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A Game of Groans: A Parody of Slush and Soot
'There was a bloodied knife on Allbran's bed. Lady Gateway Barker knew what she had to do; what all the royals in Summerseve did when somebody tried to kill a member of their family: gather up a bunch of people and horses, and go from one place to another.'
In the land of the Eight (or was it Six?) Kingdoms - where seasons can last decades and comparisons to Tolkien a lifetime - trouble is brewing. For the Barkers of Summerseve, times are about to get as tough as the pronunciation of 'Daenerys Targaryen'.
From this world of outdoor fornication with horse-people (and indoor fornication with blood relatives) comes an epic story of novella proportions as the Barkers, their BFFs, and their enemies strive to star in that funniest of concepts: a parody of George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.
"The literary mash-up we're dying to see!"
--- 109.COM
In the land of the Eight (or was it Six?) Kingdoms - where seasons can last decades and comparisons to Tolkien a lifetime - trouble is brewing. For the Barkers of Summerseve, times are about to get as tough as the pronunciation of 'Daenerys Targaryen'.
From this world of outdoor fornication with horse-people (and indoor fornication with blood relatives) comes an epic story of novella proportions as the Barkers, their BFFs, and their enemies strive to star in that funniest of concepts: a parody of George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.
"The literary mash-up we're dying to see!"
--- 109.COM
228 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
1 person is currently reading
116 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
May 27, 2012
This was quite a disappointment. I was hoping there would be pirates, R.R.
August 20, 2012
If you can’t enjoy both parody and the sources said parody is based on, you won’t like A Game of Groans: A Sonnet of Slush and Soot. This humorous effort mocks George R. R. Martin’s Westeros (as Easterrabbit) and all of its characters with a variety of painful puns, scatological humor, and fraternity-level sexual groping (It is too overt for innuendo and too ridiculous to be titillating, so I’ll call it groping as if reaching for a joke in questionable ways.) that roughly follows the early stages of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Instead of the inexorable advent of Winter in Martin’s original work, the Wall in Easterrabbit is melting and we read over and over of the ominous onslaught of Summer. Instead of Winterfall, we have Summerseve (which looks remarkably like Summersieve if you don’t read it correctly). Sometimes, the humor can be found in naming conventions that work off sounds in the names of the original work. So, Robert Baratheon becomes Bobbert Barfonme, Eddard Stark becomes Headcase Barker, and Tyrion Lannister becomes Tritone Sinister. The antonymic nature of much of the humor in this book can be observed in the fact that Tyrion, of course, is a dwarf in Martin’s work, but as his name might suggest (TRITONe), is a giant in this story. Some names, however, are twisted to enhance the humor. Jon Snow becomes Juan Nieve. Not only does the Spanish translation of the name let you know who it is, but it provides a wonderful opportunity for the author to inject Spanish phrases and words into the text and translate them as running gags in the footnotes.
My favorite name variation, however, is the transformation of Daenerys Targaryen into Lolyta (after all, she is impregnated by the equivalent of a Mongol warlord when she is 13 years old) Targetpractice. To really exaggerate the parody, she is married to the ruler of a horse people in a more literal sense. Ivan Drago (sounding more like a James Bond villain than fantasy character each time I read it) is clearly a centaur. Of course, the idea of procreating with a centaur led to numerous comedic routines with regard to public sex and organ size.
The only thing more prevalent in this book than scatological and sexual humor is drug humor. The characters smoke, snort, and inject with virtual impunity. I suppose that isn’t quite as shocking in this milieu where they won’t live very long anyway. Even the use of drug humor is so ridiculous that one, at first, finds it difficult to believe the author has set up what has just occurred.
The book is full of twists and betrayals, duels and ambushes, just like the original work. However, it is hard to believe that a person would be in great pain from having manure thrown at his leg or people would die of heart attacks from insults recycled from Vaudeville routines. Yet, this occurs on more than one occasion (at least, for the latter). A Game of Groans has moments. It reminds me of an old episode of Second City Television. The book, like the old television show, contains lots of laugh out loud moments, but it is difficult to sustain interest over the course of the entire book. There are only so many sketches of the Great White North that one can enjoy before it seems like the same old thing and there are only so many times that Allbran can insist that he isn’t hurt before you look to see if an old Monte Python tape is wedged in your antique VCR.
