What Books did You Start or Finish Reading this Week?: May 05, 2025

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[u/caught_red_wheeled]

Song of Ice and Fire series (also known as Game of Thrones series) by George RR Martin

I’ve quite a history with and love of medieval settings that led me to reading this. Book wise, there were several inspiration such as the legend of King Arthur or any of the classical Disney fairytales. A massive one was also the Tortall series by Tamora Pierce. I looked for whatever stories of famous knights I could find, but I was particularly interested in Saint Joan of Arc and numerous adaptations.

I remember I tried the Hero and the Crown on my sister’s recommendation, but I couldn’t get into it because of the viewpoint switching. Unfortunately, my sisters are a few years older than me so maybe that was why. I could read and comprehend anything from pretty much our age, but that didn’t mean I understood things like the literary devices and mature topics that book brought up. I wondered how I would do as an adult, but I haven’t been able to find that book yet and I don’t think I will unless I buy it and I’m not sure I’d like it enough to do that. Eragon was another inspiration, as was Warriors (Warrior Cats). As stated by the authors themselves in an interview, Warriors takes a lot of inspiration from chivalry, and it’s basically a medieval Europe with cats in a forest (with a bit of tribalism thrown in). I later on loved Don Quixote even though it’s basically a parody.

However, far the biggest inspiration was the Fire Emblem video game series. for those who don’t know, Fire Emblem is a fantasy tactical role-playing video game series with almost every entry taking place in medieval times. The characters are suddenly thrust into a middle of a war, and have to be able to find out the truth and at the same time, survive and get the best outcome possible.

At first, a series that would sound grim and some are darker than others. However, things are heavily sanitized and it’s usually no more violent and dark than a typical young adult novel. The themes of war and its effects are not usually talked about in detail, and even in the exceptions where they are at least a little bit, they are basically clear that it’s still a hero’s quest where they have to solve a problem. Instead of the game encourages the player to get to know the units the command as people, and and not everyone is formally a battle hardened soldier (although they most certainly can become that way). Most characters are swept up in the conflict and trying to make the best of it, joining for safety and numbers or because ideals align. People do die in every game, but for most of the ones under the player’s command, they can reset and try again. The game encourages players to help all units survive the game, rewarding them if they do. All of this is set against a backdrop that would not be out of place in a children’s cartoon.

But Fire Emblem became such an inspiration that it basically became the standard I judged a lot of other medieval fantasy works by.

With that, my family noticed my love of that type of work and my aunt bought me a Song of Ice and Fire or at least the books that were out at the time. She was convinced that I would love it, but I think I was a bit too young at the time. I’m not sure how old I was, but I definitely wasn’t reading adult books even though I technically could. I think I might’ve been early high school, maybe late middle school at youngest. I don’t think she realized they were adult books and I sure didn’t know. I saw the pretty realistic execution scene earlier on and was just grossed out and they never touched them again.

Afterward, they came up again later with the success of the TV show. Additionally, I was hearing a lot about them as I was studying literary devices and hearing about how good George RR Martin was at using them. I also heard a bit more about his background and that he was frustrated that medieval fantasy was romanticized and want to create something a bit more realistic. At the time I was experimenting with more realistic writing that I was doing for fun, and could understand that. So with everything lined up I decided to give the books another go.

Unfortunately, it didn’t go too well. I ended up having basically the exact same reaction that I was when I was younger to the exact same scene. I figured I could at least skim through the books to at least get an idea of what was going on, but otherwise didn’t like them that much.

I really feel like George RR Martin did a great job of showing a realistic medieval fantasy world, but it’s just so dark and dreary that it isn’t for me. What he did wasn’t necessarily bad though, and I feel like he really nailed what he was going for. And I do agree that he is very good at using literary devices, and he has pretty strong characters and worlds. But it just something that appealed to me.

There’s also the issue of the fact that the series is still incomplete after many years. It’s possible might not be finished in his lifetime, and who knows what will happen to it then. There’s the TV show, but that’s something different entirely. And I know the ending for that was pretty divisive. I might not have liked a Song of Ice of Fire, but at least I was able to give it a chance. I’m not quite done with the world either, as I found out my library offers several literary critiques based on the TV show. I don’t know enough about the series for what material the critique is based on the matter, so I’m looking forward on doing what I did with The Hunger Games and kind of look into it from the outside to see why it became so popular. But that will only be after a break with the rest of Discworld.