A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One (edition 1996)

Wonderful story. I could not put this book down. The characters grow and develop throughout the story. The political intrigue will keep you guessing. I found myself choosing sides between the Lannisters and the Starks. I can't wait to read the next book in the series. ( )

This is not your mother's fantasy epic. This is not Eddings' Belgariad or Tolkein's Rings or even Jordan's Wheel. There is no honor - and where it's found it's stamped out. There is no kindness - and where there is, it's simply a veiled threat. This book truly is Desparate Housewives without qualms. The first time I got the idea that this book was different was when young Bran, 7 years old - as old as my son - was pushed out a window to die for seeing the Queen banging her brother. From there, the level of disturbance just went up and up and up. Martin introduces a lot of characters, which is good - considering how quickly he kills them off.

I find it difficult to say whether or not I actually like the book. I can definitely say that I was drawn in and compelled to read. I get the distinct impression that it's not going to get any nicer - although if the author isn't a little more careful with his characters, pretty soon we'll have a fairly one-sided story going. ( )

Good book! Not my usual thing -- I had to try three times to get through it; but worth it in the end! I can't say that I will read the rest of the series. Might watch the Showtime series, though. ( )

This review is for the audiobook edition read by Roy Dotrice who does an excellent job here and incredibly will turn 90 next week ! He's quite posh which works well for the high-born but is able to do a wicked northern accent where required and his reading has a certain worldliness I think which seems apt for this tale of violence and intrigue. Female accents not so good but you can't have everything. Varys is superb, as is Viserys !

If you're used to the TV series then hearing Tyrion speak with a broad Welsh accent will seem a bit odd, but actually I really like it now. Not to take anything away from Peter Dinklage: they're both awesome.

Dotrice reads the whole series (as downloaded from Audible) and I'm looking forward to reliving the saga in his company. I hope he sticks around for the final two volumes ! ( )

The author
George R.R. Martin was born September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was Raymond Collins Martin, a longshoreman, and his mother was Margaret Brady Martin. He has two sisters, Darleen Martin Lapinski and Janet Martin Patten.

Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: "The Hero," sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed.

In 1970 Martin received a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude. He went on to complete a M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Northwestern.

As a conscientious objector, Martin did alternative service 1972-1974 with VISTA, attached to Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association from 1973-1976,

The synopsis
In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes of the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

The review
First time I heard of Game of Thrones I thought it was like a chess game with special pieces or something. After I learned it was a big fantasy book and I had no interest in reading it. It became this great hit television show everybody was talking about I tried watching but could not charm me. I started reading this book because I still felt I had to give it a fair try and my book group decided to read it together so we could support each other to get trough. I believe I am on the first group to finish it but not because I found it so spectacular. More because I had some time left and wanted to get it done.

The story is good. After the first 20 chapters I finally got a grip on the main characters and to which house they belong. Who are cousins, brothers and taken from other houses with same names and total confusion. Once you get a grip on that it is actually a very entertaining read and easy to go from one chapter to another. All characters got something you can love and something you can hate which can make for very nice discussions with other readers. They are described very well and you do not need that much imagination to see them in dark and cold castles, riding horses in heavy leather clothing or doing other things.

Still I do not understand the whole hype around it. It just did not grab me not even when I worked out the whole who is who Game of Thrones edition. So my advice, if you want to read it pick it up and just do it, do find a good website or use the Game of Thrones wiki to make it easy for yourself with all the characters. If you feel like you have to read it because it is a hype but you are in doubt because it is just not your thing you will probably end up like me wondering what it is all about. ( )

Enjoyable enough for epic fantasy, but the continual multiperson storytelling style is far from my favourite. Martin doesn't do too bad a job of it, with clearly headed chapters, but it is still confusing and jumpy which breaks the narrative flow - and in a book as complex as this with many factioned politics going on, it would be better to keep everything as simple as possible. It is however a vast improvement over the pretender of Erikson.

