So it may have, by some curious means of me babbling about it in several posts, come to light that I am something of a fan of the Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin. Known in the more common vernacular as Game of Thrones, after the first book in the series. This is largely because the TV series is named such. Thus far, I have only watched two seasons of the series, though I have been told that the impending British broadcast of the third season finale depicts quite a momentous event. I will not speak of such things, of course, but in honour of this series finale, I'm going to be babbling on Song of Ice and Fire lines today.
As a fan of the books, I have, somewhat naturally, developed an affinity for a particular noble house. My allegiance is owed to House Stark and my words are simple. Winter is Coming. And it is for these words that I am writing a whole frak ton of my own today. Many a day I have spent "meditating" of a sort on the deeper meanings of the words of the major noble house of Westeros. For the purposes of this post, I have chosen six of the houses. So, without further ado...
House Stark - "Winter is Coming"
The words of the Starks of Winterfell are quite interesting - it is noted in other sources that their words aren't a threat or a boast...they're an ominous warning. On the surface, it's the ominous warning of the inevitability of winter's arrival. A simple statement of fact, really. But to me, it feels like so much more than that. Winter is Coming is a promise, a declaration of intent. It is the nature of the Starks - no matter what happens, if you mess with the Starks, their friends, their loved ones...they will come for you. Today, tomorrow. Time is of no consequence. Winter is a fact. It is coming and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.
House Baratheon - "Ours is the Fury"
This one is an obvious threat. Rage. Fury. Vengeance. The Baratheons are a mighty house, historically not ones to be frakked with or take anything lying down. They're warriors, but they're immediate warriors. Their nature is not like the Starks, they're not patient. They don't do sitting around waiting for this to happen. They're energetic, vigorous, they swing their swords and warhammers at anyone or anything that looks at them cross-eyed. The Baratheons do not wait. Cross them and they'll come for you. No grace period, no thinking. Pure, animal fury.
House Lannister - "Hear Me Roar"
On the surface, it's an obvious reference to their sigil, the golden lion. But when you look into the depths of the Lannister soul...well, it's a boast. It's their pride and their vanity. Epitomised, I feel, by the patriarch of their house, Lord Tywin Lannister. Not content to sit on all the gold in Casterly Rock and be the richest man in the Seven Kingdoms, Tywin Lannister needs attention, validation. For a time, he had the power. Hand of the King for twenty years, the balance to Aerys II's considerable madness. The craving for power and recognition is continued with Cersei, highlighted by her relentless scheming and behind-the-scenes backstabbing she perpetrates in King's Landing. Hear Me Roar is not merely a boast. It's a cry for attention.
House Targaryen - "Fire and Blood"
Not a boast, nor a warning or a threat. Fire and Blood are the values of House Targaryen - the blood of the dragon, the blood Old Valyria. Fire
is radiant, beautiful. Dangerous if mishandled. Fire burns and yes, it's
dangerous. But if you know how to handle it, you meet the other half,
Blood. Family is everything to those of House Targaryen. Hurt their Blood, they will spills yours. Fire and Blood is a double-edged sword. They are the dragon blood, Fire runs in their veins and they treasure their kin, their Blood. If you hurt their Blood, they will rain Fire upon you. On the surface it may not sound like a threat...well, Fire does suggest being threatening, but Fire is also a comfort in times of cold, in places of darkness.
House Greyjoy - "We Do Not Sow"
A matter-of-fact statement. House Greyjoy do not ask for things, they do not compromise. They take what they want, what is theirs. There is an edge of warning to their words. Do not expect anything from them, they do not play by your rules. The Greyjoys may be part of the Seven Kingdoms, but they do not play the laws of the rest of Westeros. They continue to be pirates and raiders, only just about keeping the King's Peace. We Do Not Sow. Our ways are our own. We will fight, raid and pillage anyone who means to stamp us under their heel. Like the direwolves of House Stark, the krakens of House Greyjoy are patient. Water connects everything. The kraken moves fast, but it can also move slow. When it strikes...there is no mercy. The kraken takes what it wants, leaves the rest to the sea.
