Spotlight: A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

Spotlight is my weekly feature in which I highlight a book I’m really looking forward to or really enjoyed.  This week it’s A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, a book it seems everyone is talking about.

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

In A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has created a genuine masterpiece, bringing together the best the genre has to offer.  Mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill the pages of the first volume in an epic series sure to delight fantasy fans everywhere.

In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing.  The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the North of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall.  At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to.  Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.  Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

Is A Game of Thrones the best fantasy book ever published like some claim?  No, not really.  But is it a good book?  Certainly!

I love to get lost in a good book, especially when it’s epic fantasy, so George Martin’s book was a great escape for me lately.  Being propelled into a world where dragons once existed and where winters can last for years was quite the change from the swath of realistic and historical fiction I’ve read lately.  I haven’t curled up with a good fantasy book in a while and if you haven’t either, I’d highly recommend A Game of Thrones.

The world-building is pretty good, but it’s definitely the characters that made me want to highlight this book.  The Starks are obviously the main attraction since the saga follows them, but characters like Tyrion Lannister will make you see both sides of the conflict.  Of course there are the ‘bad’ characters as well, but they’re not all they seem as well.  Cersei, the Queen of Westeros, seems to be your stereotypical Evil Queen, but it’s her background story that makes her oddly sympathetic to me.

I don’t want to give too much away, but if you like characters with actual depth and long, intertwined narratives, you’ll love A Game of Thrones.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every thirty days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

As much as I hate to use the expression frequently, my overall observation about The Maze Runner was ‘meh’.

It wasn’t that the premise or the plot was lacking, it was just that I couldn’t be bothered to care about any of the characters.  When Thomas was angry or frustrated I didn’t feel any of those emotions because James Dashner was telling me this rather than showing me.  Moments (that I can’t reveal without spoiling everything) that were supposed to be poignant and depressing didn’t even provoke emotion in me.  Thomas is supposed to become friends with certain members of the Glade and his mysterious past relationship with the girl Teresa was supposed to be touching, but I felt none of that.  It was just boring and I couldn’t emotionally identify with those relationships.

The whole premise of a mysterious maze is a good one, I suppose.  It could have been done better, though.  The air of mystery James Dashner tries to maintain about the maze just ends up being frustrating because Thomas doesn’t know anything and practically none of our questions are answered by the end.  Yes, I know it’s a trilogy but there should be some questions answered.  Some of the things Dashner did to maintain the air of mystery were just plain dumb: none of the boys answered any of Thomas’s questions.  Really, none.  At all.  That’s ridiculous, in my opinion; they should have at least answered basic questions.

Sometimes the plot moved forward at a very fast pace and other times it just dragged on and on, which isn’t a thing to be praised in a book that’s less than 400 pages long.  Sure, Dashner uses mystery to keep up the suspense, but at times his writing was so pared down that I had no idea what was going on.  It’s frustrating when you know an author has pictured everything perfectly in their head but thinks it’s so obvious that they don’t describe the setting to readers.  That’s basically the entire story of The Maze Runner.

I give this book 2/5 stars.

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Insomnia by J. R. Johansson

Insomnia by J. R. Johansson(Cover picture courtesy of Skye’s Scribblings.)

It’d been four years since I’d really slept, and I suspected it was killing me.

Instead of sleeping, Parker Chipp enters the dream of the last person he’s had eye contact with. He spends his nights crushed by other people’s fear and pain, by their disturbing secrets—and Parker can never have dreams of his own. The severe exhaustion is crippling him. If nothing changes, Parker could soon be facing psychosis and even death.

Then he meets Mia. Her dreams, calm and beautifully uncomplicated, allow him blissful rest that’s utterly addictive. So Parker starts going to bizarre lengths to catch Mia’s eye every day. Everyone at school thinks he’s gone over the edge, even his best friend. And when Mia is threatened by a true stalker, everyone thinks it’s Parker.

Suffering blackouts, Parker begins to wonder if he is turning into someone dangerous. What if the monster after Mia is him after all?

[Full disclosure: I received a free ARC ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

When I was flipping through the NetGalley catalog first I noticed the cover of Insomnia.  Then when I clicked on it to see the blurb, I knew I would have to request it.  The whole idea of entering the dreams of the person you last looked in the eyes is both intriguing and horrifying as we learn.  It also comes with severe mental and physical consequences.

Parker was really a character I could connect with, in part because I’ve suffered from a lack of sleep lately.  You see, when he enters other people’s dreams his mind is actually awake, meaning he is for all purposes getting no sleep.  I don’t know about you, but even after one night of poor sleep I get cranky and irritable, so imagine poor Parker enduring that for four years.  But then a ray of hope: in the peaceful dreams of the new girl at school, Mia, Parker is able to sleep.  You can imagine that would make a) Parker want to see Mia right after school and not want to look anyone else in the eyes and b) creep Mia out because some odd boy is stalking her.  So when Mia is being stalked and threatened for real, you can also imagine who she blames.

All of the characters were awesome except for the villain of the story, who was lame and completely predictable.  Of course she/he goes on a tirade when they have Parker cornered so he can figure everything out.  Still, I can’t complain about the minor villain too much because the encroaching Darkness inside Parker leaves potential for some villain redemption in the next book.

