Summary:

When his old friend, the king Robert Baratheon, orders Eddard Stark to the south, to help him reign over the kingdom, he has no choice but to obey. Thrown into an unfamiliar environment, he has to be careful who to trust. Because in the struggle for power, some people will stop at nothing to ascend the iron throne. Meanwhile, Viserys Targaryen is set on regaining the throne that used to belong to his family. Currently in exile, he hopes to receive an army by marrying off his sister to an influential man and to restore the power of the house Targaryen.

Review:

I have received the entire A Song of Ice and Fire series (at least, what is published so far…) for Christmas. For quite a while, I have procrastinated on getting started. There were several reasons for that but mainly I was afraid that the book would drag and be so complex and theoretical that I wouldn’t be able to find the motivation to keep reading. Therefore, even during the holidays when I had plenty of time to read, I was very intimidated by the prospect of picking the book up. Finally, I have forced myself to pick the first book up as part of my August Reading Challenge and I was pleasantly suprised, if not to say completely blown away.

I would like to add a warning beforehand that the book is quite violent and describes a morally very flawed society, so it doesn’t fit with my usual reads (which are usually YA) and if this is not your cup of tea, I would advise you against reading this book (more on that topic later on).

My worries about the complexity were proven to be completely unnecessary. It might be different if you stretch reading the book over months, but for me it was quite easy to follow the story and remember the information I was given in previous chapters. Of course, I do not remember all of the characters that were introduced and what happened to each of them (there were quite a lot of them and many only appeared a few times or only once…) but the cast of main characters was manageable and after some chapters I knew the roles of those characters within the world. The plot was also pretty straight-forward, not in a way where it was easily predictable what would happen next, but in a way that I was never left completely confused and didn’t know what was going on anymore.

I am a huge fan of politics in novels and this book definitely delivered on that. I mean, the “Game of Thrones” after which the first book and the corresponding series is named, basically means the fight between the houses on who reigns and has power and who doesn’t. Political intrigue was thus a very prominent part of the novel. What I found especially interesting was to see how different characters had different views on morals, loyalty, what is acceptable and what goes too far. Many practices that are deemed unacceptable in today’s society are widely common and normal in Westeros but seeing as there is no common moral code present, there is a wide range of different perspectives present.

The book definitely doesn’t filter its contents and shows us all the ugly sides of Westeros, a world that is very brutal at core, modelled after medieval Europe. But the fact that this society is filled with so many problems and immoral practices makes it so interesting to see the characters act within it. Because how do people survive in a world that doesn’t care about the individual and in which death is a part of daily life? And how do people tell right from wrong if the world around them doesn’t adhere to any rules and treats violence and injustice as normal occurrences? Each character searches their own answer to those questions and some come closer to what we think of as morally correct behaviour than others, all of them have their flaws though.

Talking of the characters, they were absolutely amazing! The book is written from multiple POVs, exploring two main storylines that are loosely connected to each other (and will probably merge together in the following books). There were a lot of characters I liked and a lot of characters I hated and a lot of times where I couldn’t decide in which of the categories a character belonged because they were right in the middle between hero and villain (which I guess makes sense, considering what I wrote in the previous paragraph). If you like morally-grey characters, with some leaning more towards the villanous end and other more towards the heroic end, you won’t be disappointed. The only downside is that a lot of characters die (so far not that many of the main cast, but it is to be expected that more will follow). So it is advisable to come to terms with the fact, that your favourite character likely isn’t going to make it to the end of the series early on.

I loved the uniqueness of the characters and how they each had something to set them apart from the others. Most of all, I was glad that there wasn’t any perspective that I didn’t like. Sure, there were some I enjoyed more than others, but I guess that is completely normal. I even found that some of the perspectives I didn’t enjoy as much in the beginning, ended up as being my favourite ones.

I am definitely curious to see how the series will continue and which new characters (and perspectives) will be introduced in the following books. This was definitely a five-star-read for me and although I was hesitant at first to give it five stars at first, due to the amount of violence and problematic ideas present within the books society. Finally though, I wasn’t under the impression that the book tried to glorify it, made it seem acceptable or even tried to promote it, which is why I didn’t see any reason to lower the rating. We are clearly shown the characters struggling with those aspects and the negative effects they have on the world. Since this is adult fantasy, I personally think it is alright to show an unfiltered version of those things, as long as it isn’t portrayed as positive or acceptable. If you don’t want to read about this, however, I can totally understand and I recommend you search for a less violent alternative, I am sure they are out there.

Things to consider before reading:

If you have any triggers, I strongly advise you against reading those books. Some of the topics mentioned/described in the book include: violence, death, murder, torture, rape, forced marriage, problematic cultural traditions, disrcimination, etc. It is also worth noting that sometimes there are children or young people involved in those. This list is definitely not complete but I think that there are so many triggering topics in there that it is better to steer away from the series entirely if you know you are triggered by certain topics because, as I already mentioned in the review, the books do not filter when it comes to dark themes.

Disclaimer: This should serve solely as a guide when deciding whether or not to read this book. I cannot guarantee that this list is complete. If you are triggered by something or want to avoid certain topics, please make sure to double check.

Feel free to share your opinion on the book in the comments. I would love to hear what you think about it and whether you liked it!

Please remember to keep the comments spoiler-free or add a Spoiler Alert beforehand so everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the reading experience without already knowing everything that happens.