Spoiler Alert for A Storm of Swords!
Spoiler Alert regarding theories of Jon Snow's parentage!
Yog, great topic. I could post paragraph after paragraph, but your reasons sum it up for me. Realistic historical fantasy. Emotional connections.
Needle, I do love it how GRRM stays with a character for an entire chapter. Other authors give third person narratives, but it's either for the entire book or paragraph by paragraph. By using the whole chapter approach, GRRM gives us a feel of many separate stories in one book. It also allows him to constantly exploit his penchant for cliffhangers!
I agree about his presentation of characters in shades of gray. After all the fantasy I'd read in the seventies, eighties and nineties, I knew heroes from villains. Tolkien, Lewis, Alexander, McCaffrey, LeGuin, Eddings, Feist, Weis, Hickman, Wurts, McKiernan, Brooks, Howard, Herbert, Stasheff, Burroughs, and others all taught me that heroes were always good and villains were always evil. Of course, there were a few Han Solo rogues out there... but they were rascals with hearts of gold. Mayhaps it was that I was just so young, so naive, and so inexperienced in life that I could not see any real moral quandaries or shades of gray. I could never go back and read the works of those authors without prejudice. I cam to GRRM after knowing the loss of a parent, divorce, death of my pet, being laid off through cutbacks, losing money in the stock market, and more. Sadder, but wiser. I've learned there are two sides to a story... one side may be completely wrong, but usually both sides must share some blame, even if it's one percent.
That's one point where GRRM hooked me. People can say the decisive moments of ASOS were the Red Wedding, Joffrey's Wedding, and Merrett's hanging, but for me it was Jaime's tale to Brienne of the sack of King's Landing. GRRM turned the tables on all of us... The vile kingslaying, incestuous, treacherous, child defenestrating, murderer, Jaime Lannister, turns out to be a national hero whose story has never been told. In fact, he's reviled for his actions that saved tens of thousands of lives.
springs, I know that most people feel AFFC and ADWD have slowed in pace and emotional connection. I'm trusting that GRRM will be able to pull off at least a satisfactory ending after his fantastic start to this story.
Imp, my friend, I agree with you regarding both the complexity of the characters and the unpredictability of the story. One thing that supports the complexity of the characters is the complexity of the tale. When we find out Jon's parentage, whether it's Eddard and Ashara, Rhaegar and Lyanna, Robert and Lyanna, Aerys and Lyanna (my personal theory), or whomever, we'll know that GRRM put that information in AGOT for all to see... We will not find out that Jon is the son of Davos and Cersei. I am convinced that GRRM will not pull the biggest deus ex machina out of thin air to explain the entire story. The story is complex from the beginning... and that makes complex characters.
I don't mean to contradict myself by now agreeing with you that the story is unpredictable when I've just said that the clues are included in the first book. But GRRM constantly dashes hopes of "happily ever after." Bran wanted to be a knight. Jaime looks like a king. Legendary King Robert has no moral fibre. Sansa wants to marry a handsome and powerful knight and to bear him beautiful children. Tyrion wants to be loved. Arya wanted to return to her family. Catelyn wanted only to hold her family together. Robb wanted to avenge his father and rescue his sisters. Eddard wanted to help his friend and protect his family. Viserys wanted everything. Jaime is supposed to be a villain. Stannis is supposed to be righteous. Catelyn is supposed to be dead.
As for my own opinions, I'll tell you what first drew me (and two of my friends) to read AGOT
It was the
original US cover art for the Bantam publication of A Game of Thrones. The artist's name is Stephen Youll.
I dislike how the cover art has changed. My guess is that the publisher believes that more people will get into the series if it does have fantasy cover art that makes it look like a Harlequin romance for nerds.
The original art conjured up images and emotions of adventure, hardship, fantasy, and kick-ass rangers all in black. When I saw the cover art, I imaged the text to be something like...
"Into the forest rode Kickassidor. His trusty ebon stallion, Ramrod, was sure footed through the new fallen snow. He knew the bandits were a mile ahead of him because Blackwing, his raven, had seen them and Icejaw, his wolf, had their scent. He wondered if his brother in-arms, Beatdownicus, would catch up before nightfall. No matter, he told himself...
my black sword of Doom is all I need to deal with scum."
