A review of George R.R Martin's 'A song of ice and fire.'

If you are a stranger to George R.R Martins ‘A song of ice and fire’ series and you love fantasy, or quite simply good books, then I would advise you to immediately get your hands upon the first book in this series ‘A game of thrones.’

The characters in this book are three dimensional, diverse and well developed. I like Aryia Stark, Jon Snow and Tyrion Lanister, but if I had to choose one favorite it would have to be Ariya Stark. Why? Simply because she is a young girl who refuses to be burdened by societies norms. Instead of dresses and flowers she prefers swords and boys clothing. She's spirited, hardworking, up for a fight and full of conviction. All who underestimate her because of her age or gender, soon find out that it is to their peril, because she is definitely a force to be reckoned with. What’s not to like with a character as great as that?

Each book in the ‘A song of ice and fire’ series is well paced and they are full of power struggles, back stabbing, war, love, lust, massacres, plotting, corruption and strange bed fellows.

I’m currently reading the fifth book in the series, for the second time, and loving every moment of it. George definitely knows how to grasp his readers’ attention and how to keep their eyes glued to his every word. The suspense and the intrigue he cultivates are simply marvellous and the realism his characters possess is captivating.

I can’t wait for the next book to come out, but until then, the second season of 'A game of thrones' on HBO will just have to satisfy my hunger.

In my humble opinion HBO's 'A game of thrones' is the best adaptation of a book to a series or film that I have seen in a long time, because it stays true to the novel and George’s vision.

The birth of a legend

I stumbled upon a youtube video about Michael Jordan yesterday and it really resonated with me. Why? Because I’ve always been an avid Michael Jordan fan and the video was really inspirational.

I remember watching Jordan play, when I was younger, and being hypnotised by his ability to make the impossible, possible and his talent to make everything he did look beautiful and easy. Like many people I always wanted to be like Jordan because I thought that he was so naturally gifted.

Enough reminiscing, back to the present day and what was so inspirational about the video I watched. It started with Michael Jordan’s entry into baseball and the negative reaction of the media to his decision to try his hand at a new sport. It moved onto his tireless work ethic and conviction i.e. every day he came to training before his team mates and continued to train with his batting instructor after his team mates went home, because he wasn’t as good as he wanted to be. It went on to various clips from interviews he has done. Where he said that you shouldn’t be afraid to try because the worse that could happen is that things don’t pan out how you expected them to, but without trying you would never know that. He also said that you will never succeed without the possibility of failure and you need inner confidence to take the chance. The video proceeded with an advert he did where he told a group of aspiring basketball players, “Maybe it’s my own fault. Maybe I led you to believe that it was easy, when it wasn’t. Maybe I made you think my highlights started at the free throw line and not at the gym. Maybe I made you think that every shot I took was a game winner. That my game was built on flash and not fire. Maybe it’s my fault that you didn’t see that failure gave me strength. That my pain was my motivation. Maybe I led you to believe that basketball was a god given gift and not something I worked hard for every single day of my life. Maybe I destroyed the game or maybe you’re just making excuses.” The video cut back to an interview where Jordan proclaimed that he would not let the possibility of failure prevent him from doing something he really enjoyed doing and that if you put your mind to doing something you really want to do, good things can happen. He went on to say that he doesn’t compete with others, he competes with himself because he is the most competitive person he knows and that the greatest battle he faced in his sports career was himself in that he had to keep challenging him self to try to overcome harder and harder challenges otherwise he would have lost his motivation. The video finishes with another inspirational advert where Jordan said that he’s failed over and over again in life and that is why he has succeeded.

Wow, is all I can say. What a positive role model and inspirational speaker. Happy birthday Michael Jordan, you really embody the ideal that nothing worth having comes easily and that having a vision, putting in hard work and being determined really pays off. You are truly a legend and a muse to us all, because you remind us that even when everyone around us is trying to pull us down and they don’t believe in us, it is actually what we believe in and what we are willing to work hard for that truly matters, because practice really does lead to perfection.