Inspired by the War of the Roses, George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is an ongoing fantasy series set in an unstable world, saturated in political rivalries amongst many aristocratic families contesting for the Iron Throne of Westeros. The story is told by switching the point of view of various principal characters over a wide geography of Westeros and beyond.
In an attempt to do something new and different with the genre, Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) takes a hard-edged & unromantic approach to fantasy, focusing on realism, grittiness and intrigue over heroism, ideals and morality. Unfortunately, it ends up being just another addition to the endless quasi-medieval, class-conscious fantasy of blonde princesses and barely dressed women at the feet of white-skinned heroes.
Many of the characters cast feature frequently used fantasy tropes. Daenerys – the young princess in exile, Jon – brooding bastard anti-hero protagonist yearning to step out of his father’s shadow, Eddard – the honourable noble, Arya – rebellious tomboy who learns to fight, Cersei – the evil, manipulative, succubus-esque Queen, Robb – the young rebel king, Varys – the sneaky spymaster, etc etc. The prose is repetitive, dull and full of redundant minutiae. Meals, heraldry & attire are described with an excruciating amount of detail. On one occasion, the contents of a stew are described at length, over two torturous pages. Often the same phrases are recycled by tweaking an odd word or two.
“The heavy cage was swaying. From time to time, it scraped against the Wall, starting small crystalline showers of ice that sparkled in the sunlight as they fell, like shards of broken glass.” [Jon p. 461, ADwD].
“The higher they went, the stronger the wind. Fifty feet up, the heavy cage began to sway with every gust. From time to time, it scraped against the Wall, starting small crystalline showers of ice that sparkled in the sunlight as they fell.” [Jon pg. 709, ADwD].
“The higher they went, the stronger the wind. Fifty feet up, the heavy cage began to sway with every gust. From time to time, it scraped against the Wall, starting small crystalline showers of ice that sparkled in the sunlight as they fell.” [Jon pg. 709, ADwD].
Whenever a character eats cooked meat/drinks wine, we get “grease/wine dribbled down his chin”. The plethora of gratuitous sex scenes also uses the same turn of phrase with mind-numbing frequency.
It seems the author could not decide what to write: A historical series or a fantasy series. Originally intended as a trilogy, ASOIAF gives us a glimpse of its main plot line in the first few chapters of A Game of Thrones (AGOT). In the prologue of AGOT, we learn that the Night Watch has manned the great ice wall for millennia against an ancient evil (ice-zombies named Others). For several centuries, this threat has been dormant and all but forgotten by the general populace of Westeros. The Night Watch, fallen far from its glory days, now comprised predominantly of murderers, rapists, thugs and outcasts, is incapable of even dealing with bandits. But now there are signs that the ancient evil is stirring. It’s easy to conjecture how this story would move forward: Ignorance, laxness, and general decadence ensures that the evil sweeps beyond the ice-barrier into the Seven Kingdoms threatening civilization itself. But when all seems lost a few outstanding individuals (Jon and Dany are the forerunners), possibly predestined to save the world (Martin has already played the prophecy card), will win an unlikely victory, save humanity, fall in love and walk into the sunset. Martin introduced politics, I suspect, intending to balance it with fantasy elements and prevent A Song Of Ice And Fire Series from becoming just another black and white fantasy. But with the books almost entirely focusing on the nobles and their squabbling, the fantasy elements are for the most part completely ignored, which results in the magic involved in the hatching of the dragon eggs, Catelyn’s resurrection and Bran’s chapters feeling oddly out of place.
There’s a lot of misogyny, sexual violence, several derogatory references towards female genitalia, vivid descriptions of risqué scenes and constant use of crude sexual imagery and word-play in casual dialogue. Of course, books or for that matter any form of art, shouldn’t gloss over harsh realities of life. But in trying to depict the worst that humanity has to offer Martin pushes the envelope on hardcore-ness. Nor do frequent descriptions of sexual violence and sexual acts automatically equal realism and grit.
The plot advances with the speed of a quadriplegic turtle. There is no development, no climax, no order or cohesion to the events. It’s the plot equivalent of a very inept chess player moving the pieces haphazardly on pure whim. Every time a character is on the cusp of forwarding the plot they disappear for hundreds of pages. Jon becomes the Lord Commander of the Night Watch and then does not make a reappearance for an entire book. In A Feast for Crows (AFFC) and A Dance with Dragons (ADWD) chapters of Tyrion, Brienne, Victarion, Sam, Quentyn, Davos, Jaime are for the most part travelogues, as they wander around searching for a plot line to be a part of. Sansa’s story arc post AGOT is basically a bunch of people trying to molest her. The entire sub-plot of Daenerys focuses on her preparation to cross the narrow sea to reclaim her throne. Then out nowhere, ADWD introduces another contender for the Iron Throne, who does what Daenerys has been trying to do for five books – land in Westeros with an army. This makes Daenerys sub-plot look completely ridiculous. After five books and 4600 pages, the ancient evil has barely begun to stir, most of the characters in Westeros scattered to the wind and Daenerys is still across the narrow sea. I think the series will only get harder for him to write (the delayed release of The Winds of Winter (AWOW) is an obvious indicator of that), as he tries to deal with themes and answer questions, providing a satisfying conclusion that justifies the endless profusion of aimless detail Martin’s provided so far.
