A Song of Ice and Fire is a series of epic fantasy novels by the American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. He began the first volume of the series, A Game of Thrones, in 1991 and had it published in 1996. Martin, who initially envisioned the series as a trilogy, has published five out of a planned seven volumes. The fifth and most recent volume of the series published in 2011, A Dance with Dragons, took Martin five years to write. He is still writing the sixth novel, The Winds of Winter.
A Song of Ice and Fire takes place on the fictional continents Westeros and Essos. The point of view of each chapter in the story is a limited perspective of a range of characters growing from nine, in the first novel, to thirty-one by the fifth. Three main stories interweave a dynastic war among several families for control of Westeros, the rising threat of the supernatural Others in the northernmost reaches of Westeros, and the ambition of Daenerys Targaryen, the deposed king’s exiled daughter, to assume the Iron Throne.
Martin’s inspirations included the Wars of the Roses and the French historical novels The Accursed Kings by Maurice Druon. A Song of Ice and Fire received praise for its diverse portrayal of women and religion, as well as its realism. An assortment of disparate and subjective points of view confronts the reader, and the success or survival of point of view characters is never assured. Within the often morally ambiguous world of A Song of Ice and Fire, questions concerning loyalty, pride, human sexuality, piety, and the morality of violence frequently arise.
Plot synopsis
A Song of Ice and Fire takes place in a fictional world in which seasons last for years and end unpredictably. Nearly three centuries before the events of the first novel , the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros were united under the Targaryen dynasty by Aegon I and his sisters Visenya and Rhaenys, with Aegon Targaryen becoming the first king of the whole of the continent of Westeros, save for the southerly Dorne. At the beginning of A Game of Thrones, 15 peaceful summer years have passed since the rebellion led by Robert Baratheon deposed and killed the last Targaryen king, Aerys II, and proclaimed Robert king of the Seven Kingdoms.
The principal story chronicles the power struggle for the Iron Throne between the great Houses of Westeros following the death of King Robert in A Game of Thrones. Robert’s heir apparent, the 13-year old Joffrey, is immediately proclaimed king through the machinations of his mother, Cersei Lannister. When Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark, King Robert’s “Hand” (chief advisor), discovers that Joffrey and his siblings are the product of incest between Cersei and her twin brother Jaime, Eddard is executed for treason. In response, Robert’s brothers Stannis and Renly both lay separate claims to the throne. During this period of instability, two of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros attempt to become independent from the Iron Throne: Ned Stark’s eldest son Robb is proclaimed King in the North, while Balon Greyjoy desires to recover the sovereignty of his region, the Iron Islands. The so-called “War of the Five Kings” is in full progress by the middle of the second book, A Clash of Kings.
The second story takes place in the far north of Westeros, where an 8,000-year-old wall of ice defends the Seven Kingdoms from the Others. The Wall’s sentinels, the Sworn Brotherhood of the Night’s Watch, also protect the realm from the incursions of the “Wildlings” or “Free Folk”, who are humans living north of the Wall. The Night’s Watch story is told primarily through the point of view of Jon Snow, the bastard son of Eddard Stark. Jon follows the footsteps of his uncle Benjen Stark and joins the Watch at a young age, rising quickly through the ranks. In the third volume, A Storm of Swords, the Night’s Watch storyline becomes increasingly entangled with the War of the Five Kings.
The third story follows Daenerys Targaryen, daughter of the last Targaryen king of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Daenerys’ story takes place on the continent of Essos, which is located directly east of Westeros across the Narrow Sea. Daenerys’ storyline is isolated from the others until A Dance with Dragons. On Essos, Daenerys is married off by her elder brother Viserys Targaryen to a powerful warlord but slowly becomes an independent and intelligent ruler in her own right. Her rise to power is aided by the historic birth of three dragons, hatched from eggs given to her as wedding gifts. The three dragons soon become not only a symbol of her bloodline, but devastating weapons of war.
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