The Armageddon Rag

"What's the use of messing around in things you don't understand?"

The Armageddon Rag is a mystery/fantasy book written by George R. R. Martin, who I’m sure you know by his well-known and most beloved works, A Song of Ice and Fire. This book revolves around Sandy Blair, a journalist turns novelist who investigates the murder of a rock promoter, James Lynch and its weird circumstances around it. This circumstances set off Blair to not only find out who killed Lynch but also launched a suspicion towards Blair’s favorite rock band, The Nazgul, and their connection to Lynch. During his investigation, Blair unfolds many secrets surrounding, Lynch, The Nazgul, and the occult mystery surrounding rock and roll world at that time.

Now, you probably thought, “The Nazgul, like that dark riders from Tolkien’s book?” Yes, folks, you’re right. You will find a lot of Tolkienesque references in this book. It’s no secret that GRRM is a huge fan of Tolkien’s works and you can see that GRRM’s fanboy side is totally showing in The Armageddon Rag. Not only from the band name, but also there’s a dog called Balrog.

But, GRRM did not only show his fanboy side towards Tolkien’s works, he also shows his fanboy side towards 60’s and 70’s rock and roll music. With the mention of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, The Doors, and so on. This actually suceeded him in setting tones in this book. We could clearly see the nature of music scene in that era, and also feel the hippie cult vibe of the 70’s. I also like that GRRM put a song lyrics in front of every chapters that kind of resonates with the story.

Though GRRM set the tone nicely, he did over-glorify it. At first, I was kind of okay with it, but 100 pages in and I feel like I have enough. The idea of the story is interesting enough, but sadly, GRRM execution in this book is not. There are some moments that I enjoy, like that moment when GRRM throwing shades on Richard Nixon, that was hilarious. But unfortunately, that was overshadowed by the moments I did not enjoy. The writing is a bit confusing, and the ending is just ‘eh’. Also the main character in this book is so one dimensional. I can’t believe I just said that about GRRM’s characters, but that’s what I thought of him. The main character is that kind of person who always says “My generation is better than whatever generation you’re from,” that irks me a lot. Some other characters are better, some as bad as he is.

It really pained me writing this review and rating this book, because I feel like I’m betraying GRRM. But then again, no matter how much I love GRRM and ASoIAF, I have to be fair. I feel like in this kind of genre, GRRM failed to triumph. This book is not my cup of tea, and I feel like the writing and characters are not on the same level as ASoIAF, which I will always love to death.

• Title            : The Armageddon Rag

• Author        : George R. R. Martin

• Language   : English

• Page Count: 363 pages