Winter is Coming

Title: Game of Thrones

Author: George R. R. Martin

Published: Originally Published August 1996, Bantam

Plot Overview:

The great realm of Westeros is divided into seven smaller sub-kingdoms, each ruled by its own lord, who in turn are ruled by King Robert, who resides in King’s Landing. When the Hand of the King, Lord Arryn, dies suddenly, Robert takes his family and a host of guards and attendants to make the trek north to Winterfell, home of the king’s closest friend, Lord Ned Stark. Ned is very hesitant to take the position, as he has no desire to involve himself in the political games of the kingdom. However, when Ned’s wife Catelyn receives a letter from her sister Lysa, Lord Arryn’s widow, explaining that she believes her husband was murdered by the Lannisters, Ned has a change of heart. Cersei Lannister is unhappily married to his dear friend, King Robert. When the safety of his friend and the potential outbreak of war becomes a threat, Catelyn convinces him that he must accept Robert’s offer to save the Stark family, King Robert’s life and the fate of Westeros.

Upon arriving in King’s Landing, Ned begins to do some research into Lord Arryn’s death. One clue after another brings him to yet another mystery, as he slowly unveils the truth. John Arryn was most certainly murdered, but for what purpose? The answer suddenly reveals itself in the most unexpected way and Ned must decide what he is to do with the knowledge he’s gained – to tell the King would mean hurting his pride and watching the outcome of his wrath; to keep the secret would be damaging to his own honor and loyalty to his friend. The last thing Ned Stark wanted when King Robert’s host entered his castle was to be involved in politics; now he is the keeper of a secret that could rip the kingdoms apart with war.

 Across the narrow sea the last living descendants of Aerys Targaryen, the former ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, are on a quest to take back what is theirs. Prince Viserys has forced his sister, Princess Daenerys (Dany), into an arranged marriage with Khal Drogo, leader of a large Dothraki clan. In return, Drogo has promised an army to Viserys, with which the ambitious prince intends to take back the realm stolen from them in the war upon their father. King Aerys had gone mad and was doing terrible things when the lords of the seven kingdoms rose up against him, killing him and installing Robert Baratheon on the throne. Viserys will do anything to sit upon the throne in King’s Landing

Meanwhile, Ned Stark’s bastard son John Snow is fighting is own battles. Upon his father’s departure from Winterfell, John decided to join the Night’s Watch – a group of men skilled in battle, who protect the realm from things on the other side of the Wall. The Wall is located at the northern most part of the kingdoms, separating Westeros from the Haunted Forest, a land of ice, snow and wild things. The realm has spent the last 9 years reveling in an unusually long summer. But summer cannot last forever and strange, dark things are beginning stir beyond the wall.

Winter is coming.

Review (Spoiler heavy!)

I’ve been meaning to start reading the Song of Ice and Fire series for a long time now. It’s always looked interesting and when I discovered they were adapting a television show from the books, one that looked wicked awesome (forgive my Maineisms), well – that pretty much sealed it. My best friend was fan and after several conversations about the series, with her telling me that I had to read it and me saying I knew I needed to, she loaned me her copy of the first book.

Upon starting the novel, I realized that A Game of Thrones, although it had similar qualities to books I’ve read in the past, was a bit different from my usual choices. I don’t normally pick up books that have a lot of politics and political intrigue in the plot. However, the further into the book I got and the more attached I got to the characters my mind turned away from the “I’m seriously reading about politics?” mentality and more toward “what is the secret and what will it mean for the kingdoms?!”

The character development is just incredible. Just when you think you’ve got a character all figured out they do or say something that completely throws you for a loop and, depending on how you feel about them, will either bring you immense satisfaction or disappointment. I particularly enjoyed the transformations of John Snow, Robb, Sansa and Arya Stark and especially Daenerys Targaryen as they grew up and were affected by the events around them.

John had lived at Winterfell all his life, surrounded by his father and half-siblings, most of which, except for Arya and Robb, didn’t accept him. Catelyn Stark, especially, looked upon him with disdain and wanted nothing to do with him. Although he loved his father very much, he wore the name bastard like a curse. After a conversation with Tyrion Lannister (the only good Lannister, in my opinon), he began to feel less and less ashamed of who he was. Tyrion told him to embrace it, own it and then nothing anyone said about his parentage could ever hurt him again. He went to the Wall as a young man who had been insulted, beaten down and made to feel inferior but when he began his training it quickly became obvious that he was the most skilled, the most talented and the most driven of all the young men who were planning to take the Black of the Night’s Watch. Upon this realization the then became rather proud of himself and a bit pompous. However, after another heart to heart with Tyrion, he began to take less pride in his successes in the training field and began to help his peers with their fighting skills.