I feel about A Game of Groans much like I feel about Bored of the Rings (the old National Lampoon parody). Once is enough; I wouldn’t be likely to read A Crash of Bling, even if the sequel was more than a joke. It’s clever at times, but also as self-indulgent as improvisational comedy when it’s going off the rails. Meanwhile, I’d better finish this. I hear “Summer is coming.”
Instead of the inexorable advent of Winter in Martin’s original work, the Wall in Easterrabbit is melting and we read over and over of the ominous onslaught of Summer. Instead of Winterfall, we have Summerseve (which looks remarkably like Summersieve if you don’t read it correctly). Sometimes, the humor can be found in naming conventions that work off sounds in the names of the original work. So, Robert Baratheon becomes Bobbert Barfonme, Eddard Stark becomes Headcase Barker, and Tyrion Lannister becomes Tritone Sinister. The antonymic nature of much of the humor in this book can be observed in the fact that Tyrion, of course, is a dwarf in Martin’s work, but as his name might suggest (TRITONe), is a giant in this story. Some names, however, are twisted to enhance the humor. Jon Snow becomes Juan Nieve. Not only does the Spanish translation of the name let you know who it is, but it provides a wonderful opportunity for the author to inject Spanish phrases and words into the text and translate them as running gags in the footnotes.
My favorite name variation, however, is the transformation of Daenerys Targaryen into Lolyta (after all, she is impregnated by the equivalent of a Mongol warlord when she is 13 years old) Targetpractice. To really exaggerate the parody, she is married to the ruler of a horse people in a more literal sense. Ivan Drago (sounding more like a James Bond villain than fantasy character each time I read it) is clearly a centaur. Of course, the idea of procreating with a centaur led to numerous comedic routines with regard to public sex and organ size.
The only thing more prevalent in this book than scatological and sexual humor is drug humor. The characters smoke, snort, and inject with virtual impunity. I suppose that isn’t quite as shocking in this milieu where they won’t live very long anyway. Even the use of drug humor is so ridiculous that one, at first, finds it difficult to believe the author has set up what has just occurred.
The book is full of twists and betrayals, duels and ambushes, just like the original work. However, it is hard to believe that a person would be in great pain from having manure thrown at his leg or people would die of heart attacks from insults recycled from Vaudeville routines. Yet, this occurs on more than one occasion (at least, for the latter). A Game of Groans has moments. It reminds me of an old episode of Second City Television. The book, like the old television show, contains lots of laugh out loud moments, but it is difficult to sustain interest over the course of the entire book. There are only so many sketches of the Great White North that one can enjoy before it seems like the same old thing and there are only so many times that Allbran can insist that he isn’t hurt before you look to see if an old Monte Python tape is wedged in your antique VCR.
I feel about A Game of Groans much like I feel about Bored of the Rings (the old National Lampoon parody). Once is enough; I wouldn’t be likely to read A Crash of Bling, even if the sequel was more than a joke. It’s clever at times, but also as self-indulgent as improvisational comedy when it’s going off the rails. Meanwhile, I’d better finish this. I hear “Summer is coming.”
February 5, 2013
Since I am in a generous mood today, I'm giving this book two stars. Really...more like 1.5. I came close on several occassions to abandoning it all together but it was so short that I kept plowing through. Sort of like watching a train wreck...just can't not watch it.
I would recommend this book only to the following types of readers:
1) Only those that have read A Game of Thrones will have any chance at all of finding some sort of enjoyment here. If you haven't read the source material, you will be totally lost. At the very least you will need to have seen the first season of the HBO series.
2) Those that just can't appreciate quality humorous writing. If you have problems absorbing well done satire or even old-fashioned straight comedy, you may want to dip your toe in to this mess. There is no quality humor here. Plenty of lame, insulting, sophomoric humor and lots of easy-to-come-up with jokes. But no good humor.
