''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of
epic fantasy
High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot. Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, ...
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 it was 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, ''
A Dance with Dragons'', was published in 2011, six years after the publication of the preceding book, ''
A Feast for Crows''. He is currently writing the sixth novel, ''
The Winds of Winter''. A seventh novel, ''A Dream of Spring'', is planned.
''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
Limited may refer to:
Arts and media
*''Limited Inc'', a 1988 book by Jacques Derrida
*Limited series (comics), a comic book series with predetermined length
Businesses
*Limited Brands, an American company - owners of Victoria's Secret, Bath & Bo ...
perspective of a range of characters growing from nine in the first novel, to 31 characters by the fifth novel. Three main stories interweave: a dynastic war among several families for control of Westeros, the rising threat of the supernatural
Others in northernmost Westeros, and the ambition of the deposed king's exiled daughter to assume the
Iron Throne.
Martin's inspirations included the
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought be ...
and the French
historical novel series ''
The Accursed Kings'' by
Maurice Druon.
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
Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...
frequently arise.
The books have sold 90 million copies worldwide ,
after having been translated into 47 languages .
The fourth and fifth volumes reached the top of the
''New York Times'' Best Seller lists upon their releases.
[ Among the many derived works are several prequel novellas, two TV series, a comic book adaptation, and several card, ]board
Board or Boards may refer to:
Flat surface
* Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat
** Plank (wood)
** Cutting board
** Sounding board, of a musical instrument
* Cardboard (paper product)
* Paperboard
* Fiberboard
** Hardboa ...
, and video games
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedb ...
.
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, establishing military supremacy through their control of dragons. The Targaryens ruled for three hundred years, continuing past the extinction of the dragons. Their dynasty eventually ended with a rebellion led by Lord Robert Baratheon, in which Aerys "the Mad King" Targaryen was killed and Robert proclaimed king of the Seven Kingdoms. At the beginning of ''A Game of Thrones'', 15 years have passed since Robert's rebellion, with a nine-year-long summer coming to an end.
The principal story chronicles the power struggle for the Iron Throne among 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 Joffrey can refer to:
* Joffrey Tower, a Chicago high-rise
* Joffrey Ballet, a Chicago-based ballet company
** Robert Joffrey, American dancer and founder of the ballet company
* Joffrey Lupul, Canadian professional ice hockey player
* Joffrey Rey ...
, is immediately proclaimed king through the machinations of his mother, Queen Cersei Lannister. When Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark, Robert's closest friend and chief advisor, discovers that Joffrey and his siblings are the product of incest between Cersei and her twin brother Ser Jaime Lannister, Eddard attempts to unseat Joffrey, but is betrayed and 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: Eddard's eldest son Robb is proclaimed King in the North, while Lord 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 part of the story takes place in the far north of Westeros, where an 8,000-year-old wall of ice, simply called "the Wall
''The Wall'' is the eleventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 30 November 1979 by Harvest/EMI and Columbia/ CBS Records. It is a rock opera that explores Pink, a jaded rock star whose eventual self-i ...
", defends the Seven Kingdoms from supernatural creatures known as 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 several human tribes living on the north side of the Wall. The Night's Watch story is told primarily through the point of view of Jon Snow, Lord Eddard Stark's bastard son
Bastard may refer to:
Parentage
* Illegitimate child, a child born to unmarried parents
** Bastard (law of England and Wales), illegitimacy in English law
People People with the name
* Bastard (surname), including a list of people with that na ...
. Jon follows the footsteps of his uncle Benjen Stark and joins the Watch at a young age, rising quickly through the ranks. He eventually becomes Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. 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 storyline follows Daenerys Targaryen, daughter of Aerys II, the last Targaryen king. On the continent of Essos, east of Westeros across the Narrow Sea, 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 and her claim to the throne, but also devastating weapons of war, which help her in the conquest of Slaver's Bay. The story follows her year-long conflict with the region's city states, in which she aims to consolidate power, disrupt the Essosi slave trade, and gather support for her ambitions to reclaim Westeros.
Publishing history
Overview
Books in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series are first published in hardcover and are later re-released as paperback editions. In the UK, Harper Voyager
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...
publishes special slipcased editions.[ The series has also been translated into more than 30 languages.][ All page totals given below are for the US first editions.
