A Game of Thrones

Years ago, friends were raving about this new book series from George R.R. Martin that seemed to be the next best thing in fantasy since Lord of the Rings. I read very little fantasy because so much of it is shitty remixing of classics, and have better things to discover than yet another Tolkien clone. One night, while stranded in a US airport, I spotted a cheap paperback copy of A game of thrones, and figured “why not?”.

I nearly dropped the novel after a few pages due to its insanely cliché setting. I don’t mind the idea of transposing the War of the Roses in a fantasy setting, but stern Northerners that are rough and all about honor living in a place called Winterfell, crypto-mongol invaders in the East, Southerners with fancy fencing styles… I kept seeing those nasty, garish colored cover illustrations of D&D setting sourcebooks from the 1980s. I hate fantasy settings that do cheapass knockoffs of historical Earth cultures, trying to cram as many as possible from different places and time periods to add some diversity. Either go with some type of historically-credible medieval Europe and stick with it (that means people don’t spend their days in full plate), or go crazy and surprise me with true originality, Mathieu Gaborit or China Miéville style. The world of Westeros felt way too much like the Forgotten Realms, and as I avoid such crappy fantasy settings in RPGs, there was no way I would subject myself to one in a novel.

Martin’s writing style was nothing special, unobtrusive, surely way better than the joke that is Stephanie Meyer’s, but the made-for-TV editing in short chapters with mandatory cliffhangers was getting on my nerves as it reminded me a bit too much of that other joke that is The Da Vinci Code. So why did I keep reading? For the plot.

The plot was so much fun. Taken separately, the major plotlines are a bit old and simple, but the way they’re intertwined, with frequent changes of point of view, character deaths etc, really keeps you turning pages. I’m a sucker for throne wars, and while the world of A song of Ice and Fire still remains a piece of shit compared to say, Roger Zelazny’s Amber series, the familial plotting is definitely of similar caliber. Betrayals, fucked-up parent-child relationships, realpolitik: it’s all there. This is why I finished the book and finally watched season 1 of the TV series.

I was happily surprised by the screen adaptation. I may have a shitty imagination, but Martin’s clichés made me expect nearly comical, Xena:Warrior Princess-style esthetics. However, the creators of A Game of Thrones series really tried to make it look serious and professional. Sure, there are a few visual failures, especially hairstyles. The horrible dye jobs à la Orlando Bloom as Legolas or Shakira make most Lannisters and Targaryens look like cheap prostitutes. And we do not need to see greasy curly or britpop hairdos on all male inhabitants of Winterfell, Stark or not, to understand they’re from the same place, the color filter on the image does that just fine. The pleather outfits and accessories could have really used some patina, or at least different cuts to make them look less fake. Some rocks really look made of plastic, like the one where everyone stands when Ned Stark is shown to the crowd in King’s Landing. Overall, the esthetics of King’s Landing are a bit of a failure, with a mish-mash of cool asian courtly garments, heavyset medieval architecture, attempts at Mediterranean touches, conveying of heat, omnipresent plate armor and cheesy, nearly art nouveau details like the leaves on the columns.

But the outdoors scenes look very realistic, the cold, dusty feeling of remote castles is really well transcribed in the sets, the editing provides both excitement and time for character development. And the casting is great, not only do the actors deliver great performances given sometimes limited roles, but they really look the part. Sure, Tyrion may be a bit too handsome. Sure, the Dothrakis are “anyone with dark hair that does not look too Anglo-saxon according to American standards”, but all the others are spot on. Seeing characters so well transcribed to the screen was a great reader’s pleasure.

I don’t know if I have double standards and tend to compare the book with War & Peace and the series with the Power Rangers. But the bottom line is, for me, that watching the series is overall more fun than reading the books. So it’s on to season 2.