House Martell - "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken"
To wrap my meditations, I present what I consider one of the most intriguing noble houses in Westeros - House Martell, the ruling house of Dorne. In the Seven Kingdoms, Dorne is a curiosity. Ruled not by lords, but princes. Their words, on the surface, may be seen to reflect their history - the only part of the Seven Kingdoms that successfully stood against Aegon the Conqueror's dragons, as well as the retention of the royal style for their rulers. Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken speaks of proud resilience, an unyielding defiance, but the actions of their house speak other words. Some can be shrewd, patient, biding their time. Others, while just as canny thinkers, are hot-tempered, quicker in their need for vengeance. The Martells are unpredictable in terms of when they will strike and how. In a way, it seems that the Martells very easily live up to the surface of their words. But only insofar as they are one of the more...shy? Reserved. They're more reserved. But that does not mean they have yielded. They're just waiting for the right moment to strike.
I suspect my babbling has made...well, not a huge amount of sense. It never really does. Regardless, these have been my meditations on the house words of some of my favourite houses (/those houses that friends of mine hold dear to as well). They make sense to me at least.
And for those of you about to watch Game of Thrones this evening who have not yet read A Storm of Swords...
Enjoy :D
I'll just point out that the title was not directly spoken to me, as Joe Abercrombie was actually sitting in front of me. But these were the first words I heard uttered by Peter V. Brett, American fantasy author and after hearing him talk last night, all round general DUDE. It is somewhat shameful to admit, but I have not read his books yet, but the first one is sitting in my bookcase, all manner of signed, awaiting its turn in my neat little stack of books I have to read.
Now for some time-honoured context.
My dearest friend Oracle is a huge fan of Peter V. Brett. In fact, we reasoned she was the biggest fan in the room last night. So when I discovered that he was going to be in Bath doing a book signing, I had to tell her. She had to get tickets. And thus, by the curious quirk of temporal mechanics, the uninitiated found himself sitting next to the biggest (self-confessed) fangirl in the room. I'd like to clarify, absolutely nothing wrong with that. And then, when the aforementioned Mr Brett walks into the room, it just so happens that British fantasy author Joe Abercrombie is in the building too. And takes the seat in front of me. Fun fact, this is the second time I've been at an author talk/signing event with Joe Abercrombie in the audience. The first time was when the GRRM Reaper himself, George R.R. Martin was in Bath nearly a year ago. Since I titled the blog post following that event with a direct quotation from the GRRM Reaper, this blog comes with the words of Peter V. Brett.
As I have admitted to my shame, I've not yet read his work. And he was coming out of the tail end of a cold, so intermittent coughing precluded the notion of a dramatic reading from his latest book, The Daylight War. Which is actually no big deal, because he jumped straight into the Q&A session and...he's a very interesting guy and what he had to say about his books and his writing processes hooked me enough that I am exceptionally confident that I will enjoy his first book, The Painted Man. Which is, as aforementioned, patiently waiting on my book shelf.
The biggest thing for me, though, is not the effect he had on me, but the effect I learned he had on my friend's life. Which I won't go into, but it is incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Peter Brett, but last night was her night. I had mine when I met George R.R. Martin and in the same night met Thief, who I continue to foolishly blunder about with and make a complete ass of myself. And she hasn't gotten rid of me yet. Must be doing something right.
So he had this profound impact on my friend and when she tentatively revealed this...I don't think I've seen a man looked more touched in my life. It is one of those moments that will forever be etched into my mind. Let's face it, a part of every writer dreams of being able to make a difference to someone's life, to know that their writing, their characters have empowered someone or helped them through something. It's strange. Something doesn't have to happen to you to have a profound impact. Watching my friend meet her hero and the deep and touching moment that followed...that one's staying with me for a good long while.
Now I mentioned that Peter Brett is a general, all round DUDE. Allow me to elaborate on this point. I said that he was coming down from a cold. He admitted this, he apologised for the lack of a reading and let's face it, he was persevering with a book tour regardless of a physical ailment. That's dudish factor number one. Number two came from what I can only describe as a rather belligerent, self-entitled member of the audience who hadn't read his books at all and seemed to only be there because it was a book reading and thus a society event worthy of his time. And while this man pretty demanded a reading from Peter Brett, he held his own, kept his cool and politely explained that a reading wasn't something that could come under the heading of "winging it". Since he didn't have one prepared and had the highlighted cough, he declined. Now I'm in the service industry. I deal with far, far too many people like this self-entitled gentleman. So I can relate to and respect how he kept his cool and stood his ground. And kept very good humour about it. Add this to the deep and profound impact he had on my friend, it all equals an absolute DUDE who, even without have read his writing, I respect and think is utterly brilliant.