]
First three novels (1991–2000)
George R. R. Martin was already a successful fantasy and sci-fi author and TV writer before writing his ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' book series.[ Martin had published his first short story in 1971 and his first novel in 1977.][ By the mid-1990s, he had won three Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards, and other awards for his short fiction.][ Although his early books were well-received within the fantasy fiction community, his readership remained relatively small and Martin took on jobs as a writer in Hollywood in the mid-1980s.][ He worked principally on the revival of ''The Twilight Zone'' throughout 1986 and on '' Beauty and the Beast'' until 1990, but he also developed his own TV pilots and wrote feature film scripts. He grew frustrated that his pilots and screenplays were not getting made][ and that TV-related production limitations like budgets and episode lengths were forcing him to cut characters and trim battle scenes.][ This pushed Martin back towards writing books, where he did not have to worry about compromising the size of his imagination.][ Admiring the works of J. R. R. Tolkien in his childhood, he wanted to write an epic fantasy, though he did not have any specific ideas.][
When Martin was between Hollywood projects in the summer of 1991, he started writing a new science fiction novel called ''Avalon''. After three chapters, he had a vivid idea of a boy seeing a man's beheading and finding direwolves in the snow, which would eventually become the first non-prologue chapter of ''A Game of Thrones''.][ Putting ''Avalon'' aside, Martin finished this chapter in a few days and grew certain that it was part of a longer story. After a few more chapters, Martin perceived his new book as a fantasy story][ and started making maps and genealogies.][ However, the writing of this book was interrupted for a few years when Martin returned to Hollywood to produce his TV series '']Doorways
''Doorways'' is a proposed science fiction series from writer George R. R. Martin. A pilot was shot in May 1992, starring George Newbern, Anne Le Guernec, Robert Knepper, Kurtwood Smith, Hoyt Axton, Max Grodenchik, and Carrie-Anne Moss, but was no ...
'' that ABC had ordered but ultimately never aired.[
In 1994, Martin gave his agent, Kirby McCauley, the first 200 pages and a two-page story projection as part of a planned trilogy with the novels ''A Dance with Dragons'' and ''The Winds of Winter'' intended to follow. When Martin had still not reached the novel's end at 1400 manuscript pages, he felt that the series needed to be four and eventually six books long,][ which he imagined as two linked trilogies of one long story.][ Martin chose ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' as the overall series title: Martin saw the struggle of the cold Others and the fiery dragons as one possible meaning for "Ice and Fire", whereas the word "song" had previously appeared in Martin's book titles '' A Song for Lya'' and ''Songs the Dead Men Sing'', stemming from his obsessions with songs.][ Martin also named Robert Frost's 1920 poem " Fire and Ice" and cultural associations such as passion versus betrayal as possible influences for the series' title.][
The revised finished manuscript for ''A Game of Thrones'' was 1088 pages long (without the appendices),] with the publication following in August 1996.[ '' The Wheel of Time '' author Robert Jordan had written a short endorsement for the cover that was influential in ensuring the book's and hence series' early success with fantasy readers.][ ''Blood of the Dragon'', a pre-release sample novella drawn from Daenerys's chapters, went on to win the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Novella.][ The first book was marketed as part of the "''Song of Ice and Fire'' trilogy" in 1996, but by the second book's release, the "trilogy" suffix had been dropped and the series was retitled to ''A Song of Ice and Fire''.
The 300 pages removed from the ''A Game of Thrones'' manuscript served as the opening of the second book, entitled '' A Clash of Kings''.][ It was released in February 1999 in the United States,][ with a manuscript length (without appendices) of 1184 pages.] ''A Clash of Kings'' was the first book of the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series to make the best-seller lists,[ reaching 13 on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list in 1999.][ After the success of '']The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 c ...
'' films, Martin received his first inquiries to the rights of the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series from various producers and filmmakers.[
Martin was several months late turning in the third book, '' A Storm of Swords''.][ The last chapter he had written was about the "Red Wedding", a pivotal scene notable for its violence (see Themes: Violence and death).][ ''A Storm of Swords'' was 1521 pages in manuscript (without appendices),] causing problems for many of Martin's publishers around the world. Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...
published ''A Storm of Swords'' in a single volume in the United States in November 2000,[ whereas some other-language editions were divided into two, three, or even four volumes.] ''A Storm of Swords'' debuted at number 12 in the ''New York Times'' bestseller list.[
]
Bridging the timeline gap (2000–2011)
After ''A Game of Thrones'', ''A Clash of Kings'', and ''A Storm of Swords'', Martin originally intended to write three more books.[ The fourth book, tentatively titled ''A Dance with Dragons'', was to focus on Daenerys Targaryen's return to Westeros and the associated conflicts.][ Martin wanted to set this story five years after ''A Storm of Swords'' so that the younger characters could grow older and the dragons grow larger.][ Agreeing with his publishers early on that the new book should be shorter than ''A Storm of Swords'', Martin set out to write the novel closer in length to ''A Clash of Kings''.] A long prologue was to establish what had happened in the meantime, initially just as one chapter of Aeron Damphair on the Iron Islands at the Kingsmoot. Since the events on the Iron Islands were to have an impact in the book and could not be told with existing POV characters, Martin eventually introduced three new viewpoints.[
In 2001, Martin was still optimistic that the fourth installment might be released in the last quarter of 2002.][ However, the five-year gap did not work for all characters during writing. On one hand, Martin was unsatisfied with covering the events during the gap solely through flashbacks and internal retrospection. On the other hand, it was implausible to have nothing happen for five years.][ After working on the book for about a year, Martin realized he needed an additional interim book, which he called '' A Feast for Crows''.][ The book would pick up the story immediately after the third book, and Martin scrapped the idea of a five-year gap.][ The material of the written 250-page prologue was mixed in as new viewpoint characters from Dorne and the Iron Islands.][ These expanded storylines and the resulting story interactions complicated the plot for Martin.][