The setting is a minimalist magic pseudo medieval europe - the mongol (or maybe aftrican it's not quite clear) hordes of horsemen are a distant threat, the old traditional defence of the northern ice is lacking after decades of long summer, and the main interest of the joint Severn Kingdoms is the internal politicking. We follow various characters, lords sons, queens and the like, (no peasantry at all who serve simply as cannon fodder and bed partners throughout) as they respond to a few events. The King wishes to ease the burden's of state by appointing the current Lord of the North as his personal Hand. They are old friends and fought together to usurp the previous dynasty. Meanwhile the Queen has close ties to her own family and there are rumours the Hand is investigating.There is little in the way of personal motivation, or planning or forethought from any of them. The vast number makes it difficult to remember who is related to whom in what way (or if it matters) let alone remember what their last set of actions had been. The is frequently made even more confusing by some time jumps between viewpoints, with various actions having occurred and only being reported retrospectively. Fortunately most of these are fairly small jumps of only a few weeks at a time, and generally easily comprehended. I think - although I'd be hard pushed to confirm it - that Martin stayed fairly strictly to horseborn transport distances and times as various people run up and down the country. His choice of ravens as the predominant method of information transfer seems odd. However there is little to no magic - although a few strange creatures are seen - weights and ghosts seem to be real, although much disbelieved. Some fairly heavy foreshadowing prepares for the return of elves and dragons too although they don't appear as such.

Each individual chapter is well written and engaging. There a few repetitive themes, but among 700 pages this is likely to occur. That various characters refer to the political manoeuvring as the Game of thrones grated each time. I would much rather have read a shorter book focused more intently on fewer characters, with the rest appearing in subsequent volumes, but that doesn't seem to be the book Martin wanted to write. I shall probably persevere with the series though, as there is a certain likableness to the writing and many of the characters. Martin has tried not to create anyone who is evil just for the sake of it, and the obvious bad guy, but motivations for any of the characters are all a bit weak. Far from the best fantasy I've ever read, it is equally far from the worst. ( )

I do not see the fascination... ( )

This book was a delightful read! I enjoyed the characters, their development and the constant drama riddling the pages. There is a tremendous amount of characters to keep track of, however, the author does a superb job of keeping them in line with each of the main character's storylines. Though with so many characters, he does constantly keep referring to them so they reader can commit them to memory.

I look forward to reading the rest of the series and have come to find that this book has quickly become a new favorite for me and I certainly hope to revisit this world in years to come. A must read! ( )

It has been years since I read these and I had forgotten how good they were. Now that the 5th book is finally available for pre-order and HBO has a series based on them coming out April 17th, I thought a re-read was in order. ( )

Alright so I plan on making this short, sweet and to the point.

This book was truly amazing and I loved it. The only problem I had was the fact that by the time I read the first book I had already seen the first season of the show. Because the show was damn near identical to the book when I actually read the story I already knew what was going to happen so I felt like I ruined it for myself. I will not be making that mistake with the second book A Clash of Kings. I'll definitely be reading it before the show comes back this Spring.

But as far as the book goes, George R.R. Martin is an outstanding writer and has the ability to craft a world where you feel you're a part of as you read. I love that about a story... I want to be able to feel like I'm there, like I'm really experiencing it first-hand. His world building and character building may at times become tedious, but it's really worth taking the time to savor in order to really be able to appreciate it.

Interested in more of my reviews? Visit my blog! ( )

I saw the first episode of the TV series and I was thoroughly unimpressed, but I thought, "they made it into a movie, the book is probably excellent." I picked up the book and I was appalled. People must really love soap operas, because that is what this book is. Whoever compared this to Tolkien's work must be out of their mind. This is fantasy soap opera. Terrible trash. ( )

First of all- Direwolves are real!!! Or at least they were. Didn't know that till I was half way through the book. This is an awesome fantasy novel. Have to say I like it better than Lord of the Ring. Lots of dying, sex, murder, betrayal... the works!
My favorite part was Khal Drago and Khaleesi. Read and find out. ( )

Decided to read based on the series. Lots of nice nuance you do not get in the series. Interesting to see how the series follows the book, equally interesting to see the subtle differences. Prefer the book. WIll keep reading. ( )

