Day three of my reading of the Game of Thrones, and I have to say I'm actually fairly impressed. But let's break this down a bit:
What's Happened So Far
Well, not a whole lot honestly. At this point, Martin is offering a fair amount of world building and character introduction at the same time, introducing us to the current status of the world (Not so good or very, depending on who you ask) and the major players within. The Prologue has actually had the most action, with the Princeling and Night Watch member being killed by some kind of mysterious beast/force. Then we were introduced to the House of Stark through Bran Stark (Seven years old) as he goes off to an execution of the lone survivor from the prologue. Then we picked up some Direwolf puppies, and skipped ahead a bit (and to a completely different continent).
There we met the surviving twins of the old ruling family, ousted 15 years prior by the Usurper and Kingslayer. There's all sorts of Bad Touch going on and so many levels of awkward. I honestly feel bad for Princess Danny. Danny isn't her actual name per se, but I can't remember her full and real name, and fuck it I'm not powering up my iPad just to check that. Basically they do politicking which, in turn, will bode poorly for the usurpers.
Of whom we then cut to, because the King has decided to visit the Starks! With the Lannisters (Who are apparently assholes, according to Papa Stark). The King has grown old and fat, so he wants to promote Papa Stark. He doesn't want to, but because the King's his friend and the Starks have a crazy sense of duty, he'll obviously take it.
Also we found a direwolf (symbol of Stark household), which hasn't been seen in ages! But it was dead. And there were antlers in it's neck (Stag's the symbol of the king). HMMMMMMM. And there were live puppies for each of the children, including the bastard. DOUBLE HMMMMMM.
Thoughts
Honestly, I'm really enjoying my time in Westeros. Martin's prose is fairly.... I don't really want to say generic fantasy, but it reads like a lot of other fantasy series I've read. What this has that those don't, however, are some really strong characterizations for each of the characters. Because each chapter follows a different character, it could be easy to write more than a few of them with similar styles. Martin has so far managed to vary up their dialogue and thought processes enough that it hasn't really bothered me so far. Ned Stark's a stern, dedicated, dour man, and so reads as one. Whereas Princess Danny, despite being ousted and living with a crazy abusive older brother, manages a more wistful look at things. I wasn't quite expecting that level of quality.
Plus the politicking, oh my god the politicking. I can only hope that it continues at this pace, because damn do I love seeing the inner cogs working. I mean, action scenes are great and all, I guess, but you don't really get a sense of a character until you see them exercising a more subtle power. Take the case of Garion from the Belgariad/Malloreon, to reference a different fantasy series. For most of the Belgariad, Garion spends a lot of time whining and not doing a whole lot. He was much more interesting later on, when he was actually king and doing things that affected a larger scale. Likewise, there's the character of Barack, a nobleman from a Vikingish nation. He chooses not to do with terribly much politicking, which is another choice that adds to characterization more than "He hits things with axes and occasionally turns into a bear."
Also, I'm looking forward to more Tyrion. Best character in the book, y/n?
(The answer is yes. Obviously.)
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