The manuscript length of ''A Feast for Crows'' eventually surpassed ''A Storm of Swords''.][ Martin was reluctant to make the necessary deep cuts to get the book down to publishable length, as that would have compromised the story he had in mind. Printing the book in "microtype on onion skin paper and giving each reader a magnifying glass" was also not an option for him.] On the other hand, Martin rejected the publishers' idea of splitting the narrative chronologically into ''A Feast for Crows'', Parts One and Two.[ Being already late with the book, Martin had not even started writing all characters' stories,][ and also objected to ending the first book without any resolution for its many viewpoint characters as in previous books.][
With the characters spread out across the world,][ a friend suggested that Martin divide the story geographically into two volumes, of which ''A Feast for Crows'' would be the first.][ This approach would give Martin the room to complete his commenced story arcs as he had originally intended,] which he still felt was the best approach years later.[ Martin moved the unfinished characters' stories set in the east (Essos) and north (Winterfell and the Wall) into the next book, ''A Dance with Dragons'',][ and left ''A Feast for Crows'' to cover the events in King's Landing, the Riverlands, Dorne, and the Iron Islands.] Both books begin immediately after the end of ''A Storm of Swords'',[ running in parallel instead of sequentially, and involve different casts of characters with only little overlap.] Martin split Arya's chapters into both books after having already moved the three other most popular characters (Jon Snow, Tyrion, and Daenerys) into ''A Dance with Dragons''.[
Upon its release in October 2005 in the UK][ and November 2005 in the US,][ ''A Feast for Crows'' went straight to the top of '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' bestseller list.[ Among the positive reviewers was Lev Grossman of '']Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'', who dubbed Martin "the American Tolkien".[ However, fans and critics alike were disappointed with the story split that left the fates of several popular characters unresolved after ''A Storm of Swords'' cliffhanger ending.][ With ''A Dance with Dragons'' said to be half-finished,][ Martin mentioned in the epilogue of ''A Feast for Crows'' that the next volume would be released by the next year.][ However, planned release dates were repeatedly pushed back. Meanwhile, HBO acquired the rights to turn ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' into a fantasy drama series in 2007] and aired the first of ten episodes covering ''A Game of Thrones'' in April 2011.[
With around 1600 pages in manuscript length,][ ''A Dance with Dragons'' was eventually published in July 2011 after six years of writing,][ longer in page count and writing time than any of the preceding four novels.][ The story of ''A Dance with Dragons'' catches up with and goes beyond ''A Feast for Crows'' around two-thirds into the book,][ but nevertheless covers less story than Martin had intended, omitting at least one planned large battle sequence and leaving several character threads ending in cliff-hangers.][ Martin attributed the delay mainly to his untangling "the Meereenese knot", which the interviewer understood as "making the chronology and characters mesh up as various threads converged on aenerys.][ Martin also acknowledged spending too much time on rewriting and perfecting the story, but soundly rejected the theories of some of his critics that he had lost interest in the series or would bide his time to make more money.][
]
Planned novels and future (2011–present)
Martin believes the last two volumes of the series will be large books of 1500 manuscript pages each.[ The sixth book will be called '' The Winds of Winter'',][ taking the title of the last book of the originally planned trilogy.][ Displeased with the provisional title ''A Time for Wolves'' for the final volume, Martin ultimately announced ''A Dream of Spring'' as the title for the seventh book in 2006.][ Martin said in March 2012 that the final two novels will take readers farther north than any of the previous books, and that the Others will appear.][ Martin indicated he would not permit another writer to finish the book series.][
]
''The Winds of Winter''
'' The Winds of Winter'' will resolve the cliffhangers from ''A Dance with Dragons'' early on and "will open with the two big battles that he fifth bookwas building up to, the battle in the ice and the battle ..of Slaver's Bay. And then take it from there."[ By the middle of 2010, Martin had already finished five chapters of ''The Winds of Winter'' from the viewpoints of Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Arianne Martell, and Aeron Greyjoy, coming to around 100 completed pages.][ After the publication of ''A Dance with Dragons'' in 2011, Martin announced he would return to writing in January 2012.][ He spent the meantime on book tours, conventions, and continued working on his '' The World of Ice & Fire'' companion guide and a new '' Tales of Dunk and Egg'' novella.][ In December 2011, Martin posted a chapter from ''The Winds of Winter'' from the viewpoint of Theon Greyjoy;][ several other chapters have been made public since. Four hundred pages of the sixth novel had been written , although Martin considered only 200 as "really finished"; the rest needed revising.][ During the Guadalajara International Book Fair in Mexico in early December 2016, Martin offered the following hint as to the tone of this book: "There are a lot of dark chapters right now ... I've been telling you for 20 years that winter was coming. Winter is the time when things die, and cold and ice and darkness fill the world, so this is not going to be the happy feel-good that people may be hoping for. Some of the characters rein very dark places."] Martin did not intend to separate the characters geographically again.[
In 2011, Martin gave three years as a realistic estimate for finishing the sixth book at a good pace,][ but said ultimately the book "will be done when it's done",][ acknowledging that his publication estimates had been too optimistic in the past.][ In 2015 there were indications that the book would be published before the sixth season of the HBO show but in early January 2016 Martin confirmed that he had not met an end-of-year deadline that he had established with his publisher for release of the book before the sixth season. He also revealed there had been a previous deadline of October 2015 that he had considered achievable in May 2015, and that in September 2015 he had still considered the end-of-year deadline achievable. He further confirmed that some of the plot of the book might be revealed in the upcoming season of ''Game of Thrones''. In February 2016, Martin stated that he dropped all his editing projects except for '' Wild Cards'', and that he would not be writing any teleplays, screenplays, short stories, introductions or forewords before delivering ''The Winds of Winter''. In March 2020, Martin stated that he was writing ''The Winds of Winter'' every day, and in June he hoped to be done with it in 2021. In October 2022, Martin said that he had written approximately three quarters of the book.