3) Those that like potty humor. Most of this book can be classified as the most basic potty humor out there. Why come up with witty prose when it's so much easier and faster to talk about body parts, noises, and aromas.
4) Those that prefer sarcasm to satire. Now, I can appreciate when somebody is roasting something that is near and dear to me. I don't take offence easily. But this book is utterly insulting to the source material, George R R Martin, and many many other icons of modern culture. Not just the fantasy genre or geekdom but everything from popular music to home schooling.
5) Those readers who prefer lots of repetition of material because they can't understand basic concepts. This book repeats phrases over and over, sometimes whole paragraphs under the guise of humor. But I suspect it's a lame attempt to fill out some pages to try to keep it from being sold as a novella. Quite a few pages only have a couple of sentences on them for the same reason.
So if you fit into any of the above categories, this may be a good find for you. But I do recommend you borrow it from the library rather than spend even 99 cents on it. For everybody else, I would steer clear of this one.
I would recommend this book only to the following types of readers:
1) Only those that have read A Game of Thrones will have any chance at all of finding some sort of enjoyment here. If you haven't read the source material, you will be totally lost. At the very least you will need to have seen the first season of the HBO series.
2) Those that just can't appreciate quality humorous writing. If you have problems absorbing well done satire or even old-fashioned straight comedy, you may want to dip your toe in to this mess. There is no quality humor here. Plenty of lame, insulting, sophomoric humor and lots of easy-to-come-up with jokes. But no good humor.
3) Those that like potty humor. Most of this book can be classified as the most basic potty humor out there. Why come up with witty prose when it's so much easier and faster to talk about body parts, noises, and aromas.
4) Those that prefer sarcasm to satire. Now, I can appreciate when somebody is roasting something that is near and dear to me. I don't take offence easily. But this book is utterly insulting to the source material, George R R Martin, and many many other icons of modern culture. Not just the fantasy genre or geekdom but everything from popular music to home schooling.
5) Those readers who prefer lots of repetition of material because they can't understand basic concepts. This book repeats phrases over and over, sometimes whole paragraphs under the guise of humor. But I suspect it's a lame attempt to fill out some pages to try to keep it from being sold as a novella. Quite a few pages only have a couple of sentences on them for the same reason.
So if you fit into any of the above categories, this may be a good find for you. But I do recommend you borrow it from the library rather than spend even 99 cents on it. For everybody else, I would steer clear of this one.
August 29, 2012
It was a great funny book. The reason people don't like it is because they haven't read many fantasy books. You need to have a sense of humor to read this book. Read this book if you are a geek, read this book if you like star wars, lord of the rings, game of thrones, and harry potter, but DON'T read this book if you have no sense of humor or if you take jokes too seriously. It's a very funny book, it's just people who read it take things too seriously. Get over it. Its hilarious.
August 3, 2015
Not very funny, not very interesting. Tryion is a skinny giant, the King's Hand is called the King's Foot, the Stark motto is, "Summer is coming", and the direwolves are direpandas. Yawn.
May 27, 2021
DNF at 26%/p.60
Is it impossible to write parody without sexualized or obscene jokes? That isn't humour, that is pure cringe, and cheap.
It had some decent jokes too, but the bad-weird stuff was far too much for me to continue reading.
Is it impossible to write parody without sexualized or obscene jokes? That isn't humour, that is pure cringe, and cheap.
It had some decent jokes too, but the bad-weird stuff was far too much for me to continue reading.
June 7, 2012
A Game of Groans: A Sonnet of Slush and Soot is a parody of A Game of Thrones, the first book from the A Song of Ice and Fire saga by George R.R. Martin.
Now, if you expect a parody much like what Epic Movie (2007) did to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, or what Family Guy did (both fantastically and respectfully) to Star Wars, then you'll be horribly disappointed.
The parody-style of A Game of Groans is not much like the modern-type of parodies many of us would, at first, respect. Instead of throwing slapstick, puns, situational humor, dark comedy, practical humor, and such at A Game of Thrones, A Game of Groans seems more like A Game of Thrones would be if we bought it from a "negative world" or an "opposite universe".
