Suvudu Universe

Here we go! This installment of the A Game of Thrones group read covers off Chapters 15-28. Take a look at the ASOIAF Book Club page to see all the participants in the book club and say hi!

Here are the questions from the book club this time around:

Jamie: Littlefinger and Varys banter really well with one another; I love their back and forth as they try to outdo one another. Who do you prefer and why?
It has to be Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish, though I think part of this has come through from the show. Aiden Gillen does a great job at playing Littlefinger, not least of all because he plays the part with a Welsh edge to his voice.

As for the characters, Littlefinger has a slightly more sinister tone to the way he conducts business. Varys is quite lofty and spends his time with his spies and his birds in the towers of the Red Keep, never really getting his hands dirty. Littlefinger, on the other hand, works with the whorehouses and the detritus of King's Landing to further his ambitions, and is never afraid to get his hands dirty. He's a very dangerous man, but one with a wit as sharp as Valyrian steel.

Ria: What do you think of the situation involving how Jon turned enemies into allies on the Wall? Effective strategy, or overused Saturday-morning-cartoon plot device?

At this point in time, I think it goes against Jon Snow's character a little to be doing this - because of his upbringing he's got a thirst to prove himself and fit in somewhere, which is why he got a good talking to by Ser Allister Thorne for not giving any of his training partners a chance to fight him properly.

Turning these 'enemies' into friends was the only way he'd have a chance to fit in on The Wall, as he slowly realises that his brotheirritates mers in the Night's Watch are more family to him than the Starks ever were. I thought this this tactic was a little early on in Jon's story to be completely believable (he still has a lot of growing up to do) but it worked.

Heather: Arya and Sansa are clearly very different personalities with very different views on the world, despite coming from the same origins.
Which do you identify with the most? Do you think the chasm building between them is becoming too great to be bridged, despite their father's efforts to keep them closer?

Sansa seriously irritates me; one day she's going to get herself killed. She's off living in this la-dee-da fairytale world, all the while Winter is bloody coming! Arya at least has her head screwed on the right way - she wants to learn to fight and now has her own sword. Arya is awesome.

I think the only thing that could reconcile them at this stage is if they became the only Starks of Winterfell, by which point Arya would become a bodyguard of Sansa. Once they've both lost everything, then they'd realise they only have eachother. They'd still hate one another, but they'd at least be civil with one another.

Allison: Ned Stark seems to be a pretty honourable guy so far--he obviously cares about his family and duty is important to him. I liked the part where he gives Arya back Needle and arranges for her to have lessons. However, I can't bring myself to like him, because I have this foreboding feeling that he is going to do something terrible and make me hate him. What do you think of Ned so far?

Kind of a loaded question since I know exactly how things turn out ...

but you can tell from what we've read so far that Ned's weakness is his honour. His hatred of Jaime Lannister stems from the fact that he did the 'dishonourable' thing in killing Aerys Targeryan, even though it was probably the right thing.

That's Ned's problem. He's so focussed on what's honourable that he doesn't stop to consider what the right thing is. He's too British for his own damn good, and I think it's going to get him into trouble.

Thoughts on the book so far

I'm still really enjoying it, and I'm really enjoying the style of flying the readers from one end of Westeros to the other to focus on different characters. I wish there was more emphasis placed on the passage of time, though. I gather that weeks and even months nay have passed by already, but there's not much there to say so.

Still, I'm having a blast reading it and I'm glad the rest of the book club feel the same!

Want to join in the book club? There's still time! Leave a comment or send me an email at mithrilwisdom[at]gmail[dot]com and I'll send you more info on joining in.

About the author
Jamie Gibbs is the bearded, bespectacled geek who runs Mithril Wisdom and drinks too much coffee, usually at the same time.
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