Why I Love – and Hate – Game of Thrones*

• Because it’s about the real world, despite the dragons and the magic.
• Because it’s a meditation on the uses and abuses of power.
• Because it reminds that there is little hope, and terrible things always about to happen.
• Because, like the real world, we’re never sure who the good guys are (no, not even the Starks, not even Daenerys) and who the bad guys are (well, maybe the Bastard of Bolton).
• Because George Martin can somehow get me involved in a character’s life (even Jaime Lannister’s!) in just a couple of paragraphs. And just as in real life, the people I care about may be snatched away at any time.
• Because I like strong female characters.
• Because, like the real world, there is a looming threat (summer is coming!) that most people write off as a fairy-tale or hoax.
• Because it doesn’t attempt to console me with a fantasy of good always prevailing over evil. If there is good in the world, it’s always provisional, individual, and mixed in with the evil.
• Because, while I really just wanted an escape into fantasy, it won’t let me escape.

*And by “Game of Thrones,” I really mean the Song of Ice and Fire book series.