Ask any of my friends, family, or miscellaneous acquaintances and they’ll tell you I’m the “late guy.” It’s not just appointments; I also rarely am up with what’s current, especially pop culture. I’m never on the cutting edge of anything with a hashtag or big celebrity’s name on it.
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin was no exception, which was unfortunate for me because the first novel in Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It may be the best book I’ve ever read.
The story opens with the king of the Seven Kingdoms, Robert Baratheon, who has come to visit his childhood friend, Eddard “Ned” Stark, bearing grave news. Their mentor and the king’s chief advisor, Lord Jon Arryn, is dead. Dismayed, Ned offers condolences, but King Robert has another agenda in mind: he offers Ned the job of Hand of the King and invites him and his daughters to live in his palace. Ned agrees when word comes from Jon Arryn’s widow that Robert’s wife, Cersei Lannister, and her family poisoned Arryn and intend to kill the king too.
Loath to leave his wife and sons behind, Ned follows his king nonetheless, and so begins an epic saga of death, romance, jealousy, betrayal, and justice as a host of knights, ladies, and kings play the game of thrones.
It’s hard to pinpoint what makes this book so great. In part, Martin is successful because of his unique stylistic approach, telling the story from multiple points of view, allowing for (theoretically) objective viewing of the back-and-forth at hand and empathy with all of the novel’s colorful characters.
As much as I loved this book, it wasn’t merely for the shifting viewpoints; it was the craft of the story. A Game of Thrones is so detailed, so finely drawn with pinpoint accuracy that it is one of the few books I truly felt immersed in. I walked with the Dothraki in the bazaars of Vaes Dothrak, jousted with the Knight of Flowers, and clung to the side of a mountain with the Imp. Martin is so accurate with his fictional world, creating detailed histories for a vast array of characters, many of which are only mentioned in name or in a part of the story that is never brought up again. It is this attention to detail – and the fine-tooth combing that it takes to create – that got my attention.
Read this book. Whether or not you like fantasy or science fiction, this book’s craft is well worth it. The character development is the best I’ve seen in any book, and the richness of the world is so unique, so meticulous, that one wonders why it took an HBO series for it to get mainstream recognition. I rate it 5/5 stars.