George Raymond Richard Martin (or sometimes just GRRM) is an American writer, screenwriter and producer, whose works are published all around the world and marked by the most prestigious literary awards. Usually the writer prefers to combine fantasy and horror in one and considers it to be a single genre of romantic literature. Even though George Martin has a lot of great novels in his collection, the most famous of all will always be a series of novels called “A Song of Ice and Fire”.
“A Song of Ice and Fire” consists of 5 published books and 2 in the process of writing. Novels directly continue each other and should be read in order one after another. The whole series does not have one main character. Instead, the narrative is alternately sent to several characters. By the end of the fourth novel, there were 25 such narrators, including 8, which appeared only once.
Main events of “A Song of Ice and Fire” take place in a fictional world, mainly on the continent called Westeros, but also on the large land on the East known as Essos. Most of the characters are humans, but with the development of the plot, appear other non-human races, such as White Walkers from the far North or last of the dragons. “A Song of Ice and Fire” has three main story lines. The first one is the chronicles of the dynastic civil war over the control of Westeros and the Iron Throne among several families. The second storyline describes a growing threat from the White Walkers, who inhabit land behind the huge Wall, which was built to protect the borders of Seven Kingdoms. The plot also tells a story about the journey of a young queen Daenerys Targaryen, exiled daughter of the king, who was killed 15 years before the described events. She is now seeking a way to return to Westeros and claim her rights for the Iron Throne. As the narrative continues, all three storylines become closely related and dependent on each other.
The constantly growing popularity of “A Song of Ice and Fire” series led to the fact that HBO channel acquired screen rights and began shooting a television version of the novels called “Game of Thrones”. The show is filmed in Northern Ireland, Croatia, Iceland, Spain, Morocco and Malta by the main creators David Benioff and Daniel Weiss. “Game of Thrones” TV series has received many awards, as well as contributed to the popularization of George Martin as a writer.
In general “A Song of Ice and Fire” is a unique piece of literature, where its author George Marin breaks all the rules of this genre. The story keeps readers in constant tension and desire to keep following the adventures of favorite characters. The main distinguishing feature of the plot is its realism and extreme similarity with the real life: good people die, while evil get what they want, but at the same time there’s a place for love, support and happiness.
“A Song of Ice and Fire” fans may be both young and old people, due to the traditional problems of a mankind describes in the story. Some enjoy reading books and soak up every detail of the plot, while others prefer watching a TV show to immerse in the atmosphere of Westeros with the help of great cast and high-quality special effects. But despite the choice, our articles will bring a lot of interesting information, which will make you want to dive into the fantasy world of Seven Kingdoms even more. You will find out what historical events inspired some of the plot ideas and what characters were killed in the TV show, but still live in George Martin’s novels. Take a closer look at the unique fauna of Westeros and learn about fantastic creatures that live there. But most importantly learn about the reasons, why this epic saga attracts so many fans around the world and hopefully become of them.
