Game of Thrones - Crowns, Dungeons and Hell

In the past few weeks I've both watched the first season and read the first book of Game of Thrones.  Right now this series seems ubiquitous.  Almost everybody knows about Game of Thrones and I'm so behind on reading/watching it I kinda wondered if I should even bother with a review.  But I spent HOURS on this book, morning, noon and night so by golly I was going to post something.

I enjoyed the book.  While I do wish the book was shorter, I understand it's length.  The world is very detailed and well developed.  It's complex in a way that most books aren't.  So I appreciate that even if the amount of time you have to devote to this book drives me a bit crazy. Rather than a normal review I want to talk about the characters.  The characters in Game of Thrones are really spectacular.  It's a very large cast and very well developed.  You may love them, you may hate them but by goodness you have an opinion on them.

So I've decided to give crowns to my favorite characters and punishments to the characters I don't like.

Crowned by Cassi

Is anyone surprised that Arya Stark was my favorite?  That I give the girl who dresses as a boy the first crown? Are you new here? Arya is smart, feisty  a fighter and she constantly stands up to the expect gender roles. She's a badass in a little girl's body.

Jon Snow not only are you handsome, you are kind and noble.  You see the value in people and try to stand up against bullies and wrongdoers. You are a honorable boy, a good brother, and you take a lot of shit from people and you don't let it effect you're innate goodness. Your the type of character who I both admire and want to nurture.  *Hands Jon a cup of tea and a cookie*

Eddard Stark is probably the only honorable nobleman in the whole kingdom.

Samwell Tarly may not be brave or bold, but he's a good friend and a kindhearted person.  

Bran Stark has the potential to be a good ruler someday.  He's a sweet clever boy, survives paralysis and only has bouts of self-pitying.  He just gives me "good ruler" vibes. 

I love how Daerneys Tarygaren grew over the course of the book.  She started out as a scared little girl, listening to her crazy-ass brother and she was willing to do anything to help him gain a crown.  By the end she was a queen, by behavior if not by actually having a country to rule.  This scared little girl turned into a badass.  So why the question mark.  Because Dany makes is at a crossroads and that makes me a little nervous.  She could either become an amazing leader, or go off the deep-end and be batshit crazy.  Only the next books will tell. 

The Questionable

Here's the thing about Catelyn Stark. She's smart, intelligent, capable - all things I admire in a character. She'd probably be able to rule a home or kingdom pretty easily.  However, she's got this thing against bastards, particularly Jon Snow (the king of my heart) because he's her husband's bastard.  If she could learn to live with Jon I think we'd get along. But right now she's questionable.

Tyrion Lannister is complicated.  He's a dwarf and to make up for his small stature  he's become a very intelligent man. I admire someone who's so aware of his limitations, makes jokes about his stature and is smarter than almost everyone around him.  However he's a Lannister and thus on the wrong side of the story.  If you could somehow make him not a Lannister and separate him from the rest of that crazy clan I think he'd actually be okay.

In the Dungeon

Sansa Stark gets thrown in the dungeon for being the most terrible sister in the world to Arya.  She's selfish, vain and rarely thinks of others.  She's unbothered by the death or pain of others unless it directly effects her.  But Sansa is young, naive and pretty clueless. With time she could grow out of this idiocy.  

Burning in Hell

Jamie Lannister was on the border of being thrown in the dungeon and burning in hell.  He does terrible things. Also really gross things.  But he seems more like the weapon being wielded than the actual mastermind. 

That brings us to Cersei Baratheon (Lannister).  Selfish, conniving, manipulative and power hungry. Very evil, Cersei is behind a lot of the shit that goes down in this novel.

And then her son Joeffry Baratheon. Also, selfish, conniving  manipulative, power hungry evil, but add in sexist, cruel and potentially being batshit crazy. Yeah he's a winner.