Tera

Did I enjoy the book? I can't honestly say; I found it worrisome, more than anything else. I worried about the characters (others might complain about Eddard Stark, but I love a good, honorable man), I worried about the misogyny (which others have written about more eloquently in their reviews than I am able, at this time, but apparently you can't have a “Game of Thrones” review without mentioning the misogyny- and the sex; don't forget the sex), but I mostly worried about how in the world Martin was going to wrap it all up into one cohesive story, in a stand-alone book.

That was my main problem. I feel like every book in every series should stand on its own; this one did not. Rather than reading it like the epic fantasy/courtly intrigue novel it is, I always felt like it was a mystery: one where the audience can see most of the twists literally HUNDREDS of pages before the characters, but a mystery nonetheless. As such, it feels unresolved. I'm a little bitter about the thousands more pages I'm going to have to read, in order to find a resolution, when the first book offers very few satisfying moments of its own.

I enjoyed the three, initially separate stories: Jin and his feelings about being Chinese-American and surrounded by white people; Danny, a blonde high school student who is content to be just like the other kids but whose social life is upended every year by his cousin Chin-Kee; and the Monkey King, whose struggle for acceptance from the other gods leads him to a greater purpose.

The stories intertwine in a way that I personally enjoyed. I had a lot of fun picking out western influences in a story that is heavily inspired by eastern ones. I was uncomfortable with the depictions of Chin-Kee, but that's the point of that character (if you can call an amalgam of negative and positive stereotypes a character).

The text reads a bit flat at some points. But it is a graphic novel, and the images are there to do some of the heavy lifting.

This is a great, middle grade/middle school graphic novel about identity.

I almost didn't read this book. It sat on my nook, untouched, for several months, a giant albatross of a book. I had spoiled myself, you see, in anticipation of something I had heard about called “the Red Wedding.”

You see, GRRM hit a sweet spot in these books, conflating my loves of period pieces (did you know that these books were inspired by the War of the Roses?! Dear Reader, I Did Not!) and epic medieval fantasy. And that Red Wedding, inspired by an actual event, led to the worst spoiling ever. It almost made me not pick up the book again.

The book takes about four fifths of its time telling backstory. One of my complaints earlier in the book is that instead of resolving anything (and by that I mean, questions that have been sitting there, festering, for TWO OTHER BIG THICK BRICKS of book), the book just continues to unwind, spreading its characters thinner and thinner, and meanwhile my anxiety over my beloved Jon Stark grows, and I wonder where the heck Nymeria is, and will my precious Starks ever meet again??? But.

But.

When GRRM does start answering those questions, he does it with a vengeance. I'd read it again, tension, Red Wedding and all, just to read the glorious, revelatory ending again. I come out of the book, excited about the next one (and I promise not to spoil myself this time).

One quibble: a particular character is credited with a previous mystery. To me, this resolution feels tacked on. I give this character no credit for having any particularly deep inner life, let alone the motivations attributed to him here.