]
''A Dream of Spring''
Martin is only firm about ending the series with the seventh novel "until I decide not to be firm".[ With his stated goal of telling the story from beginning to end, he will not truncate the story to fit into an arbitrary number of volumes.][ He knows the ending in broad strokes as well as the future of the main characters,][ and will finish the series with bittersweet elements where not everyone will live happily ever after.][ Martin hopes to write an ending similar to '']The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 c ...
'' that he felt gave the story a satisfying depth and resonance. On the other hand, Martin noted the challenge to avoid a situation like the finale of the TV series ''Lost'', which left some fans disappointed by deviating too far from their own theories and desires.[ In 2012, Martin had acknowledged his concerns about ''A Dream of Spring'' not being completed by the time the TV series ''Game of Thrones'' catches up in its storyline to the novels.]
In 2015, Martin said that he was not writing ''A Dream of Spring'' together with ''The Winds of Winter'', and in early 2016, he said he did not believe ''A Dream of Spring'' would be published before the last season of the HBO show. In April 2018, Martin commented he had not started working on the book, and in November he said that after ''The Winds of Winter'' he would decide what to do next: ''A Dream of Spring'' or the second volume of ''Fire & Blood Fire and Blood may refer to:
* ''Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico'', a 1973 book by T. R. Fehrenbach
* ''Fire and Blood'' (Manowar DVD), a 1998 music DVD by Manowar
* ''Fire and Blood'' (Daugherty), a 2003 composition for solo violin and orch ...
'' or one or two stories for the ''Tales of Dunk and Egg''. In May 2019, he reiterated he had not started writing ''A Dream of Spring'' and would not do so before finishing ''The Winds of Winter''.
During a question-and-answer session at the 2016 Guadalajara International Book Fair
The Guadalajara International Book Fair, better known as the FIL (from its Spanish name: Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara) is the largest book fair in the Americas, and second-largest book fair in the world after Frankfurt's. It is al ...
, Martin said, "I'm not going to tell you how I'm going to end my book, but I suspect the overall flavor is going to be as much bittersweet as it is happy."
Other writings
Regarding ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' as his masterpiece, Martin stated he would never write anything on this scale again and would only return to this fictional universe in the context of stand-alone novels.[ He prefers to write stories about characters from other ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' periods of history such as his '' Tales of Dunk and Egg'' project, instead of continuing the series directly.][ Martin said he would love to return to writing short stories, novellas, novelettes, and stand-alone novels from diverse genres such as science fiction, horror, fantasy, or even a murder mystery.][
]
Inspiration and writing
Genre
George R. R. Martin believes the most profound influences to be the ones experienced in childhood.[ Having read H. P. Lovecraft, ]Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906June 11, 1936) was an American writer. He wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subge ...
, Robert A. Heinlein, Eric Frank Russell, Andre Norton,[ ]Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov ( ; 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and ...
,[ Fritz Leiber, and Mervyn Peake][ in his youth, Martin never categorized these authors' literature into science fiction, fantasy, or horror and will write from any genre as a result.][ Martin classified ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' as "]epic fantasy
High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot. Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, ...
",[ and specifically named Tad Williams' high fantasy epic '' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn'' as very influential for the writing of the series.][ One of his favorite authors is Jack Vance,][ although Martin considered the series not particularly Vancean.][
Martin experienced some harsh winters when living in ]Dubuque
Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...
a few years in the 1970s, and suspects these winters had an influence on his writing; "I think a lot of the stuff in ''A Game of Thrones'', the snow and ice and freezing, comes from my memories of Dubuque".[
The medieval setting has been the traditional background for epic fantasy. However, where historical fiction leaves versed readers knowing the historical outcome,][ original characters may increase suspense and empathy for the readers.][ Yet Martin felt historical fiction, particularly when set during the Middle Ages, had an excitement, grittiness, and a realness to it that was absent in fantasy with a similar backdrop. Thus, he wanted to combine the realism of historical fiction with the magic appeal of the best fantasies,][ subduing magic in favor of battles and political intrigue.][ He also decided to avoid the conventional good versus evil setting typical for the genre, using the fight between Achilles and Hector in ]Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...
's ''Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...
'', where no one stands out as either a hero or a villain, as an example of what he wants to achieve with his books.
Martin is widely credited with broadening the fantasy fiction genre for adult content.[ Writing for '']The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', Amber Taylor assessed the novels as hard fantasy with vulnerable characters to which readers become emotionally attached.[ CNN found in 2000 that Martin's mature descriptions were "far more frank than those found in the works of other fantasy authors",][ although Martin assessed the fantasy genre to have become rougher-edged a decade later and that some writers' work was going beyond the mature themes of his novels.][ Adam Roberts called Martin's series the most successful and popular example of the emerging subgenre of grimdark fantasy.]
