The second novel of my reading journal was “A dance with dragons” which is written by George R Martin and is the last book in the series of A song of Ice and Fire. The kingdom is war torn, and there is conflict between the powerful families of Westeros. It has a complex story line, and the story is based on a recurring motif which is “A game of thrones”. All conflict which occurs in the storyline is described as a game of thrones, and the powerful men are the symbolised as the players, and the people they control are the pieces of the game. The story is set in a medieval era, and through out the story new characters are introduced and developed. George R Martin uses very symbolic and metaphorical language to express themes and ideas in the story, but also to give hints to the audience. Also, the author plays with the audience through creating conspiracy theories based on the characters.
The book is written in third person. Each chapter is based on a characters experience, which means the readers get a biased view from the characters perspective. Each chapter is written in the view of the character and this means that the reader gets a good understanding of the character and even able to sympathise with all characters as the readers have spent so much time reading from their perspective and thoughts. George R Martin develops his characters through choices they have to make, and essentially questioning their morality. All characters have good and evil in them, in the novel there are no stereotypical heroes and villains. It relates more to reality. Sentences are structured in complex forms as most sentences are composed of many clauses. The author uses very descriptive language to describe setting and characters, to enhance the readers understanding of the world that is presented to them. George R Martin’s style involves including a lot of dialogue in the novel to express what character moods, and rhetorical questions (thoughts) of the characters. The language used is very descriptive, but also very violent and gruesome.
The novel is a fantasy, as it uses common features of fantasy books such as castles and dragons. But there is a lot more to Westeroes than Knights and dragons. The author goes into depth of the history which explains why things are the way they are. This leads to questions being asked about characters and other conspiracy theories. In the world there is hardly any magic but there are many mystical beasts and sinister creatures. Examples would be dragons, dire wolves, wights and the others. The world is more realistic as it includes elements such as betrayal, violence, death of kids, brutality and other negative aspects of reality.
Many themes are prevalent in the series of a Song of Ice and Fire and the most important one is power. The plot is all about the power struggle and the way people get it weather through political claims or royal claims. It all in the end comes down to who is on the iron throne. The conflict through out the plot over acquiring power is described using the metaphor “A game of thrones” which is a recurring motif through all seven books in the series. It is symbolic to the characters as the players are the great powers of the country such as Kings and lords, but the pieces are less powerful people who are being used by the players to gain power, or make sure the person who is ready to snatch it away from you is dead. But not all power is political and military. Some of it is supernatural power for example Queen Deaneries has her dragons, Lord Stannis has access to a fire priestess.
Another theme in the book is morality and principles. Many people make their decisions from what they believe is right and wrong, Eddard Stark was an honorable man who wanted to resolve corruption but ended up losing his head for a treasonous act in which he thought would result in good for everyone. Everybody in the book has a role to play and duties to act. But in some cases their duties contradict with their principles. Characters are forced to do things which may seem immoral to others, but it all has to do with principles of characters.
This all links in with the idea of characters being anti hero. As in a character who is trouble and considered and outcast in society, and may do evil or immoral actions for the greater good. Jon Snow is a great example of a character who is an antihero. He has been discriminated his whole life for being bastard born, and now is the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch; a group of outcasts who have been assigned to guard the “Wall” from any wildlings (barbarians). He has betrayed his whole group as he as allowed wildlings through his wall, men who have butchered brothers of the nights watch. Jon Snow went against his principles, but he did this for the greater good which is to achieve peace for his people. He is heroic and brave and knows letting in all these wildlings, men who could slit their throats any night, to unite their groups to fight a common enemy. The white walkers. Then the question comes to the nights watch. Wouldn’t they be doing their duty killing Jon Snow? Then the entire night’s watch are anti heroes for not killing Jon Snow, who has went against their code of conduct and allowed wildlings into their home. All of them possess heroic qualities of bravery and camaraderie. It can be connoted from this that many of the characters in the series are antiheroes, there are no split heroes and villains.
React!