The Book Tower

It was a glorious day, a magical day. The air was warm and heavy with the scent of flowers, and the woods here had a gentle beauty that Sansa had never seen in the north. Prince Joffrey’s mount was a blood bay courser, swift as the wind, and he rode it with reckless abandon, so fast that Sansa was hard-pressed to keep up on her mare. It was a day for adventures.

A Game of Thrones is the first volume in George R.R. Martin’s mighty A Song of Ice and Fire series, the literary precursor to HBO’s excellent television series. I has reservations about tackling the books after enjoying the screen version so much; part of the joy is the rich production and quality acting (Game of Thrones really is an orgy of the best British acting talent). However, I was more than pleasantly surprised with Martin’s skill as a writer.

HBO have been very faithful to the novels, dividing up the first book very neatly into the initial 10 episode season. What the page lends to the visual story is the multiple point of view narratives, where the story gradually unfolds through the eyes of only a select number of Martin’s vast array of characters. We begin mainly with the Stark family; husaband and wife Eddard Stark and Catelyn, his chalk and cheese daughters Sansa, romantic and idealistic, and Ayra. Then there’s the sons – Bron and the bastard Jon Snow.

Martin’s characters are rooted in reality and the shifting viewpoint really adds to this. Whilst the narrative could descend into an ever fantastic sword and sorcery fest, we’re saved by seeing much of this world through Sansa’s eyes as a young, fair maiden swooning over the chivalric world. In contrast, Jon Snow’s is a bitter view of the world as we learn he has been shunned by his step mother and then in various forms by the rest of his family as he is drawn towards the Night’s Watch, a grim band of soldiers defending a seven hundred foot wall of ice (think of a wintery version of the foreign legion). Another major player in the drama, Tyrion Lannister, is viewed from different perspectives depending on who holds the narrative; as grotesque (a dwarf, he is known to some as “the imp”), a villain (Catelyn believes he is responsible for a murder attempt on Bran) or mentor figure (he forms an alliance of sorts with Jon).

Whilst the television series is very adult, with a high quota of sex and violence, the novels are more sedate. As an antidote of sorts, what’s more chilling is the extremities that the television version irons out. The Stark children are all much younger in the books, for example, with Robb Stark being all of thirteen years old. And the grotesque characters are all the more grotesque. David Bradley cuts a marvellous Lord Frey on screen; the novel has him as an even more horrendous figure. And Martin does with words what television can’t; the slippery Lord Varys is all quiet footsteps and the scent of perfume. In particular, Sansa’s naive belief in a knights and dragons world comes over very well on the page.

A Game of Thrones however is dull to read at times because the first series sticks so closely to events on the page, and there are few surprises. The inevitability of some events, such as the terrible death of Ned Stark, are just depressing. But the opening novel in the series does remind of key scenes that kickstart events that will happen far later on – Robb Stark foolishly going back on his deal with Lord Frey probably the most prophetic.

Having just watched the third season end to HBO’s Game of Thrones, I’m aware that the novels and television counterpart are increasingly now moving further apart. Last week’s now legendary red wedding differed from Martin’s original somewhat. With pressure on Martin to deliver the final two books in the series, and HBO committed to at least one more season, it will be interesting to see who wraps things up first. Will David Benioff and D.B. Weiss just go their own way now with the story? I just hope that Sansa gets through it all unscathed.