It satires the work of George R.R. Martin almost too directly. Where chapters are to be long and descriptive in A Game of Thrones, this book makes them short and meaningless. Where a reader is supposed to sympathize with Ned Stark's honor in A Game of Thrones, Headcase Barker's ignorance is given. Where readers are to fall in love or hatred towards a strong female character like Daenerys Targaryen, A Game of Groans gives the weak and objectified Lolyta Tornadobutt.
Thus, many of the book's jokes fall short in really providing a smart parody to the saga George R.R. Martin created. Where the jokes do prevail, however, is when it constantly jabs and pokes fun at the formalism and structuralism of the books in A Song of Ice and Fire (both implicitly and explicitly). Hence, the book, I must say, might only be enjoyed if you actually read A Game of Thrones - as in the book. The parody does quite well to highlight the comedic side to the way the plot unfolds itself in the book. So, readers may want to check this book out. Those who only make themselves known to the Westerosi kingdoms though the HBO series will sadly find this read as simple trash.
As for the jokes that aim to satire the character and plots, they usually come off as plain annoying, insulting, and (sadly) sometimes pointless - like one of those 90's animation cartoons that tried to take a piece of the market-pie and compete with The Simpsons or a Seth MacFarlane cartoon but miserably failed to do so, only to get a fandom of a few million teens through DVD purchases, late-night cable viewers, and ComicCon regulars.
I can't say I didn't enjoy the book, though. It can be read within one afternoon. The comedy was up my alley, but there were many parts in the story where I wished the jokes/satires were executed a bit funnier.
Now, if you expect a parody much like what Epic Movie (2007) did to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, or what Family Guy did (both fantastically and respectfully) to Star Wars, then you'll be horribly disappointed.
The parody-style of A Game of Groans is not much like the modern-type of parodies many of us would, at first, respect. Instead of throwing slapstick, puns, situational humor, dark comedy, practical humor, and such at A Game of Thrones, A Game of Groans seems more like A Game of Thrones would be if we bought it from a "negative world" or an "opposite universe".
It satires the work of George R.R. Martin almost too directly. Where chapters are to be long and descriptive in A Game of Thrones, this book makes them short and meaningless. Where a reader is supposed to sympathize with Ned Stark's honor in A Game of Thrones, Headcase Barker's ignorance is given. Where readers are to fall in love or hatred towards a strong female character like Daenerys Targaryen, A Game of Groans gives the weak and objectified Lolyta Tornadobutt.
Thus, many of the book's jokes fall short in really providing a smart parody to the saga George R.R. Martin created. Where the jokes do prevail, however, is when it constantly jabs and pokes fun at the formalism and structuralism of the books in A Song of Ice and Fire (both implicitly and explicitly). Hence, the book, I must say, might only be enjoyed if you actually read A Game of Thrones - as in the book. The parody does quite well to highlight the comedic side to the way the plot unfolds itself in the book. So, readers may want to check this book out. Those who only make themselves known to the Westerosi kingdoms though the HBO series will sadly find this read as simple trash.
As for the jokes that aim to satire the character and plots, they usually come off as plain annoying, insulting, and (sadly) sometimes pointless - like one of those 90's animation cartoons that tried to take a piece of the market-pie and compete with The Simpsons or a Seth MacFarlane cartoon but miserably failed to do so, only to get a fandom of a few million teens through DVD purchases, late-night cable viewers, and ComicCon regulars.
I can't say I didn't enjoy the book, though. It can be read within one afternoon. The comedy was up my alley, but there were many parts in the story where I wished the jokes/satires were executed a bit funnier.
February 26, 2014
Half of the time, I was laughing alongside the parodic lampshading of the ridiculous things that exist in the ASoIaF canon. The other half was spent shaking my head at the really cheap and crude jokes. There were many missed opportunities for smarter jokes, but that's not for this kind of book, is it?
August 18, 2012
Really funny. A book where you don't have to think with at all. I enjoyed it!
July 2, 2018
I decided to read the first chapter of the worst-rated books I owned, and what would you know--this came out as the least rated.
You can see my thoughts over at my blog: https://candyflossbooks.wordpress.com...