So there we have it. If we take nothing else from this, take this - Peter V. Brett is a dude. On that basis alone, go out and buy The Painted Man. Read it. Enjoy it. Buy the other two books in the Demon Cycle series. It's what I'm going to do. Right after I plough through my ever-growing pile of books to read...
Today I'm going to be doing something a little bit different. Well, kind of mixing things up a little. Something from Column A and something from Column B. On this particular day, Column A is similar to a little something I did back in June. Anyone remember this little gem? I talked a lot here about being a writer, about the community of writers that exist in this wonderful world of ours. Or, as I called it, The Writerverse. It is in the name of The Writerverse that I commence babbling this particular eve.
The quotation in the title is a reference to one specific writer. Her callsign is Spike. As a fellow fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it was only fitting to name her after one of the most awesome characters from the series. Especially as she is, in some respects, my sire. If it weren't for Spike, I may never have discovered that I enjoyed dancing. Going out...having fun. Having that funny odd thing called...a Life.
So there it is. She is my sire, man.
Anyway, Spike is a fellow alumnus from university. In the intervening years between graduation and now, my sire's been up to a lot of very productive things. Take her blog, Review Diaries. I was about to say for example. I wouldn't say for example. I'd say this is pretty big really. While I'm here babbling every which-a-way about all the geeky sci-fi things I love and occasionally talking about awesome books in a vaguely review-like context, she's been solidly reviewing all of the things she loves. And has become something of a big deal in the blogging circles for Young Adult publishing. So much so, she's made it into the top ten for a competition to become the new in-house blogger for Mira Ink Publishing.
Now, this is where we get to the substance of this ramble. Round two of the competition involves making a video, posted to YouTube, wherein the finalist explains what makes them so perfect to be the new voice of Mira Ink Publishing. In this very, very energetic video, Spike very awesomely explains why she is the best choice. To further convince the judges of this...well, this is where we need the good will of you, the gracious people of the Internet. Watch this video. Like the video. Share the video. Rinse and repeat. Ensure that your friends do the same thing. That random kid who walks past Ebenezer Scrooge's house in A Christmas Carol, make sure he does it too.
So there you have it. My sire is awesome. Help her prove it to the Mira Ink judges. Like and share the video. Pretty please!
Lastly, there's the Column B ramble. It's slightly sire related. For this, my sires are Thief and Dragon. And the GRRM Reaper himself, George R.R. Martin. You see, reading the Song of Ice and Fire and a lot about all of the awesome dragons, I actually found myself listening to the whispers of dragons in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I found myself reading up more, investigating the game more and being very tempted to buy it.
Finally, last week, during Steam's autumn sale, I caved. I mean, Skyrim and both DLC add-ons for £26 when the non-sale price is £34.99. Pretty good deal. And now, as a result of this, I am incredibly addicted. Well, maybe not incredibly as instead of spending every waking moment playing Skyrim I'm babbling here, but hey-ho. I'm finding it to be a very compelling game. Don't know how far am I at the moment. So far, I'm a level eleven Dark Elf with a particularly speciality for burning things. What can I say. I like fire. It works for me.
That's the news from my end of the worlds so far. In summation, dear readers, I'm hooked on Skyrim and please, please help out my dear friend Spike.
Also, totally indulging in some old school music from the 90s. To whit...
(Song of the Mind: My Favourite Game - The Cardigans)
Today I'm using the wise words of Xander Harris, mostly in a sort of ironic context. I'm actually a little guilty that I've been so quiet. July was quite the prolific month for me, then August was somewhat swallowed up in an eerie silence. But there's context for that, which naturally I'm going to explain.
The Song of Ice and Fire.
It's hardly unknown that I've been powering through this brilliant series of books since July. Last week I finally came to the end...well, the end so far. Now that I've completed A Dance with Dragons: After the Feast, I have to wait for a while (a good long while, everyone theorises) for The Winds of Winter. But now that chapter that George R.R. Martin read out at the talk in April makes so much sense. So I get to sit here giddily, incurring the wrath of every Ice and Fire geek who wasn't there and is equally champing at the bit waiting for The Winds of Winter to be released. Let it be known, however, that I am just as every bit anxious.
Now the usual tradition after I've finished a book is the Sitting Under the Tree segment, but instead of summing up my feelings for A Feast for Crows or A Dance with Dragons, I'm going to do a huge blab about my feelings on the whole series.
