George R R Martin: A Game of Thrones (Book Club)

[erickad71]

As long as you aren't mad... I was a little embaressed by that.

 

[Rane Longfox]

!!!SPOILERS!!!

As for Bran - good point - they think the secert is safe.

Although Bran is a pretty pointless Point of View character in this first book, he seems to be being set up to be a major character in the later books. I guess Martin simply wants to delay the delivery of Bran's truth until a more reasonable moment.

Very true... I like the Bran staoryline in later books, but won't post spoilers, as I can hardly remember any


****!!!!MORE SPOILERS!!!!****

It's so easy to let Littlefinger lull you into a false sense of security. Thats an evil man, if ever there was one

 

[Brian G Turner]

I actually like Littlefinger, precisely because he was so good at being deceptive and manipulative - a survivor with wits.

 

[Rane Longfox]

Still evil though... very good character, as are almost all of Martin's. Definately evil.


OK, so I'm over-egging that a bit

 

[Blue Mythril]

Bran's story is one of the more intriguing, and frustrating (!) of the lot. There's just so much boiling beneath the surface there, you're almost in a constant state of anticipation. Its kinda odd how at one point he seems to be a minor character, whilst at others his story seems to be rolling along towards that lurking threat behind everything...

 

[Lacedaemonian]

His immobility also affects the reader, in that you are constantly aware of how vunerable he is.

 

[Blue Mythril]

!!!SPOILERS!!!
(thought I'd throw that in just in case)

Yes, and its just so bloody unfair >.<

I am really really curious about his crow dreams and his "flying". Bran is going to be a major player in the overall scheme of things (not the petty politics) and I can't wait to see how.

 

[Lacedaemonian]

Everything beyond the wall scars the crap out of me.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I've rounded the halfway mark now, and am afraad I am loosing interest. I suppose that's more a reflection of my own discomfort with epic fantasy, but you can expect a cogent list of objections once I'm done!

 

[Brian G Turner]

Beyond the Wall strikes myself as an realm of utter fantasy. I expect the Children of the Wood to come into the story later - in fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Old Nan is somehow a part of that - maybe one herself.

 

[Turandil]

I keep thinking about this too but I just can't shake the feeling that Jon Snow isn't Ned's son at all but the child of his sister; who we know was captured and raped by some member of Danenerys' family.

to me thats the only reason that makes sense why Ned would so fearsly guard the identity of Jon's mother (to protect the reputation and memory of his sister who he dearly loved and was going to marry the new king) and why he would take the child back to Winterfell and raise him as one of his own(remember Lyannas words promise me, promise me that still haunt Ned)

Anyway I'm sure I'll be proved wrong, my wild theroies usually are

No, I dont think that you are wrong. I have only read the first book (well, almost. I have a few pages left), but Iam on the same trail. I think it was Rheagar. And I think that the reason that Ned so fearsly guard the identity of Jon's father...well mother to, but first his father, is that Jon would probably be killed if it was known that he was a targaryen. The king among many others really want to kill Daenarys and Viserys, they want to kill the Targaryen dragons once and for all, and they would have killed Jon to. Maybe Jon later will marry Daenarys? Except that his in black now...

Iam not totaly sure that Rhaegar had raped Lyanna...maybe they loved each other? In that sheep-town Ser Jorah Mormont (i think) said that Daenarys was like her brother, or something like that, after she had helped those women who was being raped...and he ment Rhaegar, not Viserys. Matbe this hints that Rhaegar was not bad guy?

 

[LadyFel]

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I found the book on its own a touch strange by the time I finished it, but I'd already bought A Clash of Kings, so I went straight on to that and it cleared a lot up for me...Keep in mind I'm trying to pretend I've only read the first book, as I don't want to spoil even more...

I found the Bran and Daenerys chapters a little annoying at the start, and for a while thought the book was predictable...Until Bran's first flying lesson and Viserys getting 'crowned'... After that I was a little less cocksure I could guess what would happen next...

I think Caitlin is an intriguing character, and Sansa is a major pain in the derierre with her little girl's dreams of chivalry...but on the other hand, she serves to remind us how it 'should' and probably would be in any other world, so the...bloody reality, I suppose you could call it, shocks us even more...she's going to have to grow up, and it will be interesting to see how Martin takes us through the loss of innocence...

Ned's too good to be true, Jaime is just too BAD to be true at this point (I mean, seriously, threaten a child, ok, it probably would have worked wonders, Bran was in awe of him...but throw him out of a window cos he can't think of a better thing to do?), and I get the feeling that once we finally see what drives him (if we see it), he might be different.

The one character who REALLY intrigues me is the Hound, Sandor Clegane.
He's scared to death of fire and his brother yet he faces them both.
He respects NO-ONE, yet follows orders from Cersei and Joffrey.
He kills Mycah and laughs about it, yet protects Sansa later on...
He's refused a knighthood and the honour of being a member of the Kingsguard, yet he probably deserves it more than the seven of them put together...Can't wait to see how he develops.

Tyrion is a great character - cynical, funny with it, realistic, probably more so than most of the 'whole' people...I sort of agree with old Maester Aemon at the Wall - he is somewhat of a giant among men . And I think he's going to be VERY important later on in the series...As well as Jon Snow and ghost.

As I'm into medieval history, I loved the setting and I had fun comparing this book to real events, like the Wars of the Roses, and characters with real people...to me, Cersei can only be Edward IV's queen, Elizabeth Wydville, the whole north-south thing has a good 'real life' basis too...