Writing process
Setting out to write something on an epic scale,[ Martin projected to write three books of 800 manuscript pages in the very early stages of the series.][ His original 1990s contract specified one-year deadlines for his previous literary works, but Martin only realized later that his new books were longer and hence required more writing time.][ In 2000, Martin planned to take 18 months to two years for each volume and projected the last of the planned six books to be released five or six years later.][ However, with ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series evolving into the biggest and most ambitious story he has ever attempted writing,][ he still has two more books to finish . Martin said he needed to be in his own office in ]Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label= Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The name “S ...
to immerse himself in the fictional world and write.[ , Martin was still typing his fiction on a DOS computer with WordStar 4.0 software.][ He begins each day at 10 am with rewriting and polishing the previous day's work,][ and may write all day or struggle to write anything.][ Excised material and previous old versions are saved to be possibly re-inserted at a later time.][ Martin does not consider ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' a "series" but a single story published in several volumes.
Martin set the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' story in a secondary world inspired by Tolkien's writing.][ Unlike Tolkien, who created entire languages, mythologies, and histories for Middle-earth long before writing '']The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 c ...
'', Martin usually starts with a rough sketch of an imaginary world that he improvises into a workable fictional setting along the way.[ He described his writing as coming from a subconscious level in "almost a daydreaming process",][ and his stories, which have a mythic rather than a scientific core, draw from emotion instead of rationality.][ Martin employs maps][ and a cast list topping 60 pages in the fourth volume,][ but keeps most information in his mind.][ His imagined backstory remains subject to change until published, and only the novels count as canon.][ Martin does not intend to publish his private notes after the series is finished.][
Martin drew much inspiration from actual history for the series,][ having several bookcases filled with medieval history for research][ and visiting historic European landmarks.][ For an American who speaks only English, the history of England proved the easiest source of medieval history for him, giving the series a British rather than a German or Spanish historic flavor.][ For example, Ned and Robb Stark resemble Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and his son Edward IV, and Queen Cersei resembles both Margaret of Anjou] and Elizabeth Woodville. Martin immersed himself in many diverse medieval topics such as clothing, food, feasting, and tournaments to have the facts at hand if needed during writing.[ The series was in particular influenced by the ]Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantag ...
, the Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...
, the Albigensian Crusade, and the Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought be ...
,[ although Martin refrained from making any direct adaptations.][ Martin was also inspired by the French historical novels '' The Accursed Kings'' by Maurice Druon, which are about the French monarchy in the 13th and 14th centuries.] Martin has also said that important events of the narrative are based on events in Scottish history such as the Black Dinner of 1440 and the Massacre of Glencoe in 1692.
Martin has also drawn from Roman history for inspiration, comparing Stannis Baratheon to the Roman emperor Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...
. Martin has sourced the Massacre of Glencoe and Black Dinner as inspiration for the "Red Wedding," a crucial twist in ''A Storm of Swords''.
The story is written to follow principal landmarks with an ultimate destination, but leaves Martin room for improvisation. On occasion, improvised details significantly affected the planned story.[ By the fourth book, Martin kept more private notes than ever before to keep track of the many subplots,][ which became so detailed and sprawling by the fifth book as to be unwieldy.][ Martin's editors, copy editors, and readers monitor for accidental mistakes,][ although some errors have slipped into publication. For instance, Martin has inconsistently referred to certain characters' eye colors, and has described a horse as being of one sex and then another.][
]
Narrative structure
The books are divided into chapters, each one narrated in the third person limited through the eyes of a point of view character,[ an approach Martin learned himself as a young journalism student.][ Beginning with nine POV characters in ''A Game of Thrones'', the number of POV characters grows to a total of 31 in ''A Dance with Dragons'' (see table). The short-lived one-time POV characters are mostly restricted to the ]prologue
A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...
s and epilogue
An epilogue or epilog (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring c ...
s.[ David Orr of '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' noted the story importance of "the Starks (good guys), the Targaryens (at least one good guy, or girl), the Lannisters (conniving), the Greyjoys (mostly conniving), the Baratheons (mixed bag), the Tyrells (unclear), and the Martells (ditto), most of whom are feverishly endeavoring to advance their ambitions and ruin their enemies, preferably unto death".[ However, as '']Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' Lev Grossman noted, readers "experience the struggle for Westeros from all sides at once", such that "every fight is both triumph and tragedy ..and everybody is both hero and villain at the same time".[
Modeled on ''The Lord of the Rings'', the story of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' begins with a tight focus on a small group (with everyone in Winterfell, except Daenerys) and then splits into separate stories. The storylines are to converge again, but finding the turning point in this complex series has been difficult for Martin and has slowed down his writing. Depending on the interview, Martin is said to have reached the turning point in ''A Dance with Dragons'',][ or to not quite have reached it yet in the books.][ The series' structure of multiple POVs and interwoven storylines was inspired by '' Wild Cards'', a multi-authored shared universe book series edited by Martin since 1985.][ As the sole author, Martin begins each new book with an outline of the chapter order and may write a few successive chapters from a single character's viewpoint instead of working chronologically. The chapters are later rearranged to optimize character intercutting, chronology, and suspense.][
Influenced by his television and film scripting background, Martin tries to keep readers engrossed by ending each ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' chapter with a tense or revelational moment, a twist or a cliffhanger, similar to a TV ]act break
"Act Break" is the first segment of the eighth episode from the first season (1985–86) of the television series ''The Twilight Zone''. In this segment, a playwright dying from a heart attack gives his partner a magical relic which grants the be ...
