A song of ice and fire

Series: A song of ice and fire.
Books read so far : Game of Thrones, Clash of Kings and Storm of Swords
Author: George R R Martin.

3 novels, average 900 pages each. I have finished them in 5 weeks. This is the what is called addiction.

A song of ice and fire is a fantasy series set in medieval time frame where there are kings, kingdoms and battle. It is a fantasy series because there is magic but it is very less and as series moves forward, it is coming back. There is a lot of death in the series, lot of killing etc. It is very dark. A song of ice and fire is told by a list of Point of view characters, we get to see what is happening and how the POV character is thinking as events unfold. And George RR Martin has shown that he can write on and on about Westeros (seven kingdoms) and we will not get bored with it because he has that skill in writing. He can take any character in the series and make him a POV character and it will become a unique story in itself. There are lot of reviews out there of the series, here are some points that i have found to be interesting to me -

1. Common points - (a) Excellent character building, the POV characters are fleshed out in great detail and they are very complex as well. (b) No white or black, these are people, they are good and bad at the same time. They do deeds to survive and these deeds are evil for others. People are shades of grey, you sympathize with them and at the same time you sympathize with their enemy as well. You win in both cases and loose at the same time. And good person die the same way a bad person die. This as everyone has noticed on the web, is the biggest fun in reading the series.

2. Sexuality takes a whole new different meaning in this series, women are shown as elements of subjugation at lower level and yet there are women as queens leading the story. There is a free mention of whores, cutting manhoods :) and sex/rape is mentioned everywhere, yet it is the way of their lives, it is not extreme as we come to know it in our day to day lives. Women talk about it in the same way as men and the world is way different than we know. It is very raw but i think GRRM is very clever that it does not end in titillation and is handled in a very mature manner.

3. Story is moving. GRRM's frame is very big and he keeps on painting. There is a bigger story that while he is telling it, there are lots of short stories. what is interesting is that each short story is deftly crafted, with lots of juice and is delivered in a manner that each one of them feels complete to read in itself. So, not only the bigger story is a fun to read, the shorter stories make the journey very smooth.

4. Play of words. In HP series as well, the story was moving. But what GRRM adds is the play of words which was totally not present in HP, this i think he draws from Tolkein. One clear reference is the notion of singers who write songs about wars and events. This is very Tolkeinish. But there are other word plays such as play between dogs and wolves, giant of a lannister for Imp. The symbolic reference in word play is very interesting.

5. Tyrion. Tyrion is my fav character in the series. His lines are full of wit and humor and when GRRM writes his thoughts, ooh, they are just a delight to read. He is a just and righteous person working in a camp that is doing wrong things. Yet he is tied by blood to work with them. His POV stories are eagerly awaited.

6. I have forgotten Tolkein's writing, all i remember is that it was a joy to read him. But GRRM definitely feels like Tolkein in the scope of his vision.

While HP was great with kids and young adults, i think for adults it has to be GRRM that should be the way. I am going to start 4th - feast of crows tonight. The 5th one comes on July 12 after 5 years. There are to be a total of 7, i do not know by when it will finish.