You know, I had completely forgotten that Ned Stark is a point-of-view character. It’s details like this that justify my choosing to start the series from scratch rather than jump in where I left off. On the other hand, this means there’s yet another segment standing between me and the delightfully twisted mind of Tyrion Lannister. The Lannister Crazy will be my reward for making it through the Stark Emo.
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Daenerys was my favourite point-of-view when I was reading this series for the first time. I’m looking forward to this!
The chapter opens with Viserys being creepy, which is Viserys’s default setting. Brothers should never say the word “caress” to their sisters, in any context. Eurgh. Talking about the fabric bringing out the colour in Dany’s (Daenerys is a pretty name, but I’m lazy) eyes is not helping! There are a lot of sexual undertones to the way Viserys treats Dany, but we are talking about Targaryens, a House whose words might as well have been “Incest: a game the whole family can play.” Here’s a creepy question no one wanted to contemplate: if the rebellion had never happened, would Dany and Viserys be forced to marry even though Viserys was not the heir to the throne? Now, Targaryens do not have a monopoly on incest in A Song of Ice and Fire, but in their case, it’s institutional incest. There must have been some sort of laws and traditions governing it, right?
No, brain bleach will not be provided with these recaps.
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“The morning had dawned clear and cold, with a crispness that hinted at the end of summer.” Summer that lasts for years and years. With winter almost here and temperatures dropping, I can see the appeal of that. I imagine a nine-year summer in Winterfell must be really nice. Nine years of summer in King’s Landing, or worse yet: Dorne, on the other hand, must suck balls. Sweaty, humid balls.
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The story opens with a prologue and if this is your first time opening the book, you might foolishly believe that the prologue would be logically followed by a “chapter 1”. We’ll return to that assumption when we make it that far. If we make it that far and in George R.R. Martin’s books, that’s a big if! (George R.R. Martin shall henceforth be known as GRRM, pronounced “grim,” roll the R.)
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When Game of Thrones the HBO show hit the screens, it revitalized my interest in the series. I first discovered it some time after the release of book 2, but by the time book 4 rolled around, it slipped from my consciousness and so books 4 and 5 remained unread.
The show reminded me that I really did enjoy the story, only rather than pick up where I left off, the material to fill any gaps in my memory only a Google-search away, I decided to reread it properly from the beginning. Why blog about it? I like recap blogs myself, for books and TV shows, so this is my chance to actually contribute something instead of being the perpetual consumer.
Since this is a reread blog, I already know what’s coming for the characters, but I’m going to try and avoid outright spoilers. I won’t necessarily do just one narrative segment per post, because some of them are really short.
It’s been 10 years since I last read A Game of Thrones. Let’s see how it holds up!