It all started in January, really. For months before my housemate had been raving about the TV show Game of Thrones. I've gone over this story before, but I'm going to briefly recap. My friend Phoenix found out George R.R. Martin was coming to Bath, but found it coincided with Korn playing in Bristol. It turned out that Korn was the day before, but in January she didn't know and I offered to go in her place, get a book signed. At this point I had not read any of the books, I only knew about the TV show. I had, however, bought my housemate the paperback boxset of the first four volumes for her birthday. So in February, after having bought the tickets for the George R.R. Martin event, with my laptop dead, I borrowed A Game of Thrones and took it out in a week. One of my prevailing thoughts was "Frakking Lannisters!" and my overwhelming feeling was that there was only one forgivable Lannister. Tyrion.
Boy was I wrong.
Tyrion Lannister is still, undeniably, one of my favourite characters and quite possibly the best Lannister, but George R.R. Martin is deviously brilliant and managed to make me like Ser Jaime Lannister. He gave me a begrudging respect for Lord Tywin Lannister and made sure I still disliked Queen Cersei Lannister because she is a total nutjob. I love the Starks, especially Arya and her bastard half-brother, Jon Snow. I want Daenerys Targaryen to take the Iron Throne and...
Well, there's a lot of things I want to say, but no spoilers. None at all, no. So now I'm going to try and be vague and general about my feelings on the subject.
It may be surprising to know that the seven paperbacks/five volumes of Song of Ice and Fire are, aside from The Hobbit are the only straight up fantasy books in my book collection. I will (before I have threats hurled at me from various quarters) be rectifying this, but it's going to be slow-going, so be patient. But I've always enjoyed fantasy and Song of Ice and Fire...well, I was hooked from the first second. A Game of Thrones was brilliant, gripping. A Clash of Kings was equally brilliant (and it was the hardback book that I had signed) and A Storm of Swords completely blew my mind. A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons had a lot to live up to and did admirably, but I think A Storm of Swords is still the high point. I'm sure I mentioned it before, but I'll mention it once again. I wish that I had gotten that book signed. Next time. Definitely next time!
Overall though, I loved Song of Ice and Fire. It's brilliant and I can't wait for more. But Song of Ice and Fire hasn't been the only thing that's kept me busy. At the end of August, I was tied up for one brilliant evening watching Brave.
Yes, I have a soft spot for animated films. I have Kung Fu Panda and its sequel in my DVD collection. I intend to add The Incredibles and How to Train Your Dragon at the very least, more likely to follow. Including Brave. It was absolutely brilliant.
So the plot was a tiny bit on the predictable side, but that is a hazard of having watched a whole frak ton of movies and briefly studying film in my first year of university. And being a writer and usually thinking "well, this is what I would do..." resulting in often being right. It's very nice when I'm wrong. Sometimes I'm not, like with Brave, but it was so funny and enjoyable that I forgive it entirely. That and I had the great company of Thief and Oracle for the movie. It was an awesome evening.
Finally, backtracking slightly to Song of Ice and Fire, my fantasy nerve has been repeatedly jumped on. I want more. And not just books or movies. For some reason (mostly because people keep telling me it's amazing), Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is enticing me. That and watching the trailer for the Dawnguard add-on and my affinity for vampires (proper, blood-sucking, bursting-into-flames-in-sunlight vampires). Right now though, I'm going to bide my time, see if this is just a phase that passes or something more. We'll see. And I'll probably have a few people whispering "Get Skyrim" in my ear. That's going to be fun.
For now, this is me being not so quiet and hoping that I stay not being so quiet.
I've made mention before of that fateful April day that I met George R.R. Martin and had the hardcover copy of A Clash of Kings I bought that very evening signed. I won't say so much that I regret having that book signed, but...if I had known just how unbelievably EPIC A Storm of Swords was going to be, I would have bought a hardcover of that one too and had it signed.
Now I've been reading the paperbacks, so A Storm of Swords was really two epic books for me, subtitled Steel and Snow and Blood and Gold respectively. For the purposes of simplicity, I'm pooling my review together, so I'll be covering both books. Now as this is volume three in the Song of Ice and Fire, spoilers for A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings will likely follow. You have been forewarned.
As with every blog about the Song of Ice and Fire, I'll begin by taking stock and introducing the state of play as it stands at the beginning of the book.
