When setting out on my Game of Thrones journey, my brother
mentioned (repeatedly!) that I needed to find a good map. Clearly that message
was meant for the second book.
It is a lot of riding here to there and troops amassing. So
and so holds this or that, he is now dead, and now a different so and so is in
charge. Everyone lying to
everyone, no one trusting anyone.
I skipped over half the names because they would be killed a chapter
later, and there are far more places talked about than noted on the maps. But the map did help me kind of keep
track of where the main families were, but I do admit to a lot of eye blurring
as I carried on.
The use of character names as chapter headings, and then as
points of view, is critical. It
was the only thing that brought a sense of familiarity from the first book. By now, I know these characters well
enough that when I see their name I am able to adjust my concentration level because
I know what will follow – with Tyrion it is plotting and humor, with Jon it is
traveling and deep though, with Catelyn it is hearing about a bunch of people
in a bunch of places and sadness.
But mostly it is just a sense of continuity and also being in the
action. You don’t see everything
in this story and a lot of really important plot developments take place off
stage. I think Martin handles this
really well and stays true to the time he is writing about. No cell phones or email here; just a
bunch of crows flying around carrying letters. Safe to say some miscommunication occurs.
I
loved the first book, but found the second a bit more tedious. Sadly, knowing I
have three more to read, and Martin two more to write, my sense of excitement
dwindles a bit just faced with the glut of it all. Only a bit though.
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