Book Review: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin

Joana .
Feb 15, 2021
5 min read

A long-called for review, if you ask me!

A gift from a dear friend of mine. I read it. As a favour, I believe... No more!

*** If you're a fan of the book series, I strongly urge you to turn a blind eye to this review. I'm sure it would crush you. ***

Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.

A Song of Ice and Fire narrates a story set three centuries before the actual story starts. The primary story revolves around the wars between the power families of Westeros over the iron throne. The second part involves the threat to the Others, residing beyond an 8000-year-old "Wall" and the rise of the Night King. Third and final story follows Daenerys Targaryen, and her rise to power, with the hatching of the three dragon eggs.

"A Song of Ice and Fire received praise for its diverse portrayal of women and religion, as well as its realism."

Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word.

The story starts with an interesting scene of a snow blizzard in a foreign land. However, the description of the snow, the castle, and the setting, in general, goes on and on and on (like what happened with Paolini's Inheritance). I started losing interest in the story from the beginning -___- but you see, it turns out that it's a common thing for Martin: glazing paper with heavy descriptive letter soup. And that's a major turn off.

The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.

As when starting any other book for an author you're new to, it takes the reader some time to get used to the style of writing and better apprehend their (the author's) approach to setting the scenes, the character, etc. The case with this book wasn't any different. Starting with a backstory is good, but it was simply too dull... that can't be promising... Soon I realised the whole thing is dull and boring!

Martin has a repetitive style in writing his characters' arcs: introduce a new one, build him/her up throughout the chapters, kill them off because... why not. I'm not sure if some find that appealing, but imo, it only weakens the storyline! You want your story to feel more "realistic" and your characters "relatable"... people in real life don't just die here and there for no valid reason! I mean, this pattern was so repetitive throughout the story that the ending was just expected and lifeless like the rest of this book... Yes, as an author, you have the right to use your imagination, and in the realm of fiction and fantasy, anything and Everything is expected to happen. Anything! Just add a sprinkle of creativity and end your characters' lives in some other decent way bro! But hey, you killed them all off in the last chapter, and the "Red Wedding" was a very much suitable title for it.

Love is the bane of honor, the death of duty. What is honor compared to a woman's love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms ... or the memory of a brother's smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy.

Jokes aside... wait the whole book's a joke (LOL) But seriously, the rapey scenes... they misogyny... where do I even begin... I don't think I have the energy to even go on and on about the disgusting and outrageous effort invested in developing those lines...

I am surrounded by flatterers and fools. It can drive a man to madness,.. . Half of them don’t dare tell me the truth, and the other half can’t find it.

Short Analysis:

Book cover: (0 stars)

Erm... no, I really don't like it.

Writing style: (0.5 stars)

GRRM tends to rely heavily on the descriptive. I can't say that there were no references for him to turn to, for a finer approach to writing (best one: JRRT. He did a very good job with his LotR series). He could have cropped a lot of word-fill and employed it for better and more worthwhile details
Far too many characters were introduced in the story. GRRM always builds them up throughout the chapters, only to end their shortlived life after you thought you started getting attached to them
I'm not sure where things went wrong for this man, but he sure enjoys the rapey scenes. Quite frequent, elaborate, and very unrealistic sex scenes. A highway for word fill for any book!
If he were an amateur writer, that would be his excuse. But you can't just follow the same pattern of writing and have the same strategies for the flow of events throughout the entire story, and for all characters!

Plot: (0.5 stars)

The story is set in (?) medieval England. At a time where noble families are fighting to get a hold of the throne and rule the land.
Quite boring and unoriginal for a fantasy book... with many loose ends
This book had been praised for the political plots, family feuds and relatable characters. I honestly wouldn't pick a fantasy book based on the former two, nor was I able to relate to any of the characters *smh*

Story structure and content: (0.5 stars)

Boring
There was "much" going on, but nothing really was going on
There were too many POVs, I lost count and it was quite confusing
The characters were barely pleasant, nor were any of them relatable, not in any sense...
Here's another thing about GRRM: the character arcs, the subplot, all of it... it just gets repetitive and loses whatever "spark" or "element of surprise" Martin had in store for the reader.

Ending: (0 stars)

Predictable. Boring.

Final rating: 0.5 stars /5

George R. R. Martin has his own fanbase. I'm not part of it, and I've clearly elaborated on the reasons why I am not. There was major potential for his story to flourish and blossom! Yet, the wearisome and tiring plot for a fantasy book, the boring and unrelatable characters as well as the predictable writing... all stir up soup in a pot of an epic fail for a story.

Would I ever come back to this book?

Never

Would I recommend it to anyone?

Absolutely not!

You see, not all "praised" books/authors are actually good. Finding a book that's actually worth reading, truly is a tiring mission!

Wow. I'm glad I'm done with this!