A Storm of Swords slightly overlaps the end of A Clash of Kings, but here's what's happening - Ser Jaime Lannister, the "Kingslayer" and Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, has been released from captivity at Riverrun by Lady Catelyn Stark in the hopes that the Lannisters will release Lady Catelyn's daughters, Sansa (held pretty much captive at King's Landing) and Arya (last seen in the company of Lord Beric Dondarrion's raiders). His brother, the brilliant Tyrion Lannister, is recuperating from an impressive wound (a scar now runs across his face) gained during the battle outside King's Landing. He has been replaced as Hand of the King by his father, Lord Tywin Lannister, who is being hailed as saviour of the city after he arrived with a great host of southern lords, defeating Stannis Baratheon's army. But everyone forgets that it was Tyrion's plans that prevented the majority of Stannis' army, embarked with his fleet in Blackwater Bay, from landing and turning the tide of the battle.
Elsewhere, (i.e. in the North), Jon Snow has, under orders from ranger Qhorin Halfhand, gone over to the wildings and comes face-to-face with the King-Beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder. Bran and his companions, Hodor, Jojen and Meera Reed, leave the ashes of Winterfell behind to make for the Wall, where the three-eyed crow in Bran's dreams awaits.
Seaward now and Ser Davos Seaworth, loyal servant to Stannis Baratheon, is found alive and...not so much well, but definitely alive, following the Battle of the Blackwater. He returns to Dragonstone, intent of killing Melisandre, the Red Priestess who stands at Stannis' side, guiding his campaign. Before he can so much as flinch in her direction, he is arrested and placed in a cell. Further across the seas, Daenerys Targaryen has left Qarth after the Sorrowful Men (a guild of Qartheen assassins) attempt to kill her, journeying to Astapor to buy herself an army. A slave army...
So basically, that's where everyone stands. But over the course of the book...well, several of the characters are left distinctly less than standing.
A Storm of Swords is...good gods, it's a bloodbath. A cruel, twisted ingenious bloodbath. All through the reading of this book (/two books for me), I was in contact with Thief who was urging me on, continually ordering me to read faster and on the receiving end of some very astonished text messages when certain things happened. As much as I want to go into them chapter and verse, I don't wish to spoil too many things. So I'll perform my usual trick - babble about my favourite characters.
Ser Jaime Lannister. I never, ever thought, in the depths of A Game of Thrones, that I would come to like this smug son of a bitch. But in A Storm of Swords, Jaime becomes a perspective character and as a consequence of that, I came to a bizarre understanding of the man, how he lives eternally in the shadow of his label "Kingslayer". In his journey back to King's Landing, he is accompanied by Brienne of Tarth, who reminds him at every possible moment about the oath he swore and he broke it when he slew King Aerys II Targaryen, the Mad King. In spite of the fact that it was probably one of the best things he's ever done, for reasons he elaborates. But it's this torment he seems to feel, the burden of being the Kingslayer that makes Ser Jaime Lannister, for me, a compelling character. He may not be the best Lannister, but...gods I can't believe I'm saying this, but he's all right.
The best Lannister, of course, is Tyrion. The Imp. His size may be small, but his wit and brilliance are great. If only someone would actually recognise that and stop putting him down so much. Removed as Hand of the King by the arrival of his father (who was actually named Hand of the King, but sent Tyrion to act in his stead while he waged war on Robb Stark), he is named Master of Coin as Lord Petyr Baelish ("Littlefinger") has been sent to the Vale to woo and seduce Lysa Arryn, to keep the Vale and all its forces "in the King's peace" and thus out of the war. Or deep in it, so long as they're on Joffrey's side. But it seems that no matter what job he has, Hand of the King, Master of Coin, Tyrion Lannister is hated and misunderstood. And has a big mouth that gets him into A LOT of trouble. But it's that big mouth and its witty quips that we love so much.
Moving away from the Lannisters, it's time to take a moment to talk about some of the Starks. First off, Robb Stark. Never a perspective character, but man do I want this guy to win. Through Lady Catelyn's eyes, we see that Robb shares his father's sense of honour and the burden of leadership - especially when he arrives back at Riverrun...with a new wife in tow. Who is not of House Frey, despite Robb being betrothed to a Frey daughter of his choosing. Now that causes some friction, but allows Robb to forgive his mother for freeing the Kingslayer.
Now when I talk about the Starks, I can't help but talk about Arya. She's the stubborn little warrior girl and my favourite of all the Starks. And the poor girl never seems to catch a break. So far, every time she's come even a tiny bit close to getting what she wants, it's all snatched from under her. But credit to this little firecracker, she keeps going and going. And oh my, where she's going...I can't wait to see what happens!
