he died. Joffrey and the King's other children are not truly his children. They are the Queen's brother, Jaime Lannister's. As an act of mercy, Ned warns Cersei that he is going to tell Robert, and that she and her children should flee before he gets back. She does not and Robert is mauled by a boar. He names Ned the Lord Protector, since Joffrey is still not of age. Ned agrees, not wanting to upset Robert just before he dies. After Robert's death, he makes a deal with Petyr Baelish to get the city watch under his control so that he can put Robert's true heir, his brother Stannis, on the throne. Baelish double-crosses him and all of Ned's men are killed. Ned is imprisoned and agrees to confess his "treason" to insure the safety of his daughters. Joffrey, however, has Ned beheaded and his head mounted on a spike.
Sansa Stark
Sansa is the only Stark excited to go to King's Landing. She is engaged to be married to the King's eldest son, Joffrey. On the road south, she and Joffrey are walking when they come upon Arya Stark practicing sword-play with the butcher's boy. Joffrey attacks the boy and Arya's direwolf bites Joffrey on the arm. Arya and her wolf run away, so Sansa's wolf, Lady is killed to appease the Queen. Once in King's Landing, Sansa and her sister are at odds with one another constantly because Sansa is so excited to become a southern lady and eventually become the Queen. After King Robert's death, she is held by the Queen. She pleads with the now King Joffrey for her father's life. He agrees to show mercy, but has Ned beheaded as she watches. Still engaged to him, Joffrey then makes her come to court and even makes her look at the heads of her father and all of his men that she knew.
Arya Stark
After the incident on the kingsroad, Ned gets Arya "dancing" lessons from Syrio Forel, a swordmaster from Braavos across the narrow sea. Arya practices constantly- standing on one foot, chasing cats around the castle, and generally annoying her sister. On the day her father is captured, Arya is practicing with Syrio when the guards come to take her. Syrio most likely dies so that she can get away. She escapes out of the castle, but cannot get out of King's Landing. She lives by catching pigeons. She is in the crowd when her father is beheaded, but she is saved by one of the men of the Night's Watch. He takes her with him north so that she can go home, but as Arry the orphan boy.
Bran Stark
Eventually Bran wakes up, but he is crippled and cannot use his legs. He has to be carried everywhere, but does eventually learn to ride a horse again using a saddle that Tyrion Lannister designs for him. On his first ride out of the castle, he gets separated from his brother and is attacked by wildlings. He and his brother's direwolves kill most of the wildlings, and his father's ward, Theon Greyjoy, kills the one that holds Bran. One of the wildlings, Osha, surrenders and is put to work at Winterfell. She and Bran become unlikely friends and she listens to him about his dreams. When Robb goes off to war, Bran is lord of Winterfell.
Jon Snow
Jon and his direwolf, Ghost, go off with his uncle, Benjen Stark, to join the Night's Watch, but he soon finds it to be completely unlike what he had thought it was going to be. At first, he isn't liked because he's a lord's son and beats all the other trainees, but when he starts helping them, he makes friends. He even helps Samwell Tarly, an admitted coward. The men of his training group finish their training and are given their assignments, but Jon is upset to find that he has been made a steward instead of a ranger. Sam tells him that the Lord Commander picked him to be his personal steward and that he's being groomed to take over. When he goes beyond the Wall to say his vows, Ghost finds the hand and bodies of two of the rangers that went out with his uncle. That night, one of the bodies awakens and is on its way to kill the Lord Commander when Ghost and Jon try to kill it. It almost kills Jon, but he is able to destroy it by setting it on fire. The Lord Commander gives Jon his family's sword, Longclaw. Jon is glad to be a man of the Night's Watch, but when Robb goes to war and his father is beheaded, he leaves, despite the fact he would be killed for deserting. Jon's friends bring him back to the Wall, and the Lord Commander tells him that the Night's Watch is going out in force beyond the Wall to find Benjen.
Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion is a dwarf, but easily the smartest man in any room. He travels to the Wall with Jon Snow and then heads south back to King's Landing. However, on the way there, he notices Catelyn Stark and is captured by her. He is then taken to the Vale and thrown into a sky cell. He eventually convinces his jailor to tell Lady Arryn that he will confess his crimes. He's brought before her and Lady Stark, but he denies any knowledge of the murder of Jon Arryn or the attempted murder of Bran Stark. He demands a trial by combat, and is championed by a sell-sword named Bronn. Bronn defeats Lady Arryn's champion and Tyrion is set free. Traveling to meet his father, Tyrion and Bronn are caught by the barbarians that live in the hills around the Vale. Tyrion convinces them to join him by promising them weapons and that they will eventually rule the Vale. Once he meets up his father Tywin, Tyrion and his hill tribes are put in the vanguard of the battle against Robb Stark's men. They win the battle and Tywin sends him to King's Landing to act as the Hand of the King in his stead.
Daenerys Targaryen
Born after the fall of her father's rule, Daenerys and her brother Viserys are the last Targaryens, living in the Free Cities across the Narrow Sea. They have been living on the generosity of others for years, so much so that they call Viserys the Beggar King. Viserys is obsessed with reclaiming "his" throne, and marries Daenerys to Khal Drogo, a powerful Dothraki horse lord, in exchange for an army. Daenerys is afraid of Drogo and the Dothraki, who are so unlike anything she has ever known, but she eventually comes to love Drogo. Viserys, however, becomes impatient with the Dothraki waiting for the right omens to go to war. He was always abusive to Dany, but when he threatens to cut the baby out of Dany and take her back, Drogo crowns him with molten gold. After that, Dany tries to convince Drogo that they should still fight for the Iron Throne, but he refuses until a man tries to poison Dany. He promises that his son will sit on the Iron Throne and leads the Dothraki out to capture slaves to sell for ships and weapons. Dany saves many of the women who were being raped. Drogo receives a few nasty injuries during the fighting and one of Dany's women, Mirri Maz Duur, offers to heal him. Drogo's condition worsens and Mirri offers to do blood magic in order to save his life, but she warns that only death can pay for life. Dany agrees, not realizing that the witch means her son. Dany awakens to find her son dead and Drogo alive, but in a vegetative state. She smothers him to end his suffering. On his funeral pyre, she place the three dragon eggs she received as a wedding present and ties the witch to the pyre. Just as the fire reaches its peak, she walks into the pyre. The next morning, her khalasar find her alive and unhurt in the ashes with three new baby dragons.
Discussion Questions
- Is there a main character?
- Is there a hero?
- Most critics praise George RR Martin for his strong female characters. Do you agree with them?
- Do you find it hard to remember how young most of the characters are?
- Which death was the most shocking to you?
- Did you like the constantly changing viewpoints?
Great job reviewing this huge story!
ReplyDeleteI think that Ned is the main character because the whole story loosely revolves around him, but every point-of-view character is a main character, too. Ned is the hero, but there are several heroes; Jon, Arya, Robb, Catelyn, Tyrion, Dany... I like that the heros are flawed and not perfect.
It's easy to forget how young some of the characters are. Jon, Robb, and Dany are young teenagers.
I really liked the changing viewpoints, the characters were so well developed that way, but with so many of them, it was hard to remember everything that happened to them.
I loved this book and I'm glad we picked this series!