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bookaneer's review
5.0
Today I recorded a podcast with four friends discussing five essays from this book, which is an essay collection of many VIPs from the A Song of Ice and Fire fandom - all are Towerofthehand.com writers.
Lucky we picked the ones that are more interesting than others - except for The Curse of Harrenhal essay by Aziz and Ashaya of History of Westeros, which was one of my top three faves here. I first wanted to discuss that but there's already a podcast episode from HoW on that so...yeah maybe next time.
Anyway, the chapter I was responsible to lead on was titled Iron Bends, written by BryndenBFish - the ASOIAF moderator in Reddit who also has an excellent blog named Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire. The chapter is about Stannis, one of the most controversial characters because he is said to be "hard, unyielding, knows no mercy", and that "he would break before he bends". NO, HE IS NOT. Stannis has proven to be a pragmatic leader. He is flexible when needed. He actually listens to people's advice. Mel, Davos and to a short period, Jon. They've given him advice and he listened to them because they had good points/capable enough. He even made a commoner his Hand. Why? Because he recognized merit.
Stannis is not a fanatic like that godforsaken show Game of Thrones had made him. He did convert to R'hllor but he did not force his followers to do the same. Remember that his troops now consisted of southern men (both R'hllor's followers and Faith of the Seven too and also mountain men (Old Gods followers). Stannis commanded some of his men burned because they did something awful (e.g. cannibalism). He basically said "pray harder" when they demanded more sacrifice. And if you were following all the spoiler chapters from The Winds of Winter, you'll know that this dude has more on his sleeves. The long awaited Battle of Ice is gonna be his.
Would the realm bleed if Stannis is king? Stannis is not a pure Machiavellian like Tywin, or ruthless like Dany post-Meereen with her fire and blood. He - like Steven Attewell's essay in this book - is Machiavellian with a purpose. He is forgiving when he had to (and smart enough to do that - see Renly's ex-followers) and ruthless but just. Yes, many will bleed when he takes the Iron Throne, but it will a justified one.
Jeff's essay and many others from this book are really insightful. We also talked today about an essay on patriarchy in Westeros (written by Stefan Sasse), laying out some examples such as Ned, Tywin and Randyll Tarly. We concluded that Dorne's law of primogeniture might be the answer for Westeros if the realm wants to advance. Another essay was on the Songs and Singers in ASOIAF (written by Amin Javadi) - which highlights the nuances of these both often overlooked aspects in Westeros to the soul of the story and characters.
The last essay we discussed was about Robert as a war commander, written by Jim McGeehin. Here we also got more insights of this so-called fat, useless, whoremonger King. He's actually very capable, charismatic, commander and tactician. I heard that HBO is planning to do four GOT spinoffs - it is no brainer for them to do one on Robert's Rebellion since there's already a lot of materials.
I do admit some essays are just meh, but the ones I mentioned above as well as the rest I would recommend it to any ASOIAF fanatics.
Lucky we picked the ones that are more interesting than others - except for The Curse of Harrenhal essay by Aziz and Ashaya of History of Westeros, which was one of my top three faves here. I first wanted to discuss that but there's already a podcast episode from HoW on that so...yeah maybe next time.
Anyway, the chapter I was responsible to lead on was titled Iron Bends, written by BryndenBFish - the ASOIAF moderator in Reddit who also has an excellent blog named Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire. The chapter is about Stannis, one of the most controversial characters because he is said to be "hard, unyielding, knows no mercy", and that "he would break before he bends". NO, HE IS NOT. Stannis has proven to be a pragmatic leader. He is flexible when needed. He actually listens to people's advice. Mel, Davos and to a short period, Jon. They've given him advice and he listened to them because they had good points/capable enough. He even made a commoner his Hand. Why? Because he recognized merit.
Stannis is not a fanatic like that godforsaken show Game of Thrones had made him. He did convert to R'hllor but he did not force his followers to do the same. Remember that his troops now consisted of southern men (both R'hllor's followers and Faith of the Seven too and also mountain men (Old Gods followers). Stannis commanded some of his men burned because they did something awful (e.g. cannibalism). He basically said "pray harder" when they demanded more sacrifice. And if you were following all the spoiler chapters from The Winds of Winter, you'll know that this dude has more on his sleeves. The long awaited Battle of Ice is gonna be his.
Would the realm bleed if Stannis is king? Stannis is not a pure Machiavellian like Tywin, or ruthless like Dany post-Meereen with her fire and blood. He - like Steven Attewell's essay in this book - is Machiavellian with a purpose. He is forgiving when he had to (and smart enough to do that - see Renly's ex-followers) and ruthless but just. Yes, many will bleed when he takes the Iron Throne, but it will a justified one.
Jeff's essay and many others from this book are really insightful. We also talked today about an essay on patriarchy in Westeros (written by Stefan Sasse), laying out some examples such as Ned, Tywin and Randyll Tarly. We concluded that Dorne's law of primogeniture might be the answer for Westeros if the realm wants to advance. Another essay was on the Songs and Singers in ASOIAF (written by Amin Javadi) - which highlights the nuances of these both often overlooked aspects in Westeros to the soul of the story and characters.
The last essay we discussed was about Robert as a war commander, written by Jim McGeehin. Here we also got more insights of this so-called fat, useless, whoremonger King. He's actually very capable, charismatic, commander and tactician. I heard that HBO is planning to do four GOT spinoffs - it is no brainer for them to do one on Robert's Rebellion since there's already a lot of materials.
I do admit some essays are just meh, but the ones I mentioned above as well as the rest I would recommend it to any ASOIAF fanatics.
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