Anycase, I don't often come across a book which makes me cringe or blush when the characters do something painfully embarassing or (apparently) predictable and pointless...and I'm not the type who calls a friend at 3AM having finished the book to see where he's got to and compare notes. I do all those things and more, (except I don't have to call the friend any more cos we got married ), which is good enough to make me bite my nails down to the quick in expectation of the next book...

 

[erickad71]

Don't chew your nails up to fast...I'm pretty sure the fourth book won't be coming out until sometime next year. Of course that just means you have time to read the books over again...I've caught several things that I missed the first time by reading them over again.

There are some scenes that happen in the next books that have left me with my jaw in my lap! GRRM really knows how to pull the rug right out from under you... I love this series so much, that is why I originally started looking around the internet to find people to talk with or places to read about the series. You're lucky to have someone so close to you that you can talk about the series, or any other book with.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Hi Turandil, and welcome to the chronicles network.

And I think you're very on the ball - one of the most graphic images in the book to myself was of the Targaryen children having their heads dashed against a wall. So Ned was definitely protecting Jon - for Lyanna's sake.

As for the point about Rhaegar not being so bad as claimed - I am really waiting for Martin to completely turn us around on this.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I'm afraid I've sort of given up. These are my reasons:

The constant shuffling between character viewpoints - a shift every ten pages or less - has me quite put off. There's that terrible sinking feeling when I am expected to immerse myself intimately into yet another character's head every few minutes. It gets quite intrusive into the flow of the story.

The setting: while there are hints at strange things, the world this story is set in doesn't really challenge, excite or, eventually engage me. Kings and queens and...argh, bring on the guillotines already!!! It's just too much of a standardised middle ages, Europe-based default fantasy world, albeit detailed a bit better than most.

The Plot: So little has actually happened for the 500 pages I've read. A lot of side-plots get thrown in to pad it out, always a bad sign for me. The fundamental story, basically a power-play against the backdrop of (and this part would have been interesting if I hadn't been subjected to excessive climate anomalies in volume after volume of WoT) an oncoming looong winter doesn't really interest me in any intrinsic way.

The Characters: Yes, quite well etched and more than two-dimensional. However they are, functionally, not that unique - I've seen their likes in other fantasy and in the pages of history as well. Which might seem like a good thing, but the problem is there's no one here I personally can identify with. That is something that matters to me in a book like this. While I sympathise with Stark and admire Tyrion, for instance, I don't find myself absorbed and concerned.

Richly detailed human sagas are not my cup of tea, it would seem, no matter how masterfully brewed.

 

[Silk]

Iam not totaly sure that Rhaegar had raped Lyanna...maybe they loved each other? In that sheep-town Ser Jorah Mormont (i think) said that Daenarys was like her brother, or something like that, after she had helped those women who was being raped...and he ment Rhaegar, not Viserys. Matbe this hints that Rhaegar was not bad guy?

I think this is a really interesting theory and much more of an interesting twist than what I suggested.

And in a lot of ways it makes perfect sense. I remember when reading the bit about the tourney when Rhaegar gave his rose to Lyanna instead of his wife, that he had somehow developed some weird obsession with her and kidnapped her to prevent anyone else having her; but its a perfectly reasonable argument to suggest they actually liked each other in a Romeo and Juliet type senario.

That would really build on the theme of misconception that I noticed while readng the book, maybe misconception isn't the right word but for example while reading the character of Ned I really felt that he was a nobel and good man and never did anything without thinking it through carefully but Ser Jorah Mormont absolutly hates him because of what he did to him and can't see any kind of rationalisation in it at all.

It would be seriously eye opening for the seven kingdoms to find out one of the Targaryen dragons actually turned out to be a fairly desent bloke

 

[Rane Longfox]

It would be seriously eye opening for the seven kingdoms to find out one of the Targaryen dragons actually turned out to be a fairly desent bloke

To be honest, it would be seriously eye opening to find out that nyone who lives south of the neck is a fairly decent bloke... This is one of the other things that grates at me. North - good as gold, south - scemeing, deceitful. It gets a little repetetive after a while

 

[Princess Ivy]

i'm picking up this thread four pages in, so i'm not going to read the other posts or i'll have to quote on so many of them. While i was away this weekend i've read most of the series. so if i seem to be going off track, please forgive me, i'm very tired.
I've found the different view points a bit disconcerting, and have actually had to read it as separate novels, reading each characters story through, then going back to pick up the story. i find it very strange to have the characters changed and discarded as the author seems to become bored with them, also the characters changing from good to bad, as he decides to use them later on, as with Jamie.
I like the twist with reviving the dragons, but the magic in the story seems to be very confused and strange. and the potential of the dragons is only being picked up in the later books. i got very confused with the references in the first book to waking the dragon, was this a reference to opium?
In the bio info on the jacket, it says Martin lives in mexico, but is he originaly Scotish, because the more i look at it, the more the northern men seem very scotish to me, although more the idealised version of the scots of literature than what was probably the true story.
i love the direwolves and the way they've been used as a sort of sorcery, makes you wonder if its the blood of the original men and children of the forest in the stark line, or the wolves themselves.
i think that i need a little more time to digest the story line and some of the posts before i go on.
i'm working on an hours sleep and not very coherent right now.

 

[Princess Ivy]

Just finishing up Blood and Gold, i really hope this one isn't going to go the way of the Wheel of time! So many characters now killed off!

 

[erickad71]

Which one is Blood and Gold? Over here they are called (in order): A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, & A Storm of Swords.