This is a novel of things going from bad to very, very much worse. It’s
a novel of politics, and battles and intrigue, of honor and dishonor, of
heroes and of truly nasty people. It’s an epic fantasy, and it makes
David Farland’s The Runelords look like a cheap
comic book.

To tell the truth, I don’t entirely like this book; reading it is rather
like watching a car crash in slow motion. I knew that before I started,
though, as this was my third time through it. Why did I read it again,
if I dislike it so much? Because it’s the first book in a series, and I
want to see how the story ends. Because the writing is clear, the
plotting is detailed, complex, and flawless, the conception is vast but
not sketchy, and the characters are well-drawn and fascinating. I
dislike it not because the writing is bad, for it is not, nor because I
dislike that characters, for I do not, nor because it is a bad story,
because it is not, but simply because awful things happen to characters I
like, and it’s clear that things are going to continue to get worse
before they get better.

I should add that the pain isn’t gratuitous. Some authors (notably
Katherine Kurtz in her later books) seem to take a sadistic
pleasure in denying their characters happy endings. Horrible things
happen simply because they can. Nothing ever goes right; everything
always goes wrong, in the worst possible way. Here, all the troubles–the divisions, the
intrigues, the betrayals, the deaths–make sense and follow logically
from the backstory. It’s a bad situation; I didn’t feel like Martin was
making them worse than he had too.

The political set up is complex. Three hundred years before the tale
begins, the land in which it takes place was divided into seven kingdoms.
Then came Aegon Tragaryen and his men from across the sea. Aegon was
called the “dragonknight”, and with good reason; he brought with him
three large, ferocious, and fire-breathing dragons. There was some kind
of unique bond between the Tragaryen line and the dragons, for the
dragons would do Aegon’s bidding. After a fair amount of fighting, Aegon
was crowned King over all of the seven kingdoms.

Aegon’s line ruled for almost three-hundred years. The dragons and their
young were held in honor, but at last, some hundred years before the
story begins, the last dragon died. The Tragaryen line wasn’t doing well
either, for all of this time the kings had been marrying their sisters to
keep the royal blood pure. The last Tragaryen king, Aerys II, was a
bloodthirsty madman, and half the realm rose against him.

The rebels were led by Robert Baratheon, and his foster-brother Eddard
Stark, heir to Winterfell. In past times, before the coming of the
Tragaryens, Winterfell had been the seat of the Kings of the North, and
Eddard was the heir of that line. The rebels were victorious, Aerys II
was killed, and Robert Baratheon took the throne. Robert had been
engaged to Eddard Stark’s sister Lyanna, but Lyanna had been raped by the
son of King Aerys; this was casus belli. Lyanna died of her wounds. The
King must needs marry, and he married Cersei Lannister, daughter of Lord
Tywin Lannister of Casterly Rock. Like Eddard Stark, Tywin was the heir
of one of the original seven kingdoms. The Lannisters had played it cool
during the civil war, coming to the support of Robert Baratheon only when
it was clear that he was going to win; indeed, there were signs that
Tywin’s son Jaime Lannister would have taken the throne for himself if
things had gone just a little differently. Instead, Robert settled in to
reign in King’s Landing in the south, and Eddard Stark returned to
Winterfell in the north.

Fifteen years have passed, and the realm is (though none realize it)
deeply troubled. Robert is an impatient man, and a bad king. He prefers
tournaments and boar hunts to ruling, and the Lannisters have taken
advantage of this to take over as many of the royal offices as they can.

So the situation stands when Robert comes north to ask Eddard to be his
Hand, that is, his chancellor, the one who speaks with the king’s
voice. Eddard agrees only because the previous Hand, his foster-father
Jon Lord of Arryn, was likely murdered by the Lannisters. He goes to
find out what happened, and to bring the murderer to justice.

That’s the short version of the back story. It’s the characters who keep
me reading:

First, there’s Eddard Stark himself. He’s an honorable man, a skillful
commander, a wise ruler, but he is lord of a rural domain far from the
intrigues of the capitol. He is insufficiently sneaky for the task that
is thrust upon him.

Eddard’s oldest son Robb is but fifteen years of age, and much like his
father. He must rule over Winterfell in his father’s absence, and rise up
to the challenges that will seek him out.

Eddard’s older daughter Sansa is a perfect lady, a romantic, and a fool.
Fools learn from experience, and she gets plenty. Will she learn from it?

Eddard’s younger daughter Arya is a tomboy, and well acquainted with all
of the folk of her father’s castle, high and low. She’s tough,
courageous, and no fool, and it’s a darned good thing.

Eddard’s son Bran is injured in a fall, and loses the use of his legs.
My suspicion is that he’ll turn out to be the bravest of all the Starks.

Eddard also has a bastard son named Jon Snow, who is about the same age
as Robb. Jon was raised with the others, but cannot inherit. No one
knows who his mother is; Eddard stifles all rumors with anger and
finality. As the realm begins to crumble, Jon is sent north to join the
Brothers of the Night’s Watch at the Wall of ice that separates the lands
of men from the frozen north. And it becomes clear long before the end
of the book that battles over the throne are mere squabbles, and that
the real conflict will be here at the Wall. Here, and only here,
is there any hint so far of supernatural evil.

Tyrion Lannister is the second son of Tywin of Casterly Rock. Further,
he’s a foul-mouthed, cynical, sarcastic dwarf. He’s also become my
favorite character in the whole book. He’s not a nice guy (he’s a
Lannister, after all) but his choices are limited. Unlike his father, he
is capable of kindness, if of a piercing, sarcastic variety. He’s smart,
and capable of taking care of hiimself. He’s good at making the best of
a bad lot. My suspicion is that he’s going to be the next Lord of
Casterly Rock, and that the Starks are going to have to make peace with
him if anyone is going to survive in the long run.

And then there are the two jokers in the deck. Stannis Baratheon is King
Robert’s younger brother. Throughout this book he is notable in his
absence; he hovers, never present, but looming dimly just over the
horizon. And there is Daenerys Tragaryen, daughter of Mad King Aerys,
who barely escaped death at the hands of Robert and his men and has been
living a wandering, threadbare life with her brother Viserys in a land
over the seas from her father’s realm. Will the dragons fly again?

This should say something about the book–it’s taken me pages just to
give the smallest idea of what it’s about. There are, at present, two
sequels, one of which I’ve read previously, and one of which I haven’t;
I’ll be getting to this over the next few weeks.

But not immediately.