thoughts on the books so far

[nooksack]

Remember the Lannisters House Words: A Lannister always pays his debts.

Not to be a nitpicker, but the Lannister house words are actually "Hear Me Roar!" Perhaps you could think of the other phrase as more of a slogan?

[iheartseverus]

Not to be a nitpicker, but the Lannister house words are actually "Hear Me Roar!" Perhaps you could think of the other phrase as more of a slogan?

You are absolutely correct, of course!

[Gurney Halleck]

Lannisters...yes...all good...but Tywin?... not so fun!

[Urien the Ragged]

I am just guessing mind you however I think the Starks will continue to be pilloried. I believe Martin is telling us something about what happens to honorable people. It is indeed a hard lesson but if you study a little history you can quickly see that the world does not hold honor, courage, honesty as characteristics that will bring an individual, or a family, the rewards that most of us believe are due.

Lincoln & Caesar are two men that pop quickly to mind... and we know what happened to them.

one of the first rules of writing is to make your protagonist(s) suffer. martin isn't the only one who does this, he certainly takes it to an extreme, but if there is no struggle, there is no interest, and there is no audience, no money, no hbo series, etc. when you stretch a series over 7 books or more, that's a lot of suffering for the starks.

as of the end of ASOS, tywin is dead, and the mountain, one of the other antagonists, is essentially the breathing dead. he's in the the worst pain anyone can imagine, a hole the size of a fist in his side, veins black, peeing pus, and his screaming is disturbing everyone in the keep. i'd say that martin delivers some vengeance for the good guys, just not how we expect it.

[Tammy]

I'm about 25% finished with this book. And I ALSO can't seem to figure out Baelish's true motiviations. Perhaps he is just playing the game (and playing it well). I don't think he truly covets a crown, and I cannot tell if it is respect(sorrow) or hatred he has for the Starks... or perhaps he knows even more than he lets on and is positioning himself for the return of a Targeryen Queen. We'll see.

But what I hope for the most is that GRRM stops torturing the poor Starks in the coming books. He makes them central to the story, makes is care for them, and does nothing but destroy their lives. Is he just trying to tell us what the world does to good people in his view? Does redemption, vengeance, and glory await them?

When Tywin melts down Ice to make two new swords and infuse them with Lannister red, the pyromancer? was unable to make it fully red. He said that Valyrian steel remembers. I like to think of this as symbolic for the Starks' fates. The Lannisters, and others, may try to take the Starks down and may impose their will and succeed for a while. But, like the swords, they won't be overcome by them; they'll be affected, changed and will never be what they once were, but hopefully soon they'll be reasserting themselves and they'll be strong in a different way.

I just think that they're too important and too central to keeping Westeros safe from the dangers beyond the wall for at least a couple of them to come out of this all right.

[zmflavius]

Not to be a nitpicker, but the Lannister house words are actually "Hear Me Roar!" Perhaps you could think of the other phrase as more of a slogan?

And so far in the series, all of the Lannisters combined have said "Hear Me Roar!" like, twice. And I can only remember for certain one of those times.

[The Maelstrom Knight]

I've just recently started reading the series and am currently 330 pages into A Storm of Swords. Though I do have the general picture of what happens through the rest of this book and the next two. I like this series a lot. It feels like a more complex Adult version of the Lord of the Rings. You don't know what will happen to the characters and most of the plot twists so far have been amazing. Most of the characters are very likable. My favorite Viewpoint characters have to be Jon Snow, Arya, Brandon, Cersei Jamie, and Tyrion. The viewpoint Characters I don't really care for are Sansa and Catelyn Stark, Theon Greyjoy and Daenerys. I also like how complex the politics at King's Landing is. I can't really rank the books yet but all three are great so far. I hope that trend continues

[redqueen]

I saw the show on HBO on the eighth of this month. I started reading it about a week later. I purchased the first book months ago and found the prologue confusing and gave up. I tried again after seeing an episode of Game of Thrones, lots of spoilers since it was season two. It took me hours to get through the first twenty odd pages. I don't know exactly why it was so hard to get all the characters and settings to work. After that, I'm flying through it. I love all the details. I love the descriptions of the food, settings, clothes. I love the way he makes the world work.

I have to see this as a different Earth or not Earth at all since the seasons, weather, is so different. It isn't a true representation of life in the middle ages. In many ways, life in those times was worse. Disease and accidents took many children. Times were tough for all people. Many people seems to judge Catelyn in modern terms. She leaves her children to servants and tutors. The house is in a remote location and is guarded. She can't be blamed for their deaths. If she was there, she would have been a hostage. She might helped the boys escape with their wolves. The only difference is that she would have known they escaped. It wouldn't have changed the boys' fate.

I love that the characters are complex. They aren't all right or wrong. Only a few are completely evil. I upsets me that no one can see inside Tyrion. They all see the outer ulginess. It hard to like Jaime since we know he threw a child out a window although he's suffering now. All the characters are like Jaime in that way: they do stupid things.

[FacelessDude]

I have grown attached to this series over the past few months. I first came across the TV show, my mom was watching it and she finished season 1 and she recommended it. I started watching an episode a night, and after I finished the season I found out it was a book series.

The books are great because of the reality of the characters and their situations. It's not the typical good vs. evil, good wins and story's over. I like how Martin shows multiple POV, and the moral choices and moral dilemmas the characters come across. While reading them it makes me realize how freaking unfair the world is, and how people get through war, poverty, violence, political power plays, and the burden of being human.