If a novel quotes Robert Jordan or Anne McCaffrey on the cover, I usually need a second opinion before I touch it. The second opinion for A Game Of Thrones came from several friends, all of whom have good taste, so I gave it a go.
My first and biggest complaint about the stock contempory fantasy novel is the trilogy syndrome, and Mr. Martin gets a demerit right at the first hurdle. It's bad enough that fantasy writers set out to write sprawling epics as part of a three or more book franchise from the word go. It's even worse that they often do not write complete novels. Closure is essential for a novel, and to leave threads trailing to be picked up in volume two is frankly lazy. I don't mind ambiguity in a novel, nor am I adverse to a thought provoking ending that leaves the fate of the characters in some doubt. But I am mildly offended by writers who end with a cliffhanger just to hook the reader into their sequel.
My second issue is that of size. (Apparently, J G Ballard blames the wordprocessor for sloppy prose and sprawling, overblown novels.) This is one big novel - not only is it seven hundred pages long, it's seven hundred pages of dense type. And don't forget that it's just the first of a *trilogy* of gargantuan novels. Thank goodness my friend lent me the paperback version, otherwise I might have suffered RSI from turning the pages.
The final issue is this: most fantasy novels these days are not fantasy. They're genre hack writing. By "fantasy" I mean a genuine work of imagination that contains not just an original fictional plot, but actual elements of the world's makeup (science, religeon and society) which are alien to the world in which we live and define the character's attitudes. Sure, there needs to be a common point of reference which the reader can use to gain a perspective, but there needs to be original, consistent elements. Point-and-click wizards serving the ubiquitous "one power" are not original, nor are swords, knights, or dragons.
With all that in mind, my appraisal of A Game of Thrones is that it is not fantasy, it is a pseudo-medieval soap opera. Will the spoiled princess see past the charms of the evil prince? Will the bastard son ever be acknowledged by his father? Will the queen-in-exile ever find an effective remedy for saddle sores? And on. And on. And on. For seven hundred pages.
And despite all of that, it's a page turner. The characters are solid three-dimensional ones, the perspectives offered of the same situation through different eyes are handled well, and no character is good without human foibles, or irredeemably or irrationally evil. There are points of humour, there are excellent dramatic scenes, and although the plot is as subtle as a brick wrapped in samite and thrown through a stained glass window, there are one or two twists. Above all it is the character's reactions to the situations that make for entertaining reading. I'd almost say that I might seek out the sequel. It's not exactly a break from the standard fantasy fayre, but then with a name like George "R R" Martin, what were we expecting?
For many years I have been searching for my ideal fantasy epic. I read Tolkien at a formative age and encountered mainstream fantasy in the form of David Edding's Belgariad a few years later. There are flaws in both epics (although very different ones) but I enjoyed reading both series so much that I began, in the tradition of epic fantasy characters, a quest of my own. I'm looking for a blend of character and plot that contains enough material to justify a series of five or more books and which holds me enthralled for as long as it takes to complete the story.
I have a fair amount of stamina for the epic and have read my way through a vast array of fiction: the Farseer Trilogy, The Dragon Prince trilogies, the Darkspell quartets, the Darkover series, the Riftwar saga, the Dragonlance saga, the Song of the Lioness quartets, the Homecoming quintet, the Wraeththu trilogy, the Pern series, the Saga of Recluce, the Fey series and many others with similar titles involving dragons, elves and the like.
George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series rates high on my scale. Its not the epic I'm looking for but perhaps my standards are now too high for any book to come near that elusive goal. Nonetheless Martin manages to put together elements I have admired in half a dozen other series and still come up with new variations that interest me. A Game of Thrones, the first book, is a fairly weighty tome on its own but one that had me gripped throughout.
The political background is richly evoked with a gritty edge absent from the standard swords and sorcery epic. The movement of the plot is steady and the chapters switch between different character viewpoints and locations in the world; progressing the relationships and personalities as well as the action. I also find Martin's naming of people and places admirable: believable with only a little fantasy spin. The great houses of the aristocracy each have a motto and the words of the house of Stark, several characters from which are plot crucial, are the evocative 'Winter is Coming'.
The Stark Words are also a reference to the magical plot which shows imagination and a sense of dramatic pacing as more of the background is gradually revealed. Martin honestly does seem to have enough material here to sustain an epic series. The complex machinations of the civil wars which wracks the kingdom are only the beginnings of the twisting plot line. I especially enjoy the way Martin's world is inhabited by an impressive variety of distinct cultures and societies: each believably evoked.
I rate A Game of Thrones as 8/10. It shows great promise as the beginning of an epic and with the scale of the plot in mind, I find very little to criticise.
