A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1)

#654

Title: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1)

Author: George R. R. Martin

Publisher: Bantam

Year: 1996/2011

835 pages

I have a strong preference for hard science fiction or heterotopias over fantasy, especially historical fantasy, which is what this essentially is. I find the construction of a plausible world more interesting than overlaying eurohistory with swords 'n' sorcery. Martin's dense, slow-moving epic has the virtue that the swords are often broken, their wielders cold and wet, and the sorcery is thus far restrained. To move myself along with a set of characters I didn't find especially sympathetic in a setting that isn't very interesting to me, I read Tuchman's A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century in order to provide context and higher engagement. This allowed me to appreciate Martin's historical reconstruction enough to develop an interest in the story. The Lannisters are effectively vile and most of the other characters, if not complex, are interestingly ambiguous in their motivations. We might think of this volume as "Things Fall Apart." Tyrion, Arya, Bran, and Jon are the characters I find most compelling. Whether Martin keeps them alive remains to be seen.