.[ Scriptwriting has also taught him the technique of "cutting out the fat and leaving the muscle", which is the final stage of completing a book, a technique that brought the page count in ''A Dance with Dragons'' down almost eighty pages.][ Dividing the continuous ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' story into books is much harder for Martin. Each book shall represent a phase of the journey that ends in closure for most characters. A smaller portion of characters is left with clear-cut cliffhangers to make sure readers come back for the next installment, although ''A Dance with Dragons'' had more cliffhangers than Martin originally intended.][ Both one-time and regular POV characters are designed to have full character arcs ending in tragedy or triumph,][ and are written to hold the readers' interest and not be skipped in reading.][ Main characters are killed off so that the reader will not rely on the hero to come through unscathed and will instead feel the character's fear with each page turn.][
The unresolved larger narrative arc encourages speculation about future story events.][ According to Martin, much of the key to ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' future lies over a dozen years in the fictional past, of which each volume reveals more.][ Events planned from the beginning are foreshadowed, although Martin is careful not to make the story predictable.][ The viewpoint characters, who serve as unreliable narrators,][ may clarify or provide different perspectives on past events.][ Therefore, what the readers believe to be true may not necessarily be true.][
]
Character development
Regarding the characters as the heart of the story, Martin planned the epic ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' to have a large cast of characters and many different settings from the beginning. ''A Feast for Crows'' has a 63-page list of characters, with many of the thousands of characters mentioned only in passing or disappearing from view for long stretches. When Martin adds a new family to the ever-growing number of genealogies in the appendices, he devises a secret about the personality or fate of the family members. However, their backstory remains subject to change until written down in the story. Martin drew most character inspiration from history (without directly translating historical figures) and his own experiences, but also from the manners of his friends, acquaintances, and people of public interest. Martin aims to "make my characters real and to make them human, characters who have good and bad, noble and selfish well-mixed in their natures". Jeff VanderMeer of the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' remarked that "Martin's devotion to fully inhabiting his characters, for better or worse, creates the unstoppable momentum in his novels and contains an implied criticism of Tolkien's moral simplicity" (see Themes: Moral ambiguity).
Martin deliberately ignored the writing rule of never giving two characters names starting with the same letter.[ Instead, character names reflect the naming systems in various European family histories, where particular names were associated with specific royal houses and where even the secondary families assigned the same names repeatedly.][ The story of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' therefore has children called "Robert" in honor of King Robert of House Baratheon, a "Brandon" in every other generation of the Starks in commemoration of Brandon the Builder (of the Wall), and the syllable "Ty" commonly occurring in given names of House Lannister.][ Confident that readers would pay attention, Martin distinguished people sharing a given name][ by adding numbers or locations to their given names (e.g. ]Henry V of England
Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the H ...
). The family names were designed in association with ethnic groups (see backstory): the First Men in the North of Westeros had very simply descriptive names like Stark and Strong, whereas the descendants of the Andal invaders in the South have more elaborate, undescriptive house names like Lannister or Arryn, and the Targaryens and Valyrians from the Eastern continent have the most exotic names with the letter Y.[
All characters are designed to speak with their own internal voices to capture their views of the world.][ ''The Atlantic'' pondered whether Martin ultimately intended the readers to sympathize with characters on both sides of the Lannister–Stark feud long before plot developments force them to make their emotional choices.][ Contrary to most conventional epic fantasies, the characters of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' are vulnerable so that, according to ''The Atlantic'', the reader "cannot be sure that good shall triumph, which makes those instances where it does all the more exulting."][ Martin gets emotionally involved in the characters' lives during writing, which makes the chapters with dreadful events sometimes very difficult to write.][ Seeing the world through the characters' eyes requires a certain amount of empathy with them, including the villains,][ all of whom he has said he loves as if they were his own children.][ Martin found that some characters had minds of their own and took his writing in different directions. He returns to the intended story if it does not work out, but these detours sometimes prove more rewarding for him.][
Arya Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow, and Daenerys Targaryen generate the most feedback from readers.][ They are also four of the "big six" main characters of the series, according to Martin (the other two being Sansa Stark and Bran Stark). Martin has stated that Tyrion is his personal favorite, as the grayest of the gray characters, with his cunning and wit making him the most fun to write.][ Martin has also said that Bran Stark is the hardest character to write. As the character most deeply involved in magic, Bran's story needs to be handled carefully within the supernatural aspects of the books. Bran is also the youngest viewpoint character,][ and has to deal with the series' adult themes like grief, loneliness, and anger.][ Martin set out to have the young characters grow up faster between chapters, but, as it was implausible for a character to take two months to respond, a finished book represents very little time passed. Martin hoped the planned five-year break would ease the situation and age the children to almost adults in terms of the Seven Kingdoms, but he later dropped the five-year gap (see section Bridging the timeline gap).][
]
Themes
Modern fantasy may often embrace strangeness, but ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series is generally praised for what is perceived as a sort of medieval realism.[ Believing that magic should be used moderately in the epic fantasy genre,][ Martin set out to make the story feel more like historical fiction than contemporary fantasy, with less emphasis on magic and sorcery and more on battles, political intrigue, and the characters.][ Though the amount of magic has gradually increased throughout the story, the series is still to end with less overt magic than most contemporary fantasies.][ In Martin's eyes, literary effective magic needs to represent strange and dangerous forces beyond human comprehension,][ not advanced alien technologies or formulaic spells.][ As such, the characters understand only the natural aspects of their world, but not the magical elements like the Others.][
Since Martin drew on historical sources to build the world of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'',][ Damien G. Walter of '']The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' saw a strong resemblance between Westeros and England in the period of the Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought be ...