And finally, Jon Snow. Gone over to the wildings. I must admit, I feel Jon Snow's initial epicness in A Game of Thrones has diminished somewhat, but I still like him. But mostly because, if not for his perspective, we wouldn't have a brilliant chapter where we finally get to meet the fabled Mance Rayder. And believe me, Mance Rayder does not disappoint for a second.
When I babbled about A Clash of Kings, I mentioned a theory about the Red Priests/Red Priestesses being behind a conspiracy. I've seen re-thought that theory and it's been a tiny bit proven wrong. Which is a shame, because I like a good conspiracy, but alas there isn't one that I know of. But I wouldn't bet on anything at this point. Especially in A Storm of Swords.
So I mentioned at the beginning it's a bloodbath. Oh gods, such a bloodbath. George R.R. Martin is an evil genius. Not many books will have me screaming at them, jumping for joy or giggling maniacally, but A Storm of Swords (especially book two, Blood and Gold) had me doing that all the time. So far, I think this is my favourite instalment of the Song of Ice and Fire. But I'm only two chapters into A Feast for Crows so far, I'll let you know how that goes in a week or two. Depending how fast I read. I expect I will have Thief standing with her bow and arrow to make sure I read faster.
I've been building up to this bad boy since April, oh that fateful day in April where I came face to face with the man himself, George R.R. Martin. At that point, I had only read the first novel in the Song of Ice and Fire series, A Game of Thrones. So naturally, I bought the second in the series, a beautiful hardcover and had it signed. However, I vowed that I would be fair to all the other books that were in my reading pile and get through them first before reaching A Clash of Kings. Finally, early this morning, two weeks after I started reading it, I reached the end. And so, it is time to share my thoughts.
I will warn and apologise now, some spoilers for the events of A Game of Thrones may follow. You have been forewarned.
Now on with the show!
Let's take stock for a second. At the end of the first book, there are no less than four kings in the Seven Kingdoms. Here's the rundown: Joffrey Baratheon, "heir" to King Robert Baratheon and "rightful" king of the Seven Kingdoms, except that he's the bastard child of Ser Jaime Lannister and his sister, Queen Cersei Lannister. Ew. *Shudder*. Next up we have Stannis Baratheon, Lord of Dragonstone and brother to Robert Baratheon. He was the first to discover the truth of Joffrey's birth, but buggered off to Dragonstone before doing anything about it. So with his brother dead and the throne rightfully his, he decides to finally get off his butt, with a creepy Red Priestess at his side. But there's a twist.
His far more popular brother, Renly Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End, has declared himself king and even married the maiden daughter of Lord Mace Tyrell, the Lord of Highgarden, thus bringing with his claim to the Iron Throne the vast majority of the southern lords. Not only are the Lannisters, who are naturally all rallied around King Joffrey, more than a little disconcerted by this, Stannis isn't too happy either.
Finally, there's Robb Stark, Lord of Winterfell upon his father's execution in A Game of Thrones, declared by his lords and bannermen as King in the North. He's won himself a neat little victory against Ser Jaime Lannister, taking the famed "Kingslayer" hostage, giving the Lannisters a little bit of pause for thought. So far he's pretty much the only one of the kings who doesn't want the Iron Throne.
Now I could try and sum up the plot...but good gods, that's a lot of information to try and distil into a small collection of paragraphs. You know how people joke about how you've "written an essay" when you write something ridiculously long in a space generally reserved for smaller trains of thought? This would be a thesis. So instead, I shall run through some of the characters (my favourites mostly) and through them hopefully some semblance of the plot.
I'll start with our dearly beloved favourite, Tyrion Lannister. As far as I'm concerned, he's the only forgivable member of House Lannister. As of A Clash of Kings, Tyrion has been sent to King's Landing to act as Hand of the King, despite the fact that his father Lord Tywin had been named to the post. In this position...well, he is just so brilliantly Tyrion. Plotting, scheming, having the back-stabbing Commander of the City Watch shipped off to the Wall to become a Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch. And credit to Tyrion, he does his best to keep order while his nephew shows how much of a sociopath he is and his mother, Tyrion's "sweet sister", plots and schemes to keep Joffrey on the Iron Throne and the knowledge of her union with Jaime Lannister a neat little secret. All the way through, Tyrion never fails to be an intriguing, devious little character that I just love rooting for. If I was reading before going to sleep, I would finish a chapter, find the next one was a Tyrion chapter and have to read on.