You can see my thoughts over at my blog: https://candyflossbooks.wordpress.com...
January 10, 2015
A complete and utter disaster.
Jumping on the song of ice and fire bandwagon, many other writers have sought out to make a parody of the GOT universe. This can be done quite easily, since the characters of the book series are rich and you can easily make fun of them, given that the reader has already read the books or seen the TV series.
A game of groans is a complete and utter mess. It's jokes are not funny, by the first 20 pages, you'll have to re-read almost every page to sort of decypher what the hell is going on since the writer does a remarkably terrible job describing on what is actually happening. If I remember correctly, the characters we are first introduced to, are parodies of, Voldermort, Darth Vader, Aslan, Legolas, Harry potter, 3po & voldermort. There might be some more, however, i can't remember them, since not a single character is memorable from this book.
Aslan (referred to as Jesus chryst in this book because of no reason) is most likely the weakest character of them all. I could rabble on and on about the caracters, but I in all honesty, can't be bothered.
The book has weed jokes, fart jokes and snake jokes. Not even a brain damaged 4 year old would laugh at these jokes.
Avoid!
Jumping on the song of ice and fire bandwagon, many other writers have sought out to make a parody of the GOT universe. This can be done quite easily, since the characters of the book series are rich and you can easily make fun of them, given that the reader has already read the books or seen the TV series.
A game of groans is a complete and utter mess. It's jokes are not funny, by the first 20 pages, you'll have to re-read almost every page to sort of decypher what the hell is going on since the writer does a remarkably terrible job describing on what is actually happening. If I remember correctly, the characters we are first introduced to, are parodies of, Voldermort, Darth Vader, Aslan, Legolas, Harry potter, 3po & voldermort. There might be some more, however, i can't remember them, since not a single character is memorable from this book.
Aslan (referred to as Jesus chryst in this book because of no reason) is most likely the weakest character of them all. I could rabble on and on about the caracters, but I in all honesty, can't be bothered.
The book has weed jokes, fart jokes and snake jokes. Not even a brain damaged 4 year old would laugh at these jokes.
Avoid!
April 26, 2015
To be honest: I really wanted to like this book. I do think it has a lot of good ideas.
It's comments on the flaws in the storytelling of the books and TV show are hilarious, the names are wonderfully punny and some of the character redesigns are funny (Juan Nieve in particular).
Therefore it annoys me when the book spends too much time on stupid farting humor, poo fights and awkward naked drinking contests. It is almost an insult to the reader because there are many intelligent jokes other places in the book.
The final drawback is that this book tries to point out that there are a lot of loose ends in A Song Of Ice And Fire by leaving 50% of the storylines (and even the last sentence) unresolved.
I fully understand this point of critique. I did think a lot of the storylines in A Feast For Crows had too much filler that lead nowhere.
But it hurts the parody. If you have the mindset that nothing needs to be resolved your book comes off as lazy. No matter how much self-irony you have.
While it did entertain me at times with some laugh out loud moments this parody of slush and soot is passable even to the most die hard GOT-fans.
It's comments on the flaws in the storytelling of the books and TV show are hilarious, the names are wonderfully punny and some of the character redesigns are funny (Juan Nieve in particular).
Therefore it annoys me when the book spends too much time on stupid farting humor, poo fights and awkward naked drinking contests. It is almost an insult to the reader because there are many intelligent jokes other places in the book.
The final drawback is that this book tries to point out that there are a lot of loose ends in A Song Of Ice And Fire by leaving 50% of the storylines (and even the last sentence) unresolved.
I fully understand this point of critique. I did think a lot of the storylines in A Feast For Crows had too much filler that lead nowhere.
But it hurts the parody. If you have the mindset that nothing needs to be resolved your book comes off as lazy. No matter how much self-irony you have.
While it did entertain me at times with some laugh out loud moments this parody of slush and soot is passable even to the most die hard GOT-fans.