Robb and Arya Stark have to grow up very quickly in a short amount of time. While the girls went to King’s Landing with their father, Robb and his younger brothers stayed behind at Winterfell. When tragedy strikes young Brandon Stark just before Ned and party set out, Catelyn becomes inconsolable. She stays by Bran’s bedside and is incapable of handling matters of Winterfell. Robb steps up and takes over duties as Lord, making decisions necessary to successfully run their northern kingdom. When disturbing news reaches them from King’s Landing Robb gathers the northern armies together and begins to march south. Arya, the youngest of the Stark’s two daughters was always a little tomboyish, preferring to play at swords with her brothers than to sit with the ladies and embroider fabric. After arriving in King’s Landing, Ned sets her up with a fencing master, from whom she begins to properly learn how to wield a blade and to fight. The lessons he teaches prove useful when Lannister guardsmen interrupt one of her lessons to take her into custody. She escapes them easily and manages to live secretly on the streets of the city. Unlike her sister, Sansa doesn’t realize that the Lannisters and the Prince, Joffrey, may not be as sincere as they seem or have the best interests of the kingdom at heart. She defends her beloved prince whenever Arya says anything against him and still believes in him up until the day he has her father beheaded for treason. Sansa comes to know the true heart of Joffrey and realizes her errors far too late.

Dany, in addition to Arya and John, is one of my favorite characters in the novel. Her brother sees her as nothing but a bargaining tool and mistreats and verbally abuses her. She has been beaten down by her brother for years and dares not defy him in any way, making her quiet, meek and reserved when we first meet her. Though she doesn’t want to, she is forced to marry a man she has never met, Khal Drogo, leader of the Dothraki clan. While he frightens her at first, she warms up to him and eventually loves him. She is treated like a queen by all in the clan and she gradually begins to feel that she is worth more than what Viserys has made her to believe. As time passes she eventually sees herself as the queen she is and stops taking the abuse from her brother. When a drunk Viserys enters sacred ground of the Dothraki and points a sword at her pregnant belly, she tells him to stop but knows it’s too late for him. She does nothing to stop Khal Drogo from giving him exactly what he deserves. And I feel that, although she loses a brother, she is freed from his constant oppression and is able to more fully grow into the queen and the person she has been all along.

It’s a truly excellent book that I highly recommend. It’s a wonderful blend of political intrigue, fantasy and coming of age stories. And unlike many fantasy novels, Martin doesn’t overwhelm the reader with magic and the supernatural, though there is evidence of it throughout the book. There are only a very few moments in the book when the reader is present when something otherworldly is going on – the white walkers, waking from their millennia-long slumber, the witch who helps Dany save her husband and, most importantly, the dragons Dany helps to hatch. These little glimpses into the magic of Westeros only whets the fantasy appetite, getting the reader more excited for what new brand of magic will be revealed next and also helps to really focus on the political plots woven throughout the story, and that’s really what the book is about – the story of different houses, all trying to do what they think is best for the realm, some of their ambitions a little more self-serving than others.

But while the kingdoms play the game of thrones and you watch tensions mount, wondering who will take the crown in the end, there’s that little thought nagging at the back of your mind. Sempas tell their young charges tales of the long winters that brought with it wild things of old that killed everything in their path and wiped entire villages and cities from existence. And far to the north, beyond the wall and away from the trouble in King’s Landing, things long thought dead are stirring in the darkness. 

 

Winter is coming.

NOTE: IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE MARCH 16TH EPISODE OF THE WALKING DEAD, "THE GROVE," STOP READING. NOW. THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS SPOILER HEAVY.

Hey everyone, I know this isn't a book review, but I've seen so many reviews about last night's Walking Dead episode, I had to post my own. I've read a few that were all positive or mostly positive and then there were some who stated that last night's episode was just awful. Well, I have an opinion on the show as well and this is my blog so I can share it, goshdarnit!

Last night's episode, "The Grove," is one of my favorite episodes this season, maybe of all the seasons so far. Granted, the last ten to fifteen minutes or so I was near tears but that's when you know a show is good - when a scene comes along that punches you right in the feels.

For the past few years we've come to know all the characters on the show. Some of them we love. Some we hate. Some we hate to love and some we love to hate. But no matter how we feel about them, they've all become a part of our Sunday night traditions. We can't wait to see what happens next and when tragedy strikes them we feel it. Oh, how we feel it.

