I’ll be the first to admit that I was late to jump on the Game of Thrones bandwagon. I did not start watching the show until halfway through the fourth season, during which I spent the entire month of May catching up. Needless to say, the show blew me away.
Upon finding out it was based on a novel series, A Song of Ice and Fire, I was intrigued at the notion of potentially starting to read them, but decided I was better served waiting until the conclusion of the acclaimed HBO television series.
But after the conclusion of Season 5, as the show began adapting events differently and spoiling several future plot points because the series had progressed past the novels, I decided to take it upon myself to commit to reading the books to see just what I was missing out on.
And, as it turns out, I was missing out on a lot. So I decided to use the time I had this summer to get caught up in the lore of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novel series.
One of the amazing advantages that come along with reading books is that they allow the opportunity to explore and expand upon a universe that TV and films honestly don’t have the time or resources to. It also allows for more narration and world-building, which is one of many instances where A Song of Ice and Fire shines. With television and a limited number of episodes, you will often get the bare basics of how a world works and for a massive audience, that is necessary. But it can sometimes fall short of the impact books can deliver. Such is the case with A Song of Ice and Fire.
As it currently stands, I have finished the first two books (A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings) and am set to begin A Storm of Swords. While a fair amount of what the show adapted through the first two seasons make up most of the first two novels, Martin is able to paint more feeling into the characters, providing the readers with intimate understanding of how they think and what ultimately drives them.
The ability to convey internal dialogue and create intimacy to the characters can’t be conveyed onscreen. And with the switching character viewpoints within A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin captures these moments of intimacy all too well. One of the biggest differences in the books is the age difference of some noted characters, specifically Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen. Dealing with a 14-year old Jon and a 13-year old Daenerys makes for a very different journey of what the characters endure compared to the older versions portrayed on television.
In the case of Jon, joining the Night’s Watch like his uncle is a path toward finding someplace he belonged, as he was often shunned at Winterfell by Catelyn Stark, and by extension, her daughter Sansa. Catelyn’s feelings towards Jon are nothing short of animosity, as she is clearly upset by the fact that her husband returned with a bastard son whose mother remains a mystery to her.
Jon deciding to join the Night’s Watch is a blessing in Catelyn’s eyes, who never truly accepts him or bears him any good will. In a way, her character is very akin to that of Cersei; she is very driven by her children and is willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to make sure they are returned to her safely. It is one of the defining traits of Catelyn’s character and receives a major focus in the books.
The young Daenerys we encounter in the first two books, especially in A Game of Thrones, is one who longs to return home, which further fuels her feelings to reclaim the Seven Kingdoms. Those feelings are even more understandable in the novels. In A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings, Daenerys references a house with a red door in Braavos, where she and her brother Viserys grew up following their flight from Westeros. The place, which is never really specified, was the closest place she could ever call home and adds another layer to her character outside of birthright claims to the Iron Throne.
These are just several examples of the development that Martin puts into his characters through his writing. The shifting viewpoints, which numbered eight and nine in A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings, respectively, allow for a broad scope of various plot lines to unfold, with corresponding effects on each other that play into the overarching story. Martin’s ability to contain so many plot lines so well in the books, which are laden with much more detail, are further evidence as to what makes this series work so well.
A Song of Ice and Fire is well-documented for the depth and length (each book is at least 800 pages long; starting with A Storm of Swords, each book exceeds 1,000 pages), and this is certainly not a project for the faint-hearted. But A Song of Ice and Fire offers some of the best writing readers can find anywhere, and it allows those who have been fans of the show to better appreciate the expansive world Martin has built.