.[ ''The Atlantic'' Adam Serwer regarded ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' as "more a story of politics than one of heroism, a story about humanity wrestling with its baser obsessions than fulfilling its glorious potential", where the emergent power struggle stems from the feudal system's repression and not from the fight between good and evil.][ Martin not only wanted to reflect the frictions of the medieval class structures in the novels, but also explore the consequences of the leaders' decisions, as general goodness does not automatically make competent leaders and vice versa.][
A common theme in the fantasy genre is the battle between good and evil,][ which Martin rejects for not mirroring the real world.][ Attracted to gray characters,][ Martin instead endorses William Faulkner's view that only the human heart in conflict with itself was worth writing about.][ Martin explores the questions of redemption and character change in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series.][ The multiple viewpoint structure allows characters to be explored from many sides, such that the supposed villains can provide their viewpoint.][
Although fantasy comes from an imaginative realm, Martin sees an honest necessity to reflect the real world where people, even beloved people, sometimes die ugly deaths.][ Main characters are killed off so that the reader will not expect the supposed hero to survive, and instead will feel the same tension and fear that the characters might.][ The novels also reflect the substantial death rates in war.][ The deaths of supernumerary extras, or of orcs or their equivalents, have no major effect on readers, whereas a friend's death has much more emotional impact.][ Martin prefers a hero's sacrifice to say something profound about human nature.][
According to Martin, the fantasy genre rarely focuses on sex and sexuality,][ instead often treating sexuality in a juvenile way or neglecting it completely.][ Martin, however, considers sexuality an important driving force in human life that should not be excluded from the narrative.][ Providing sensory detail for an immersive experience is more important than plot advancement for Martin,][ who aims to let the readers experience the novels' sex scenes, "whether it's a great transcendent, exciting, mind blowing sex, or whether it's disturbing, twisted, dark sex, or disappointing perfunctory sex."][ Martin was fascinated by medieval contrasts where knights venerated their ladies with poems and wore their favors in tournaments while their armies mindlessly raped women in wartime.][ The non-existent concept of adolescence in the Middle Ages served as a model for Daenerys' sexual activity at the age of 13 in the books.][ The novels also allude to the incestuous practices in the Ptolemaic dynasty of Ancient Egypt to keep their bloodlines pure.][
Martin provides a variety of female characters to explore the place of women in a patriarchal society.][ Writing all characters as human beings with the same basic needs, dreams, and influences,][ his female characters are to cover the same wide spectrum of human traits as the males.][
]
Reception
Critical response
'' Science Fiction Weekly'' stated in 2000 that "few would dispute that Martin's most monumental achievement to date has been the groundbreaking ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' historical fantasy series",[ for which reviews have been "orders of magnitude better" than for his previous works, as Martin described to ''The New Yorker''.][ In 2007, '']Weird Tales
''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, prin ...
'' magazine described the series as a "superb fantasy saga" that "raised Martin to a whole new level of success".[ Shortly before the release of ''A Dance with Dragons'' in 2011, Bill Sheehan of '']The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' was sure that "no work of fantasy has generated such anticipation since Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students a ...
's final duel with Voldemort",[ and Ethan Sacks of '' Daily News'' saw the series turning Martin into a darling of literary critics as well as mainstream readers, which was "rare for a fantasy genre that's often dismissed as garbage not fit to line the bottom of a dragon's cage".][ Salon.com's Andrew Leonard stated:
'']Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' noted in 2000 that "Martin may not rival Tolkien or Robert Jordan, but he ranks with such accomplished medievalists of fantasy as Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson." After the fourth volume came out in 2005, ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' Lev Grossman considered Martin a "major force for evolution in fantasy" and proclaimed him "the American Tolkien", explaining that, although Martin was " otthe best known of America's straight-up fantasy writers" at the time and would "never win a Pulitzer or a National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The N ...
... his skill as a crafter of narrative exceeds that of almost any literary novelist writing today". As Grossman said in 2011, the phrase ''American Tolkien'' "has stuck to artin as it was meant to", being picked up by the media including ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' ("He's much better than that"), the ''New Yorker'', ''Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cult ...
