This weekend was a successful and sad one for me. We won our game, I scored a few goals and I finally finished the fifth book of the George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones.”
Finishing this series has been a journey for me that has lasted far too long. The books are 1,000 pages long and in the smallest font possible.
These aren’t just your average books though; you get really invested in the characters. Each “chapter” is all about one specific character, instead of just integrating them all into several different chapters throughout the book.
You get in-depth detail about the characters, which makes you develop a certain connection to each and every character. But, if you know anything about George R. R. Martin’s books, you know never to get attached to a character.
Unfortunately, he writes every character in a way that makes you unable not to love them.
I think he writes them like this for a sick and twisted reason, because the book itself has some sick and twisted features – which make it so intriguing. He wants you to fall in love with the character and how they develop throughout the story, so you will continue reading – then he kills them.
That is why this weekend was successful and sad. I finally finished the final book, but there were casualties along the way – thanks George.
I’m not going to give any spoilers, but I felt really upset when one of my favorite characters was killed. He wrote him or her so well throughout the series that the character almost evolved into my temporary reality.
When I would read his books, I would become lost and so immersed in them that nothing else seemed to be real. So, when the character was killed off it killed a little piece of me, until I looked up and realized I was riding on the bus back with my team and I wasn’t actually involved in the game of thrones – thankfully.
I can’t wait until the next book comes out, but in the meantime I have started reading “The Fault in Our Stars,” which is a children’s book in comparison to the “Game of Thrones.”
It does feel good, however, to know that I have finally finished the series that I have been waiting so long to finish, but it is kind of sad, though, knowing that it is temporarily over.
Reading the epilogue for the next book got me very excited for the newest addition.
All I know for certain is that someone will die after you become incredibly invested in his or her character’s life, because as the lovely Cersei Lannister said, “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.”
Clearly, I became invested in characters that were all losers.
BECKY HILKER
