Oh, in the George R.R. Martin books, it's all bad, when it isn't even worse than bad. There is at least one sympathetic character in each family - sometimes two, but if there's more than one, chances are that the other is going to be mutilated and tortured to death in darkest despair after betraying (or being betrayed by) their dearest and only love.
These are very good books but they aren't exactly cheerful.
Among the Lannisters, I love both Tyrion and Jaime. Tyrion is a dwarf. His brother Jaime is a beautiful, powerful knight motivated to child-murder by his incestuous passion for his power-hungry sister. (This isn't much of a spoiler, we learn this near the beginning of the first book. Jaime just gets more interesting as the story continues.)
Among the Targaryens, the whole family was wiped out but the only surviving offspring, Danaerys, owns the only remaining dragons in existence, and is busy conquering the world with an army of freed slaves. Her father Rhaegar, long dead, was rather glamorous, and had a mysterious past that is still mysterious and being revealed in tantalizingly tiny bits. His father was a raving pyromaniac who killed a lot of people, including the scion of House Stark, which caused the civil war that happened about fifteen years before the first book starts. (Not to be confused with the civil war that starts after the first book starts.)
House Stark started out looking good, as the patriarch, Eddard Stark, was honest and brave and true. If we had known before we started reading what kind of books these are, we would have realized how disastrous that was. Eddard Stark had a whole bunch of offspring, and a lot of the story is spent following their adventures and misadventures. One of the best and most sympathetic characters is Eddard's bastard son Jon Snow. Some of us think/hope that Jon and Danaerys will survive and eventually get together to found a new combined dynasty. There's a big mystery about who Jon's mother was.
The others? House Frey is creepy and squicky, total skin-crawling scum. I don't trust House Tully an inch, though one of them seems okay. House Greyjoy makes House Frey look good. House Baratheon is... uh, either drunk, deposed or extinct. Maybe all three. (I pause to consider which Baratheons, if any, are alive. Right. Depends how you compute some rather iffy parentage.) Maybe there'll be a comeback, though, there's a Baratheon bastard wandering around who still hasn't been murdered, despite a few death squads sent after him. I think he doesn't know who he really is.
There are a couple of other interesting Houses not represented on the quiz, like House Tyrell and House Martell of Dorne.
This is no doubt way, way more than you wanted to hear, but I can't help it, I'm a fan, and you gave me an opening.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: ...
Date: 2007-09-02 03:26 am (UTC)These are very good books but they aren't exactly cheerful.
Among the Lannisters, I love both Tyrion and Jaime. Tyrion is a dwarf. His brother Jaime is a beautiful, powerful knight motivated to child-murder by his incestuous passion for his power-hungry sister. (This isn't much of a spoiler, we learn this near the beginning of the first book. Jaime just gets more interesting as the story continues.)
Among the Targaryens, the whole family was wiped out but the only surviving offspring, Danaerys, owns the only remaining dragons in existence, and is busy conquering the world with an army of freed slaves. Her father Rhaegar, long dead, was rather glamorous, and had a mysterious past that is still mysterious and being revealed in tantalizingly tiny bits. His father was a raving pyromaniac who killed a lot of people, including the scion of House Stark, which caused the civil war that happened about fifteen years before the first book starts. (Not to be confused with the civil war that starts after the first book starts.)
House Stark started out looking good, as the patriarch, Eddard Stark, was honest and brave and true. If we had known before we started reading what kind of books these are, we would have realized how disastrous that was. Eddard Stark had a whole bunch of offspring, and a lot of the story is spent following their adventures and misadventures. One of the best and most sympathetic characters is Eddard's bastard son Jon Snow. Some of us think/hope that Jon and Danaerys will survive and eventually get together to found a new combined dynasty. There's a big mystery about who Jon's mother was.
The others? House Frey is creepy and squicky, total skin-crawling scum. I don't trust House Tully an inch, though one of them seems okay. House Greyjoy makes House Frey look good. House Baratheon is... uh, either drunk, deposed or extinct. Maybe all three. (I pause to consider which Baratheons, if any, are alive. Right. Depends how you compute some rather iffy parentage.) Maybe there'll be a comeback, though, there's a Baratheon bastard wandering around who still hasn't been murdered, despite a few death squads sent after him. I think he doesn't know who he really is.
There are a couple of other interesting Houses not represented on the quiz, like House Tyrell and House Martell of Dorne.
This is no doubt way, way more than you wanted to hear, but I can't help it, I'm a fan, and you gave me an opening.