The power politics of George R. R. Martin's 'Game of Thrones'

"A Song of Ice and Fire is intensely political. Martin asks the most serious questions about the nature of power: Who governs? By what right? To what end? He is fascinated by the subtle effects power can have on ruler and subject alike. 'You can have the power to destroy,' he told New York magazine's Vulture blog last year, 'but it doesn't give you the power to reform, or improve, or build.' Quite unexpectedly, Martin has emerged as the Machiavelli of the modern novel." --Matthew Continetti, Dungeons and Dragons, review essay, Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2012