But Tyrion's not the only compelling character. One of the continuing surprises in the compelling character category is Sandor Clegane, a.k.a. "The Hound", Joffrey Baratheon's loyal bodyguard. Seen only through the eyes of Sansa Stark, held pretty much prisoner in King's Landing, The Hound confounds and confuses. He's this brutish thug, only just a step above a murderer. And even though he's spending ninety percent of his scenes ruining Sansa's illusions of knights and chivalry, he's really opening her eyes. Now I'll admit, I didn't like Sansa in A Game of Thrones, but she's really matured in A Clash of Kings, starting to see the truth of the world. I wonder how much of that is due to The Hound's harsh, yet wise words.
Speaking of the Starks, there's Arya. Let's face it, she's my favourite of the trueborn Stark children (because the bastard Jon Snow stands in a class of his own) and her arc...well. She's turning into quite the little warrior. A sneaky little warrior. Having escaped King's Landing with Yoren, a Brother of the Night's Watch, she and Yoren's band of miscreants bound for the Wall manage to fall afoul of the war for the Iron Throne. But wait a second, the Night's Watch takes no part in any wars, right? Try telling that to the frakking Lannisters. No sooner than Yoren, Arya and co run into Lannister men, they are all but massacred and end up at the cursed fortress of Harrenhal. Now I must restrain from saying too much here, as when I met (for all of five seconds) George R.R. Martin, while waiting in line to get my book signed, I overheard the future of Arya's arc. And from what I read in A Clash of Kings...oh gods I can't wait to see where this ends up going! Yeah, I'm rooting for Arya Stark here. She's badass.
Of course, no rambling of thoughts and feelings on a Song of Ice and Fire book would be complete without rambling a little bit about my personal choice to take the Iron Throne, Daenerys Targaryen.
Let's face it. Daenerys has dragons. Not just as the sigil of her house, but...godsdamnit, the girl has three actual dragons! Now my friend Wench pointed out that dragons shouldn't really be the entitlement to the Iron Throne, but...watching Daenerys come from this scared little girl to mature into such a strong leader...okay, so she doesn't have a host of thousands like the Lannisters, the Starks or Renly Baratheon, but she has spirit, determination and...well...DRAGONS! Daenerys is spending most of her time in Qarth, with people flocking around her, all but trying to buy her dragons from her. And she's having none of it. Sucks for her, because she wants an army, then want the dragons...nobody's getting what they want here. But Daenerys will find a way. She better, because I really want her to become Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. While others are fighting each other to gain the throne, Daenerys is running across half of Essos, enduring the loss of her beloved husband Khal Drogo and stillbirth of her son, Rhaego. I just feel that Daenerys' personal trial of fire (pun not intended now that I realise it) is earning her, slowly but surely, her right to claim the Iron Throne. That and by the time she gets her ass to Westeros, chances are everyone will have killed everyone else. Though I'm hoping Robb Stark survives and Daenerys lets him remain King in the North. I just think it would be cool.
Also, personal theory...the Red Priests/Priestesses of Asshai are totally behind the whole war for the Iron Throne. Seriously. The clues are there...or I'm reading far, far too much into it. Guess we'll find out. I've already started reading A Storm of Swords and I have all the books up to A Dance with Dragons. And I'm just going to power through them all, one after the other. I would be fair to my other books, but the way A Clash of Kings ended...I have to keep going! Then I imagine the end of A Dance with Dragons will torture me even further. Like I say, we'll see. Until then, this has been my ramble about A Clash of Kings.
Oh and during conversation with Thief during the writing of this blog, I have invented a new word: Tyrionical. Similar to Machiavellian, it relates to any plan/scheme that involves an exceptional displays of cunning, deviousness and brilliance. Just like Tyrion Lannister, the word's namesake.
So there you have it. Tyrionical. Use the word well.
I have this funny feeling I'm about to invoke some mega-nerd rage from those among my readership who weren't at St Michael's Church in Bath last night. There's a particular Battlestar Galactica and Harley Quinn fan stuck in the deep recesses of Wales that I believe was rather angry with me when I visited Caerdydd this one time and showed her the tickets to this event. You see, last night, at the aforementioned church, legendary sci-fi and fantasy author George R.R. Martin (that's right, Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones) was doing a talk and then book signing.
Oh and he read an extract from his sixth book, The Winds of Winter.