March 11, 2014
I love the George R.R. Martin epic Song of Ice and Fire. And I can appreciate a good parody once in a while, even if made of one of my favorite books. However, I can't put my finger quite on why, but this book was just OK. Since it was unauthorized, I guess, they had to change a lot of the names, but usually you could figure out who was who...they opted to make Tyrion a giant instead of a dwarf, for one example. But, taking Bran, and making him Allbran, and full of flatulance was just not that humorous to me. The other thing I didn't like was the author would bring up references to "the show" or HBO, or the book in first person from the characters POV. While that can be creative, I felt they did it too much (kind of like the Allbran character farting all the time). Also, not sure where this came from, but making Catelyn a stoner who loves to smoke weed all the time...well, maybe I like her real character too much for that. If you are interested in reading this for yourself, and can find it for $1 on clearance, go for it...I wish I hadn't paid $5 for it, myself.
February 4, 2016
I didn't have high hopes for this; I know better than to expect literary genius when it comes to parodies, but I think that there was big part of me that really wanted to like this. The only reason I am giving this two stars instead of one is that I did manage to get a few laughs out of it. But it was too one dimensional for my taste. It is safe to say that this type of humor is perhaps not coherent with my taste for comedy. Maybe between all the fart and the "yo-mama" jokes I lost my sense of humor. Truth be told I was mostly disappointed, for, as a great fan of A Song Of Ice And Fire, I would have definitely enjoyed a properly written parody.
June 13, 2013
I read this whole book for no reason other than that I was in shock that it was so bad. It reads like something some college (or high school) kids wrote while stoned. "Oh,oh, wouldn't it be great if he farted here? Hahahaha!" "Yes, and we can have them smoke some doobies and stuff!" Rrrrr. This book has a similar idea to Bored of the Kinks, a parody of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. I read that one when I was 15 and thought it was hilarious, so maybe this would be good for someone that age. Then again, maybe not.
Read
June 23, 2012I think that in comparison to the game of thrones series, this comes across as crass humour in the line of "Captain Underwear" while also following the message and understanding the complaints many readers had of the original.
The world of the original has no beauty to it; that was my complaint. I didn't care whether any characters lived or died. The author of the parody apparently shares this issue with me.
Solid job, but a bit too "yucky" for me...
The world of the original has no beauty to it; that was my complaint. I didn't care whether any characters lived or died. The author of the parody apparently shares this issue with me.
Solid job, but a bit too "yucky" for me...
May 29, 2012
It hurt to read this book, but had enough satire and cleverly funny things to get me through it. That's the only reason it gets two stars and not one. I also EXPECTED it to be bad, so it hit right about where I thought it would
November 2, 2012
I could not finish this book. I found the attempts at humor unfunny, and the attempts at clever names to be cumbersome. The oblique mocking references to Game of Thrones were too much work for me. I finally just gave up.
March 9, 2015
I really wanted this to be good. I read about 6 chapters hoping for it to get funny, and it just didn't happen. There was some stoner humor in there, so maybe I would get it if I tried some drugs, but I was just disappointed.
Want to read
April 18, 2012not really sure what to do with this.
I haven't read the books. I have watched the show though. Hmmm.
I haven't read the books. I have watched the show though. Hmmm.
April 28, 2012
Lol satirical and damn funny. :)
May 2, 2013
I read the book stony-faced, never smiling, and I laughed just twice.
June 30, 2012
hilarious!
September 16, 2012
I like parodies, but this was too stupid to finish.
October 5, 2012
There are some gems in here, but you'll have to dig through a lot of trash to get to them. I finally gave up.
November 17, 2014
Yes, there were funny parts (like The Others), still, I'm not a big fan of parodies.
There were parts that made me laugh, but most of it was just plain stupid. Yes, I said it. :D
There were parts that made me laugh, but most of it was just plain stupid. Yes, I said it. :D
March 28, 2013
Methinks the synopsis was better than the book.
July 5, 2013
Not entirely sure what to say about this.
September 14, 2013
The best thing to say about this book is, that it wasn't as boring as the original which was horrible.
May 16, 2014
Stopping at page 66 because I am quite done with this book. Not an excellent read, but one to look at on the shelf and go "Oh yeah I have that book I'm such a GoT fan".
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews