"A fascinating dive into the world created for A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, accompanied by bright, beautiful, and bold photos and illustrations.
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What a glorious examination of the world from A Song of Ice and Fire series of books this is. It isn’t just a surface visit, accompany author Tom Huddleston into the personal, historical, and literary inspirations that would have guided George R.R. Martin’s pen. Tom Huddleston clearly knows his stuff, he understands fantasy too, and is obviously fascinated by the medieval links to this fantasy land. This isn’t just a celebration of the novels, he raises questions about various areas such as the sexual violence contained within, but you can definitely feel his admiration for this world. George R.R. Martin himself has said: “There are some people who read and want to believe in a world where the good guys win and the bad guys lose, and at the end they live happily ever after. That's not the kind of fiction that I write”. Coming in four parts, each location sings with vibrancy and the photos and illustrations are fabulous, including books, medieval paintings, and photos from TV’s Game of Thrones. I loved the comparisons between history and the novels, yet while you can clearly feel past times, the novels take their own paths. The characters might contain a blend of historical figures but George R.R. Martin’s writing is extraordinary, and his imagination runs riot. I have been reading the books in this series since the beginning and while I started to watch Game of Thrones, I actually stopped at the point the books finish as I would love to be able to continue to read them in order. I thoroughly enjoyed the route this book took, and it gives an opportunity for those eagerly waiting the continuation of the series a chance to immerse themselves in this world and so as well as being a Liz Pick of the Month it is also a LoveReading Star Book. Highly recommended, The Worlds of George R.R. Martin is a fact-filled, beautifully researched visit into the vibrantly visualised lands of an absolutely epic fantasy series.
In the many realms of modern fantasy there is only one true King, and his name is George Raymond Richard Martin.
With A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin has created a world on a scale almost unrivalled by any other single writer. Approaching two million words and still evolving, this genuinely epic series of novels, with its deeply interlocking narratives, finely crafted drama and enormous range of characters, is a creation of extraordinary breadth.
So how did a writer best known for short stories come to craft such a gigantic sequence of novels, and what is the key to their extraordinary success? What sources - historical, literary and personal - did Martin draw upon in the writing, and what inspiration did they give him?
The Worlds of George R.R. Martin is an in-depth bringing together of the enormous range of inspirations behind Martin's work -- from historical borrowings as wide-ranging as the Roman empire, the Wars of the Roses and the Mongol conquests, to diverse literary and mythological texts, and Martin's own family experience and biography.
Tom Huddleston is an author, journalist and musician based in North London. His novels include several science fiction and fantasy stories for younger readers including the eco-futuristic FloodWorld trilogy. He spent a decade on the Film desk at Time Out magazine and is now a freelance Film & TV journalist writing for, among others, The Guardian and Little White Lies.
