I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I found this book incredibly interesting the author really kept me hooked until the end. very well written I highly recommend.

this was a really well done essay book about Game of Thrones, I enjoyed reading this book it was interesting to read and enjoyed reading this.

DNF at 23%

I really struggled to get into this one. Would probably try again at a later date but for now its a no from me

All Men Must Die: Power and Passion in Game of Thrones by Carolyne Larrington
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Genre: Entertainment | Nonfiction (Adult)
Release Date: January 28, 2021

All Men Must Die by Carolyne Larrington is a study of the show Game of Thrones.

I really struggled with this book. I thought it would be fascinating to view one of my favorite shows from a different perspective. Instead, I found it to be the opposite.

The author divides the book into six different sections covering a variety of topics from identity, power and knowledge, and gender and marginalization. The author did share some interesting photos that showcase different locations or sets from the show. That was neat.

I really wanted to like this book, but it read more like a textbook.

I'm so grateful to Carolyne Larrington, Bloomsbury Academic, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

To be honest, I just really couldn't get into this book. I figured this would be accessible for the general audience, yet this is very much an academic thesis meant for insiders with specialized jargon. I went in thinking I would be able to learn something interesting about a show I both loved and hated in equal measure, but struggled to figure out what the author was saying.

This book has some excellent analysis, but too many points feel rushed, as though the author believes that only certain characters are worth exploring (mainly Jon and Dany). He best part of the book is the critique of orientalism and the white-savior trope in Dany’s storyline. As someone who is primarily a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire and has a love/hate (mostly hate) relationship to the TV adaptation, I find her suggestion that Martin does not conclude the story with successful romantic couples mistaken. The showrunners definitely take a dim view of romantic love. Martin, however, has not yet concluded the saga and has not suggested anything to suggest that all couples are doomed.

My chief criticism, however, is her discussion of Brienne of Tarth. She states that Brienne has the life she wants at the end of the show. Perhaps the author needs to reread Martin. He had described Brienne as “Sansa with a sword”—a girl who loves the songs as much as Sansa and who turns to swordplay after three unsuccessful betrothals because “if she can’t be the maiden, she’ll have to be the knight.” Argue if you want that the showrunners gave her different motivations than Martin did, but her romantic streak is still present in Gwendolyn Christie’s moving performance. Nowhere does TV Brienne state that she wants to be a kingsguard, other than for Renly, with whom she is infatuated. Nor is her month-long affair with Jaime a drunken one-night stand on either of their parts. It’s the culmination of a romance that begins in the Riverlands and only ends because of the showrunners’ obsession with twincest. Martin describes Jaime and Brienne as a Beauty-and-the-Beast story. How does that end again? /Brienne fan girl rant over.. But, really, the author needs to study the source material more closely. There are several factual errors even in describing scenes from the TV show.

The author points out in the introduction that she is not a media studies scholar. I am.. If this were an undergrad paper, I would give it a B- and suggest the student make substantial revisions.