I will admit I’m a bit biased as I read this book after watching the show and wanting more content based on the world of ASOIAF and I already know what happens play by play for this book since this book was followed quite closely for s1 of GoT.

I did like the book, I think getting the different characters POVs was really good because if only one character’s perspective was given, it would be really difficult to know what’s going on in Westeros. However, I do think that book has a lot of exposition which I know is typical for adult fantasy but I still think it’s a bit hard to follow at times especially for people who haven’t seen the show so can’t quite see in their head what scene those pages are portraying if that makes sense. But I will admit that those expositions give you good insight into characters and a bit of foreshadowing as well. Martin does tell you things about characters sometimes but he shows you much more.

I loved the characters, that’s how I ended up reading this book in the first place. But I love how more in depth it is especially when you remember the altered ages in the show. For example, a lot of people hate Sansa, I didn’t like her in the first few episodes of GoT but later in the show and especially in the book I understand her, she’s just a child, untrained for the harshness of Kings Landing. Getting these characters raw thoughts gives much better insight into what will later become development.

I loved the fact that in the fact that in the world building, the political landscape of Westeros is explained because I am someone who likes that sort of thing. If I’m being completely honest, I didn’t watch GoT for the dragons or any of that. I watched it for the political drama. I loved the scenes that took place in KL. I like the “game of thrones”. However I didn’t care much for the battle they’re important but I only care about, who lived who dies who tells their story and who gets vengeance.

The political landscape is very patriarchal I know a lot of people say Martin could’ve changed this because this is a fantasy world, and in response to that I feel like Martin did add some nuance because there are cultures in Westeros that aren’t so patriarchal, granted they aren’t mentioned much or at all in this book, but I know from context from the show Dorne isn’t really patriarchal, they go based on who is the eldest, ex: Arianne Martell, who is the heir of Dorne because she’s older than her brother. Old Valyria wasn’t really patriarchal it’s really Andal law and I’m not sure if First Men were patriarchal, but I know Andal law is patriarchal, and for the most part Westeros is mostly Andals, as basically everyone, except for the Northmen, is an Andal, so of course, that culture is going to be the one whose rules prevail. To people wanting the series to be more progressive, this was a problem that came up in the Dance, as Valyrians weren’t patriarchal but that were ruling a country which mostly was (I know that’s sort of off topic but you get the gist)

Overall, while the exposition of fantasy writing can be a bit overwhelming at times, if you can push through some of those confusing scenes, you get a really great story with well fleshed out characters that will leave you following this world for years to come.