'' ("an acclaim that borders on fantasy blasphemy"), ''The Globe and Mail'', and ''USA Today''. ''Time'' magazine named Martin one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2011, and ''USA Today'' named George R.R. Martin their Author of the Year 2011.
According to ''The Globe and Mail'' John Barber, Martin manages simultaneously to master and transcend the genre so that "Critics applaud the depth of his characterizations and lack of cliché in books that are nonetheless replete with dwarves and dragons". ''Publishers Weekly'' gave favorable reviews to the first three ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' novels at their points of release, saying that ''A Game of Thrones'' had "superbly developed characters, accomplished prose and sheer bloody-mindedness", that ''A Clash of Kings'' was "notable particularly for the lived-in quality of heir fictional world andfor the comparatively modest role of magic", and that ''A Storm of Swords'' was one "of the more rewarding examples of gigantism in contemporary fantasy". However, they found that ''A Feast For Crows'' as the fourth installment "sorely misses its other half. The slim pickings here are tasty, but in no way satisfying." Their review for ''A Dance with Dragons'' repeated points of criticism for the fourth volume, and said that, although "The new volume has a similar feel to ''Feast''", "Martin keeps it fresh by focusing on popular characters ho werenotably absent from the previous book."
According to the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'', "Martin's brilliance in evoking atmosphere through description is an enduring hallmark of his fiction, the settings much more than just props on a painted stage", and the novels captivate readers with "complex storylines, fascinating characters, great dialogue, perfect pacing, and the willingness to kill off even his major characters". CNN remarked that "the story weaves through differing points of view in a skillful mix of observation, narration and well-crafted dialogue that illuminates both character and plot with fascinating style", and David Orr of ''The New York Times'' found that "All of his hundreds of characters have grace notes of history and personality that advance a plot line. Every town has an elaborately recalled series of triumphs and troubles." Salon.com's Andrew Leonard "couldn't stop reading Martin because my desire to know what was going to happen combined with my absolute inability to guess what would happen and left me helpless before his sorcery. At the end, I felt shaken and exhausted." ''The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
'' advised reading the novels with an ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' encyclopedia at hand to "catch all the layered, subtle hints and details that artinleaves throughout his books. If you pay attention, you will be rewarded and questions will be answered."
Among the most critical voices were Sam Jordison and Michael Hann, both of ''The Guardian''. Jordison detailed his misgivings about ''A Game of Thrones'' in a 2009 review and summarized "It's daft. It's unsophisticated. It's cartoonish. And yet, I couldn't stop reading .... Archaic absurdity aside, Martin's writing is excellent. His dialogue is snappy and frequently funny. His descriptive prose is immediate and atmospheric, especially when it comes to building a sense of deliciously dark foreboding f the long impending winter" Hann did not consider the novels to stand out from the general fantasy genre, despite Martin's alterations to fantasy convention, although he rediscovered his childhood's views:
Academic literary criticism has been slow to engage with the series; there will likely be much more criticism if and when the series is completed. The first scholarly monograph on the series is ''George R. R. Martin and the Fantasy Form'', by New Zealand scholar Joseph Rex Young.
Sales
The reported overall sales figures of the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series vary. ''The New Yorker'' said in April 2011 (before the publication of ''A Dance with Dragons'') that more than 15 million ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' books had been sold worldwide,[ a figure repeated by ''The Globe and Mail'' in July 2011.][ Reuters reported in September 2013 that the books including print, digital and audio versions have sold more than 24 million copies in North America.][ '']The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' reported more than six million sold copies in North America by May 2011.[ ''USA Today'' reported 8.5 million copies in print and digital overall in July 2011,][ and over 12 million sold copies in print in December 2011.][ The series has been translated into more than 20 languages;][ ''USA Today'' reported the fifth book to be translated into over 40 languages.][ ''Forbes'' estimated that Martin was the 12th highest-earning author worldwide in 2011 at $15 million.][
Martin's publishers initially expected ''A Game of Thrones'' to be a best-seller,][ but the first installment did not even reach any lower positions in bestseller list.][ This left Martin unsurprised, as it is "a fool's game to think anything is going to be successful or to count on it".][ However, the book slowly won the passionate advocacy of independent booksellers and the book's popularity grew by word of mouth.][ The series' popularity skyrocketed in subsequent volumes,][ with the second and third volumes making ''The New York Times'' Best Seller lists in 1999][ and 2000,][ respectively. The series gained Martin's old writings new attention, and Martin's American publisher Bantam Spectra was to reprint his out-of-print solo novels.][
The fourth installment, ''A Feast for Crows'', was an immediate best-seller at its 2005 release,][ hitting number one on "The New York Times" hardcover fiction bestseller list November 27, 2005, which for a fantasy novel suggested that Martin's books were attracting mainstream readers.][ The paperback edition of ''A Game of Thrones'' reached its 34th printing in 2010, surpassing the one million mark.][ Before it even premiered, the TV series had boosted sales of the book series, with ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' approaching triple-digit growth in year-on-year sales. Bantam was looking forward to seeing the tie-ins boost sales further,][ and Martin's British publisher ]