A Storm of Entertainment

by Loren Rosson

George Martin’s A Storm of Swords is a novel that comes along perhaps once a decade, the 1000-page kind you completely lose yourself in, skip meals for, and can’t believe how impossible it is to predict or be stunned by. I remember my first time reading it and painfully turning the final page; the story’s momentum felt like it could carry a thousand more, before even the next volume. One chapter in particular has acquired legendary status in the fantasy community; it took me days to recover from it. Make no mistake, this third book in the gritty Song of Ice and Fire is a roller coaster of shocking twists and brutal climaxes, the product of an author possessed (“inspired” is too soft here) by unshakable forces. It’s the most gratifying novel I’ve read since James Clavell’s Shogun.

Many believe likewise, and are also calling the third season of the adapted TV series the best so far, especially after last week’s climax (spoiler alert) which was faithful to the book as fans hoped for, and one of the series’ rare uplifting moments.

Indeed, it’s this quasi-mythic third book which seems to have inspired David Benioff and Dan Weiss to make the TV show more than any other volume in the series, and in particular the chapter I mentioned above. Says Weiss: “That was one of the scenes I remember reading for the first time and being so swept away by it. I remember thinking that if we could ever get this to series and we could ever get to season three, we’d actually be able to put that scene on screen.” That scene is coming up in just a few weeks.

The popularity of the books and TV series have hit such a crescendo that HarperCollins is re-releasing a series of French novels from the ’50s, which Martin affectionately calls “the original Game of Thrones” and urges upon his fans:

“If you love A Song of Ice and Fire, and want ‘something like it’ to read while you are waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for me to finish The Winds of Winter, you really need to check out Maurice Druon and The Accursed Kings.

“Druon was French, highly distinguished, a resistance fighter against the Nazis, a historian, a member of the French Academy, who wrote short stories, contemporary novels, a history of Paris… and an amazing seven-volume series about King Philip IV of France, his sons and daughters, the curse of the Templars, the fall of the Capetian dynasty, the roots of the Hundred Years War. The books were a huge success in France. So huge than they have twice formed the basis for television shows (neither version is available dubbed or subtitled in English), series that one sometimes hears referred to as ‘the French I, Claudius.’ The English translations… well, the seventh volume has never been translated into English at all, and the first six are long out of print, available only in dusty hardcovers and tattered paperbacks from rare book dealers found on ABE.

“But that’s about to change. HarperCollins is bringing The Accursed Kingsback into print at long last in a series of handsome new hardbacks. The first volume, The Iron King has just been published… with a brand new introduction by some guy named George R.R. Martin.”

He didn’t need to tell me twice. I just finished The Iron Kingand can see how it inspired Martin’s world of political backbiting, betrayal, torture, misanthropy, and tasty characters. There are differences, to be sure. The scope ofThe Accursed Kings isn’t quite as big or ambitious; and it’s historical fiction, not fantasy. But it’s the same texture of nobles and family members who hate and scheme against each other, and you never know who to like or really why. I was impressed by Druon’s portrayal of Philip the Fair, whom I expected to loathe completely for his treatment of the Templars. Druon gives him sympathetic moments, and makes you wary of feudal papists and royal progressives in equal measure.

The Nashua Public Library has everything related to A Song of Ice and Fire, and Martin’s books are of course the place to start:

Book 1: A Game of Thrones
Book 2: A Clash of Kings
Book 3: A Storm of Swords
Book 4: A Feast for Crows
Book 5: A Dance with Dragons
Book 6: The Winds of Winter (2015?)
Book 7: A Dream of Spring (?)

Each is available on audiobook:

Book 1: A Game of Thrones
Book 2: A Clash of Kings
Book 3: A Storm of Swords
Book 4: A Feast for Crows
Book 5: A Dance with Dragons

We have Benioff and Weiss’s TV series (the first two on DVD; the third is currently airing):

Game of Thrones Season 1 (Adapted from A Game of Thrones)
Game of Thrones Season 2 (Adapted from A Clash of Kings)

And Maurice Druon’s seven-volume Accursed Kings, being re-released in English, the first of which has been available for a month. The second is on the way, and the others will hopefully follow soon after.

Book 1: The Iron King
Book 2: The Strangled Queen
Book 3: The Poisoned Crown
Book 4: The Royal Succession
Book 5: The She-Wolf of France
Book 6: The Lily and the Lion
Book 7: When a King Loses France

Finally, there is a fantastic cookbook containing recipes for all the (heart-attack worthy) menus in Martin’s fantasy world. You can sample some of these exotic dishes at The Inn at the Crossroads, run by gourmet geniuses Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer, but for the full menu come to the library and check out their book:

A Feast of Ice and Fire

Some of this stuff is way out of my comfort zone — the rattlesnake in pepper sauce, honey-spiced locusts, and duck eggs with dog sausage, to name a few. But I think I’ll be bold enough to try the Sister’s Stew, the bread-bowl swamped with crabmeat, clams, cod, carrots, turnips, and heavy cream. Yum!