A Song of Ice and Fire

Perfect

The past few weeks have been extremely difficult for me. I wasn't in the right headspace to read or watch anything on my list (which, by the way, keeps getting longer and longer…). So I was talking with a friend, and it turned out he was a huge George R. R. Martin nerd, just like me. We met through fantasy literature but for some reason we never talked about it, and he gave me the idea to re-read A Song of Ice and Fire. And I decided to go down the rabbit hole. Keep this friend of mine in mind (we'll call him Pippin) because he'll show up in future reviews.

So I started reading Game of Thrones. Oh boy! This is the best cure for reader's block in the world. These books are so f… well written… I read the book in a couple of days. Special mention to the Spanish translator (Cristina Macía). Damn, I drank in every word! And the characters? Nowadays it's impossible to find characters this well crafted. And here I want to talk about one of my favorites, from a writer's point of view: Sansa. Yes, she might be one of the most unpopular characters in the saga, but one thing that's not up for debate is how well written she is. You might not like her part in the story (though I disagree), but she is one of the best characters George R.R. Martin ever created. Very few authors, none that I could find, have ever written a 12-year-old girl with more accuracy.

I read the book for the first time in 2011, when the TV series came out, and of course I hated Sansa back then. I was young and foolish myself, just like Sansa was, and ugh… All she could think about was how handsome Joffrey was, beautiful clothes, parties, etc.… I think I saw myself in her and didn't like it. I thought of myself as a different, special girl. But in the end, we were the same. Pretty boys took up most of my thoughts (girls, too). Not dresses, but special outfits that set me apart from everyone else. And even though I saw myself as the tough girl, the one who wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty, I always wanted to look pretty and even sexy. Honey, admit it. We were all that kind of girl during our teens, whatever the object of our admiration or our aesthetic happened to be.

But Arya… give me a break! Arya was nine when the story began. And I'd love to see how she would have managed if she hadn't been able to pass as a boy. Let's not forget that she has people helping her for most of her journey, but I'm getting ahead of myself. I want to talk only about Game of Thrones for now.

I've studied some narrative theory and some creative writing, so I'm able to "dissect" the text in a more technical way. It's a long book, but every word, every scene is placed with the precision of a neurosurgeon. If you haven't read George R.R. Martin's short fiction, you should. It's even better. There are lots of hints at what's to come throughout the whole book, dreams, animal symbolism (the iconic scene of the direwolf killed by a stag's antler). There are frequent references to the fire and the dragons that are about to be reborn. All of this is mixed with the characters' thoughts about the world and about humanity that can be applied to our own society.

A book of unparalleled depth in weaving such fascinating plots and characters. Special shout-out to Arya Stark. Fantasy novels rarely craft female characters who match up to their male counterparts (fantasy, sexist? 🤷‍♀️), but for once, the most badass, the strongest, the most admirable is this young girl 💪

You might think Westeros and its inhabitants actually lived, given how convincingly Martin breathes life into this fictional world.

And the story, oh what a tale it is! You'll find yourself constantly blindsided by unexpected twists, and you'll be begging for more! 😁

Game of Thrones is one of those fantasy epics that grabs you from the get-go. It's dark, ruthless, at times chaotic, filled with profoundly human characters who break free from clichés. No one is purely good or evil, and that's precisely what makes it so gripping. The political intrigue, betrayals, and sudden deaths (no one is safe from an untimely end here,talk about flipping the usual fantasy script!) inject a raw energy into the story that compels you to keep flipping pages.

That said, when Game of Thrones blew up on television, it shifted something. The series took the tale to epic proportions, making it virtually unavoidable in pop culture, and in doing so, stripped away some of its mystery. What once felt like a hidden gem among fantasy aficionados became a worldwide phenomenon. Sure, this opened George R. R. Martin’s universe to a much broader audience,a definite plus,but it also morphed the saga from an insiders' secret into a universal watercooler topic.

On another note, there's this nagging fear hanging over the books. Considering Martin's age and the lengthy gaps between releases, you can't help but worry that we might never see the story fully completed. This uncertainty adds a peculiar edge to reading: you're diving into this monumental saga without any real assurance of reaching its conclusion. And for such an ambitious work, the prospect of an unfinished ending casts a shadow over what is otherwise truly remarkable.

For me, there's a clear divide: life before and after A Song of Ice and Fire. Gone are the days of simplistic tales with one-dimensional villains plotting destruction for no apparent reason. Did you know that Martin drew inspiration from historical novels like The Accursed Kings (the true saga of King Philip the Fair's descendants in France, which led to the Hundred Years' War)? Here, everything is meticulously crafted! And what a story it is, full of twists and turns at every corner!

What can I say? Characters (male and female, which is rare!) that you become attached to, on every side (which is very rare!), a plot that constantly surprises us, a universe with coherent folklore... The best (fantasy) book I've read so far.

Too bad the TV series is rushed and spoils the ending for us.