New Books In Literary Studies

“In the game of thrones you either win or you die”––with over 10 million viewers per episode of Game of Thrones, one of the most successful television shows of all time, George R.R. Martin definitely wins. The success of the show is even more amazing considering it’s genre television––fantasy, to be exact. Some assert that the power of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, the book series upon which the crowning jewel of HBO is based, comes from the author’s willingness to ignore the conventions of the fantasy genre. Not so, argues Dr. Joseph Young in his new book, George R. R. Martin and the Fantasy Form (Routledge, 2019) Using the frameworks of literary theory relevant to modern fantasy, Dr. Young undertakes a compelling examination of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and his employment of the structural demands and thematic aptitudes of the genre. Examining Martin’s approaches to his obligations and licenses as a fantasist, Young persuasively argues that the power of A Song of Ice and Fi