Aside from the characters, the premise was obviously amazing and well executed.  J. R. Johansson really put a lot of effort into creating the premise but also building a world around it with all sorts of rules that Parker discovers along the way.  The plot is sort of mixed in that at times it’s predictable, but other times you really can’t see the plot twists coming.  If nothing else, it’s fast paced so those 350+ pages really fly by.  Trust me, you’ll be glued to the story by both the plot and J. R. Johansson’s awesome writing style.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin(Cover picture courtesy of Eat, Run, Read.)

In A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has created a genuine masterpiece, bringing together the best the genre has to offer.  Mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill the pages of the first volume in an epic series sure to delight fantasy fans everywhere.

In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing.  The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the North of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall.  At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to.  Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.  Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

So, here we are again: I’m about to tackle another incredibly famous book.  Only this time there’s now an even more popular television series based on it.  And I’ve already watched up to the most current episode of the show while reading A Game of Thrones.  This will be interesting, won’t it?  As always, one must ask if the book is as good as its hype.

In a way it is, and in a way it isn’t.

I say that in a way A Game of Thrones doesn’t live up to its hype is because for an avid fantasy reader like me there is no way it could ever live up to such ridiculous hype.  Not even Harry Potter could live up to all of that hype.  And that’s perfectly okay.  It’s still a good book and I’ll try to look at it objectively, disregarding the fact that I’ve watched the television series as well.

George R. R. Martin jumps between quite a few points of view during the course of his epic novel, but I wouldn’t say that it got confusing at any point.  Mostly the characters don’t retell the same thing another character covered and it does move events along quite quickly for a fantasy novel.  The tales of the Starks and the Lannisters are fascinating and I love how we get to see both sides of the story, as well as the great subplot with Daenerys Targaryen, one of two remaining descendants of the last king.  Daenerys is a personal favourite, but Tyrion Lannister and Sansa Stark are close runners up.

The thing I love about A Game of Thrones is that we get to see what drives pretty much every character.  Not all characters are sympathetic in the traditional sense (Joffrey), but some of them like Cersei are oddly sympathetic.  It might just be me but I feel sorry for her being forced into a marriage with a man who would always love a dead girl even though she loved him in the beginning.  Robert never even gave her a chance.  Characters like Sansa who seem annoying in the beginning actually acquire depth throughout the story and even minor characters are well fleshed out.  There are the sort of girl power characters like Arya, but I like Sansa more because she’s a product of the culture she was raised in.  In short, she was raised to be the definition of a ‘lady’ and that’s who she is in the beginning.

Westeros isn’t exactly the most unique fantasy world I’ve ever encountered because it’s based on Britain yet again.  You can easily draw comparisons between Hadrian’s Wall and the Wall, the barbaric tribes, the brutal ruling classes, etc.  However, I wouldn’t say it’s completely cliché partly because the concept of ever changing seasons like summers or winters that last for years is intriguing.  The different lands in Westeros are interesting as well as the lands across the Narrow Sea.

So would I recommend A Game of Thrones?  Absolutely!  Would I call it the greatest fantasy novel I’ve ever read or ever will read?  No.

I give this book 4.5/5 stars.

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Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland

Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland(Cover picture courtesy of Kingston WritersFest.)

Set against the magnificent decadence of Louis XIV’s Versailles, Mistress of the Sun is the extraordinary story of Louise de la Vallière, the beautiful young equestrienne who won the heart of France’s charismatic Sun King.  The spirited child of minor nobility, unable to marry and too poor to join a convent, Louise grows up to become a consort of the King, capturing—and then tragically losing—his favour.  A riveting love story with a captivating mystery at its heart, Mistress of the Sun illuminates both the power of true love and our reckless attempts to capture and tame it.

Historical romance isn’t something I often read, but when I do make an exception to my rule I’m almost always impressed.  Sandra Gulland succeeded in sucking me in to the world of King Louis XIV and his tumultuous, backstabbing court.  It’s not often that I really believe how authors set up romances between known historical characters, but the one between Louise and Louis was quite natural.  It was gradual, but with an undeniable, mysterious attraction.

Of course this book focuses more on characters than on plot.  That’s a good thing because Louise carries the story on her shoulders quite well.  She’s not a heroine with modern sensibilities that you tend to see cropping up in historical fiction: she believes her love of Louis outside marriage is sinful and wrestles with the guilt that comes with it.  Yes, she rides horses well and can be one of the boys, so to speak, but she actually has the perspective a woman of her time would have.  Louis himself is an enigmatic character as well.  Sometimes he acts like a King, other times a normal young man and still other times a cruel man.  His character is complex but you can’t help but see why Louise falls in love with him.

Although Sandra Gulland chose to use composite characters to simplify the plot, the main players in the story are real.  And although I can’t vouch completely for her accuracy, judging from the fact that she devoted an entire blog to talking about her research, I’d say Mistress of the Sun is pretty accurate.  Since I don’t know much about the time the simplifications of plot and characters don’t annoy me, so I don’t think most people will mind.  It’s just a great novel, through and through.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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