 However, as "Time" Lev Grossman noted, readers "experience the struggle for Westeros from all sides at once", such that "every fight is both triumph and tragedy [...] and everybody is both hero and villain at the same time".Modeled on "The Lord of the Rings", the story of "A Song of Ice and Fire" begins with a tight focus on a small group (with everyone in Winterfell, except Daenerys) and then splits into separate stories.The storylines are to converge again, but finding the turning point in this complex series has been difficult for Martin and has slowed down his writing.