Last night's episode focused on Carol, Tyreese, Lizzie, Mika and little Judith. The Governor's final attack on the prison left the survivors scattered, though we can see that for the most part, they're all missing each other by a mile or two there, an hour or two here. It's frustrating to know that they're so close to each other but are just a few moments too late to see the other group in the same spot. Anyway, I digress. Carol and company happen upon an isolated house in the middle of the woods. Tyreese is dealing with an infected cut on his arm and they have three little ones with them, so they decide to stay in the house for a few days. After clearing the area of zombies, they begin to think that instead of moving further down the tracks to the mysterious Terminus, that maybe they could just stay in the house forever.

Some of the reviews I read stated they thought most of the episode was dull, boring, even. And to you, I say..."what is wrong with you people?!" Personally, I didn't find anything about that episode dull or boring. It seemed to move at the same pace as the last couple of preceding episodes. And I think they had the right idea on this one - all of that peaceful, "we could stay here" footage lulled the audience into a false sense of happiness and security. As the episode progressed we started to feel happy for the little group - everything was going so well! They were finding food, there weren't that many walkers around - life was good!

And then....

The writers ripped that rug right out from under us. The last fifteen or so minutes of Walking Dead hell came crashing down on us as Carol and Tyreese, back from a hunting expedition, come back to their new home to see Lizzie, hands bright red with blood past the wrists, standing over the body of her younger sister. Poor, sweet, little Mika lay on a blanket spread out on the lawn, eyes closed, mouth slightly ajar, while little baby Judith crawled around her still body. Lizzie explains that she wanted to show everyone that walkers weren't bad - they were friends!

Several writers of the reviews I read said they didn't believe Lizzie's slip into madness, that the script felt forced or rushed. As we've seen, this has been building for quite some time now, as it is revealed that Lizzie is the one who fed mice to the walkers at the prison, which eventually leads to the weight of the walkers bringing down the gate. Just a couple of episodes ago we watched as she nearly killed Judith in the woods. Granted, yes, the baby was crying and they didn't want to attract walkers - but as she held her hand over the baby's mouth and nose, her face wasn't an expression of terror, it was something else...something dark, twisted and a bit sinister. Therefore, given that we've had all this evidence piling up that Lizzie's going through some kind of mental breakdown/future serial killer training, I don't find it that hard to believe that she could suddenly snap the way she did. I mean, the poor girl's been living in a world where, no matter what a person dies of, they come back and start nomming everyone else. She watched her father get sick and die, then stayed nearby as Carol shoved a blade into his head to keep him from coming back to kill. She's had to put bullets in the heads of things that were once human. The community they were living in has fallen apart, she saw countless people die during the Governor's attack, they have no idea who, if anyone, may have survived. Hell, if it had been me in her situation I would have cracked a long time ago! So, as sudden as her complete and utter breakdown was, I find it absolutely plausible!

I was so incredibly saddened by the death of Mika. She was so adorable, so sweet and though she could a bullet through a zombie's head almost as well as the trained adults, there still seemed to be an innocence about her that I just loved. But the writers weren't done yet! Oh no, definitely not! A few hours later after Carol had taken care of Mika's body and they'd settled Lizzie upstairs (away from sharp, pointy objects) Tyreese and Carol sat at the kitchen table discussing what to do next. Carol said she would take Lizze and they would go off together, leaving Tyreese to live at the house with Judith. Tyreese, however, didn't want them to be out on their own like that. But...as Carol says, Lizzie "can't be around people." Separating isn't an option and finding an open psychiatrist's office is quite difficult in the zombie apocalypse. So, there's only one thing to do.

"Look at the flowers."

The deaths of Mika and Lizzie are so much more than what they seem. Aside from Judith, those girls were the two youngest characters still alive on the show. There's Carl but he's different from the girls. He's already been able to accept what's happening in the world around him - he's come to grips with it, while the girls are still clinging to the life they had before. This is what makes them seem so innocent to me. Watching as both girls' lives were ended, well....to me, that symbolized the death of innocence in the zombie apocalypse. And when you lose that...you've got to wonder what will happen to people - how they'll change.

Here's to hoping Terminus isn't another Woodbury!

"For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo"

Title: Juliet

Author: Anne Fortier

Published: Ballantine Books, 2012

Overview

Julie Jacobs and her sister Janice were orphaned at a young age when their father died tragically in a house fire and their mother, only a short time later, is lost in a car accident. The girls were relocated to America to live with their aunt Rose.

Years later, Julie is returning to her childhood home, devastated by the death of her beloved aunt. She arrives at her aunt’s large estate to find Janice already there, of course. As they aged, the sisters had grown apart, Janice becoming the laid-back, fashion-focused party girl and Julie – well, she was her sister’s exact opposite. Reserved and not very social, Julie lives alone, doesn’t have any friends to speak of and goes from job to job, finding teaching positions where she can.