*Ice and Fire fans everywhere explode with rage and grab various items of Valyrian steel*
Naturally, in honour of this momentously awesome occasion, my usual Joss Whedon quotation title tradition has been set aside for the words of George R.R. Martin himself. The title was his response to the question "Why do you treat Tyrion so badly?" Despite having only read A Game of Thrones so far (my signed hardcover copy of A Clash of Kings now awaits me on my bookshelf), I think that's a fair assessment.
I also think it's a fair assessment to say that last night was frakking awesome!
Thanks here go to Topping & Company Booksellers, an independent bookshop in Bath (with another shop in Ely, Cambridgeshire) and the ever wonderful SFX magazine, who through means I've not questioned managed to secure George R.R. Martin's visit to Bath. Kudos, ladies and menfolk. Kudos. Also, much thanks to SFX for laying out copies of issues 219 and 220. I'd already bought 220 for the Jane Espenson interview, so nabbed a copy of 219. Discovered when I arrived home that it had an exclusive Joss Whedon interview. I don't suppose, if anyone from SFX reads this, we could get a Joss Whedon event? Or maybe William Gibson? Pretty please?
Ahem.
So, last night.
It was awesome.
Did I mention that before? Yes? Oh well. It's worth mentioning again.
I'm not sure how much to say about the evening, given that I imagine SFX have some manner of exclusive scoop lined up in their next issue (which I'll totally buy so I can say "I should know. I was there.") So I'll just babble. It's what I do in all my other blog posts and it seems to work out well for me.
I'm always a little bit taken aback at how genuinely funny authors are and I don't know why. I'm going to digress a second - about a year ago I read Douglas Adams' Salmon of Doubt and it made me wish I could have seen him giving a talk before he had passed away (sadly, I had no idea about his awesome writing until long after he passed), as the things he wrote that we collected into Salmon of Doubt were absolutely, genuinely hilarious.
George R.R. Martin was definitely not one to disappoint in the "genuinely hilarious" category. His thoughts on what would have happened should Conan have wandered through the Shire were particularly amusing, as was his insight on the difference between plagiarism and research, now immortalised in the back of my notebook (where all awesome lines that I must use one day go). And, somewhat predictably I imagine, as a writer I found myself listening very attentively to the things he was saying about his characters and what he does with them (this being in the elaborated response to "Why do you treat Tyrion so badly?") and thinking "I might need to take some of these lessons on board."
I also found myself entertaining delusions of one day doing a talk that big when I'm a rich and famous sci-fi author. Not sure I should really be admitting to that...
Now I'd like to digress and take the opportunity to talk a little bit about my thoughts on the Song of Ice and Fire series...well, I say my thoughts on the series. My thoughts on A Game of Thrones.
I came to Song of Ice and Fire sort of through the TV series Game of Thrones. I will say now, I haven't watched it, but my housemates have, they raved about it and when one of my best friends thought she couldn't make the talk yesterday because of a Korn concert (conveniently the day before, it turned out), I offered to go in her stead and get her book signed. From what everyone had been saying, I was kind of intrigued by the sound of Game of Thrones (TV series) and since we'd bought one of our housemates the paperback boxset of the books, it was only natural that after buying tickets for the event that I borrowed A Game of Thrones.
This was, conveniently, around the same time my laptop died.
With nothing to while away the hours I wasn't working but the pleasure of reading, I powered through A Game of Thrones in about a week. I loved it. I geeked out with a regular customer (now good friend) at work about my progress through the book. I found myself rooting for individual characters, not their houses. Definitely despise the Lannisters, with the obvious exception of Tyrion. He's an intriguing, brilliant and devious character, but above all it's his perceptiveness that I enjoy most of all. He has an incredible eye for the frailties and strengths of those around him. His rapport with Jon Snow, another favourite character, is definitely one of the more interesting character dynamics. But above all, I found myself really rooting for Daenerys. It might be that I like dragons. It might be that the word Targaryen rolls off the tongue so nicely that I think she should take the Iron Throne back. Maybe it's the fact that, in the beginning, you're keenly aware she's a thirteen year-old girl who matures into this incredibly strong and wise woman - I could easily believe she aged ten years through the course of the book, even though I'm pretty sure she's fourteen by the end of things.
There's so much more to say, but I fear saying it will risk spoilers, so my digression ends there. In fact, I think this a good place to wrap things up, so it's time for a Jerry Springer-style final thought.
Seeing George R.R. Martin speak last night and briefly meeting him as he signed my book...AWESOME!
*Alien Dave now goes into hiding to avoid geek-rage backlash...*
