To read or watch #GameofThrones

I’m a sucker for almost any HBO series, and the GOT series got positive reviews. So, I was in for it. But, people had complained on some blogs that the series was hard to follow—lots of characters, and it was not easy to sort them out. So, to better enjoy the series, I decided to read the book first.

The book was hard to get into—confusing, with lots of references to characters that it was hard to sort out. I almost quit at the Catelyn chapter (pp 22-27). I didn’t quit, but just because I really, really wanted to watch a good HBO series. I spent a couple of hours on this short chapter—going back to the appendices, looking up information on the net. There’s a Wiki of Ice and Fire that gives incredible detail, and the HBO homepage for GOT was helpful also.

As I sorted the characters out, I began to be charmed by Martin’s writing. In this first book, he writes from the POV of 8 different people, and he’s skilled at seeing the world as the character he’s using would see it. By the chapter on Bran (page 74), I’d become an admiring fan. Bran’s a 7 year-old boy, one of 5 (6 if you count the bastard) Stark children. Each of the Stark kids got a direwolf puppy (first chapter), and Bran was trying to figure out what to name his pup. He thought his sister Sansa was stupid for naming her direwolf Lady. And he wasn’t that happy with his 3 year-old brother, Rickon, naming his direwolf Shaggydog. His bastard brother, Jon, however, had named his direwolf Ghost, and Bran heartily approved of that name.

Turns out this chapter revealed all kinds of things about the way Martin writes, things that have earned him such devoted fans. First, though Bran’s chapter was very 7 years-oldish, it was nonetheless interesting. Second, Martin laid on details that enriched our understanding of the characters and their settings. His writing, in fact, reminds me of Stephen Wiltshire’s drawing in its ability to layer in information.

But, third, most importantly, the chapter ended with a horrifying surprise. Nothing inconsistent with what had gone before, but completely, breathtakingly unpredictable and irreversible. Here’s one very important thing about Martin—he will kill or maim ANYONE. No. One. Is. Safe. His plot turns happen quickly, unexpectedly, just as life might, often does. So, IOW, not just charming characters, rich detail, but gripping narrative, page-turning stories, such that it’s hard to put the book down once you’re in (for me, it was page 75).

That’s just to begin. I’d also add that the world he creates is complicated, unimaginably but very imaginatively, complicated. So, it’s always interesting. Another point: his characters are complex—his villains are only occasionally without redeeming qualities, and his heroes are usually significantly flawed. In fact, it’s not really always clear just who the heroes and/or villains are. And this I love about Martin: he seems to favor, to rip off the title of Episode 4, “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things.” No LOTR pretty people = good people. Not for Martin. The more broken, the more likely there’s a diamond there buried by crud.

So, read or watch? I’d read first. The series (Season One = Book One) is exactly true to the book in every important detail. So, what the HBO show does is just put up a picture of what the reader, informed by Martin’s writing ability, had already seen. Every bit of it. I haven’t seen anything on film this close to the book since To Kill a Mockingbird. I don’t even know if the series is good. I only know I love it, because it’s a picture of something I’ve already seen and come to love.