Their aunt Rose had known Julie was the smarter and more responsible one, making the girl her favorite niece. Which is why it came as such a surprise to Julie when the lawyer read from the will that Janice would receive all their aunt’s estate and Julie would receive an envelope containing a key and a letter from her mother informing her that her name is not really Julie Jacobs, but is in fact Giulietta Tolomei.

Hurt and completely dumbfounded, Julie is unable to make up her mind what to do next. After talking with Umberto, her aunt’s longtime, trusted butler and groundskeeper, she decides to go to Siena to see what it was their mother had locked away from her past. What she finds will change her world forever.

Six centuries earlier, Siena is split into several sections which are ruled over by the wealthiest families. The Tolomeis and Salimbenis have been in an ongoing feud, though they currently claim to be peaceful. Giulietta Tolomei, under the dark of night, is smuggled into Siena to live with her aunt and uncle after her parents were brutally murdered by members of the Salimbeni household. While at a ball held by her relatives, Giulietta meets Romeo Marescotti, a son of one of the other ruling families of Siena. The two quickly fall in love but another has his eye on the young Tolomei lady. Messer Salimbeni, enemy of the Tolomei family, has declared his intentions to marry Giulietta, despite her wishes and the fact that Romeo had presented himself to Messer Tolomei to ask for her hand.

As Julie makes her way around Siena, following her mother’s clues and research, she learns more about the lives of the people who inspired Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Is it possible that her mother’s theory could be true? Could she in fact, be descended from Juliet’s family? Is there still “a plague on both [..] houses?” And will she find her Romeo and break the curse, once and for all?

Review

From the moment I saw this come into the bookstore years ago, I knew I wanted to read it. Again – English major. Someone wrote a new version of one of Shakespeare’s plays? Sign me up! It took me awhile to get my hands on it but I finally did. And I was NOT disappointed!

Fortier did an amazing job weaving the past with the present. We start the novel following Julie’s story as she uncovers the truth about her heritage but it isn’t long before we’re taken back to old Siena, to join Giulietta and read the “real” story of the star crossed lovers.

I’ll grant you, the whole thing about Giulietta needing to find her Romeo to break the curse – a bit corny and romantic comedy-ish. But readers, I’m okay with admitting that occasionally even I, queen of the nerds, like to indulge in a chick flick or rom-com. It’s gotta be something in the female DNA. I dunno. So, although the ending could be described as a delicious cheddar or feta, a little fantasy-romance has never done anyone any harm. Except for creating unrealistic standards and ideas.

Unfulfilled Prince Charming desires aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Fortier’s character development and back story. There’s the enduring childhood feud between two sisters with very different personalities; we’ve all had a similar familial relationship, so their arguments and animosity towards each other feels very real. There’s the mysterious Alessandro, who shows a deep dislike of Julie from the moment they meet – we’ve ALL met that one person who just didn’t like us for no reason at all!

Probably one of my favorite characters was Friar Lorenzo, Giulietta’s friend and confidant. We’ve all either read or seen Romeo and Juliet and we all have an idea of who the helpful friar is as a person. Fortier takes the character further through Friar Lorenzo. We see much more character development in the friar and while he has always had a very important role in the story, Fortier brings him closer to the forefront of the novel. It is evident to the reader just how much the doomed couple relied on him, how much he helped them, knowing full well that everything he was doing to assist them was in direct opposition of her uncle’s wishes. I enjoyed watching (well…reading) as his character and importance grew while Romeo and Juliet’s situation continued to worsen. The under-appreciated friar was essential to their happiness (though we all know how it worked out).

Taking Shakespeare’s frequent use of the supernatural into account (i.e. the witches of Macbeth, the ghost of Hamlet’s father, and of course, the entirety of A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Fortier included a particularly interesting evening in Siena – a night of flickering candles in a darkened ballroom, hooded monks, ancient rituals and a little bit of cult-like action! What Shakespeare inspired novel would be complete without it?!

Fortier did a great job in paying tribute to the Bard and one of his most famous works. I enjoyed the journey she took us on as we discovered what really happened in her version, all those years ago in great Verona/Siena. On her website the reader can look at images taken in Siena during research trips; a wonderful thing for us book nerds! Her descriptions of locations within the city were detailed and beautiful and I wished so much to see it for myself. With any luck someday I will, but for now at least I have the wonderful pictures on her website. She’s a rich and impressive storyteller and I look forward to reading more of her novels. 

* Blog title taken from (of course!) William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet