You may have watched Game of Thrones, but have you read the books? A Song of Ice and Fire is honestly a pretentious title for the book series, but as so often happens, the books are far more than the television series could ever be. That’s not to say the show wasn’t good, it was (except that last season of course), but the books are simply much better.
It is a simple truth that you can write so much more in a book than can ever be shown on television. You can get inside a character’s head and know what they’re thinking, which is very difficult to capture on film. It takes a whole lot of contortions to a script to get it to show the character’s thoughts, and usually filmmakers don’t even try. If you’ve read a book based on a movie, you’ll know what I’m talking about. They have so much less internal depth than a story which originates in a book does.
The books by George R. R. Martin have intricate plots, complex characters, and an amazingly vivid world. If you’ve only ever watched the show, I strongly encourage you to read the books and see the difference. And if both are in your future, read the books first so you don’t have any bias as you think about what you’re reading.
What are the books about?
You probably already know if you’re reading this. In the fictional medieval world of Westeros, several main families are battling to be rulers of the land. These noble houses delve into much political intrigue, with their power struggles etched across a background where monsters and magic are approaching (everyone knows the line ‘Winter is coming.’)
Magic itself surprisingly doesn’t take as big a role in the series as you might think. The families themselves have little involvement in magic, with the northern Stark family being very practical people. There are hints of it here and there, but usually it’s the likes of minor characters who use it, and often when people are turning to the dark side (sorry for the Star Wars reference) in order to gain power. The White Walkers from the far north are much more magically inclined, and there are individuals using magic here and there, but I’m trying to think of anyone who uses magic for good and I can’t. That’s interesting.
The Themes of A Song of Ice and Fire
Moral Ambiguity
This is perhaps the best part of the entire series. Nobody is perfectly good or perfectly bad. Everyone does things which are questionable, and those who talk morality and ethics the most are either killed off because they were unable to bend, or spout being moral in public but act evil in private. I don’t want to say this is how the real world works, but it is, right? Even the best of people sometimes have to do distasteful things when confronted by evil. In the series it makes us think about what we would do in those circumstances, and I know there was more than one occasion when I was willing a character to change for their own survival.
Power and Consequences
Obviously the books talk about power and how people act to gain it, but they also talk about the consequences of getting it. What kind of power do you want, and what will you do to keep it? Danaerys is a good example of this, where she gains power but then has to deal with resistance, and has to decide what she will do at that point. Do you work with the resistance, or crush them? If the former, what does that do to the people you have to betray? If the latter, what does that do to future resistance? Everyone loves to gain something but they rarely think about what it takes to keep it.
The Unpredictability of Fate
There are twists and turns throughout the books, and we quickly learn that nobody is safe from their fate. Just as you start to think one person is going to be the main character, they are killed off, and someone else takes the role. This happens again and again, until you realize that the consequences of their actions are leading to the fate intended for them. It might not be the fate you expect, but it’s coming, and although you can’t predict the outcome for any individual character, the overall arc bends toward everyone getting the fate they deserve.
A Character of Great Interest
I’d like to find a similarity between one of the characters in A Song of Ice and Fire and my own Kingsmoot series, but it’s surprisingly difficult to do. Martin’s characters can often be boiled down to one or two main characteristics (that’s not to say they’re simplistic in any way), so there’s no real mapping between them and my characters.
I decided to take a look at Danaerys, one of the main characters and someone who had one of the biggest journeys in the series. She starts out as a sheltered child but grows through the books to become one of the most important people in the world. She eventually grows into her own belief in herself, embraces the culture around her, and develops into a leader.
My character Cabac doesn’t follow the same path, and was in fact born into power as the daughter of a king. By the time of the Kingsmoot she has become queen of her land, but in contrast to Danaerys she is willing to give it all up so she can have her own life. Her story then becomes one of slowly accepting her fate, and understanding how the role she feels trapped in is something to embrace, not to run from.
The two stories still share similarities though. Both characters have to learn to trust their advisers, and to determine when they are being lied to. Each struggle to balance their ideals with the reality of being a ruler. And of course each ends their story with a difficult decision related to power and the compromise it demands.
Other series to read
If you’ve read A Song of Ice and Fire, you’re probably familiar with many of the books I would recommend to follow it up with. As usual, no series matches another in all aspects. It’s often a case of finding the part you liked the most and looking for similarities with other books.
The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan: I’m not sure why I keep recommending this series. Many people love it but I was just lukewarm on it. Maybe I should go back and read it again. Vast world, large cast, epic battle between good and evil. What’s not so like? I guess I’ll let you know.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson: This might be the series which hews most closely to A Song of Ice and Fire. Multiple storylines, power, morality, intricate world-building, so many similarities if you can get into it. The initial feeling is how dense it is, but by the time you’re a couple of books in it is captivating.
The Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson: I talked about Stormlight recently. Much more magic than other series I might recommend, but it hits on all the highlights of a really good fantasy series.
The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie: So let’s try something a little darker than Game of Thrones. Abercrombie touches many of the same themes, but it’s really a grittier version of the fantasy world. Still, a fresh and interesting tale which I ripped through once I started reading it.
The Broken Empire trilogy by Mark Lawrence: Now here’s where I might lose you. If the First Law series was dark, this one is pitch black. Similar themes but every step of the way you’re expecting the worst, and the author delivers more than you could have imagined. I’d say try Abercrombie first, and only if you like that should you try Mark Lawrence.
In Conclusion
A Song of Ice and Fire is quite possibly the best fantasy series of all time. I’ve been waiting more patiently than most for the next book in the series, and that gap (now more than a decade) is one of the reasons I started writing my own series. If I could have even one percent of the success it had, I would be very successful indeed. Everything the series has is what I want mine to be: intricate, captivating, compelling and thought-provoking.