Eh, it was good enough that I'll probably read the other ones? It was awfully predictable though, and I feel the world-building was somewhat lacking, in that the setting is pretty generic apart from all of the snow ever in the North. In terms of characterisation only a few of the characters truly worked for me (Jon and Tyrion stand out). A few I grew fondish of, such as Arya, and I felt a bit sorry for Ned. But generally I didn't feel convinced. GRRM seems to find it impossible to voice a younger character anywhere close to their age, for one thing. Secondly, he never explains why so many of the characters act in ways that are truly utterly stupid (Sansa, Daenerys, Robert, Lysa... the list goes on). I know that some of those things MIGHT go on to be explained later on, but I honestly don't feel like that's good enough in a novel of this supposed scope. It feels so lacking in breadth and depth compared to other things I've read in the same genre. I'm not sure WHY I'm supposed to care what happens to these characters.

I don't know if I'm just still to invested in MBotF to give this a "fair" reading. However, I think the most disappointing thing is that all the hype surrounding this is so much more deserved by books that feel like they've had more time and care spent on them. This is just bland as fuck, to be perfectly honest. The pacing is terrible, the chapters are badly arranged (any particular reason why Robb never gets a chapter?), the ending is just pathetic. When what you've written is essentially a soap opera set in a land not unlike Medieval England, you really should bring something new to the table instead of "AND THEN A BAD MAN DID A BAD THING AND A LITTLE GIRL WAS UPSET".

HOWEVER, I found it compelling enough to actually finish, so it must have had something about it. It's definitely very readable; the prose is simple and not at all dense. Although the ice/Winter metaphors were goddamn awful and generally the prose did LACK a lot, but at least it wasn't overly flowery because I hate that. And like I said, some of the characters were pretty cool and. To be honest, the most interesting story to me is the one related to the Wall and what's on the other side. I'd much rather have had a whole book about that than heard another fucking word about Daenerys, Sansa, Joffrey, or any of the other characterless cardboard-cut-outs. Honestly, the only believeable dialogue in the whole book takes place between Jon and anyone he speaks to.

I think I'm just disappointed because I enjoyed the first few chapters a lot. After about 100 pages it was an easy four stars. After 300 I was between a high three and a low four. After finishing today, it's lucky it got a three, and that was really only because I enjoyed the first couple of hundred pages so much.

Blah blah blah, I have no coherent thoughts on this except disappointment.
( )

I re-read the book recently (been meaning to after watching the HBO adaptation) and it was interesting to revisit the start of the series, especially after catching up with the later novels. You can read my thoughts on the book (contains spoilers up to book 5) on my website: http://www.rulethewaves.net/blog/?p=2587 ( )

I re-read the book recently (been meaning to after watching the HBO adaptation) and it was interesting to revisit the start of the series, especially after catching up with the later novels. You can read my thoughts on the book (contains spoilers up to book 5) on my website: http://www.rulethewaves.net/blog/?p=2587 ( )

I'm not generally a fan of fantasy, but this one has really sucked me in. ( )

OMFG this book is awesome. Everything a fantasy novel should have with none of the easy formulaic traps they sometimes fall into. Fully developed characters you ache for OR want more than anything to see destroyed - this book encompasses all the heartbreak and beauty of life. Brutal but SO good! ( )

I enjoyed this book and I can see why it has captivated so many people. Martin's storytelling is VERY traditional with lots of very obvious FORESHADOWING and whatnot, but I don't mind. Mostly, I just really want to know what's going to happen next, so much so, that I am already reading the second book.
( )

Rubbish! It is amazing with the detail and complexity of plot...but don't expect a damn thing to be resolved after you slave your way through all 807 thin bloomin' pages of miniscule print!

I'm still deciding if I care enough to read the next. If I do, it will be Arya that leads me on.

(I ended up giving the first 4 books I had sitting on my shelf away...so I expect I will not ever read on. Life's too short, there are so many things I really WANT to read.) ( )

i had things planned for this month...then i made the mistake of picking up this massive book! to heck with plans, i needed to finish this book! ( )

Wow....I loved this book. I'm saving up to buy the sequels. ( )

I had more fun thinking about how I was going to blast this book in my review of it than I actually had reading it.
I guess I'll start out by saying that I am not one to normally read fantasy, so that might be one reason I couldn't enjoy reading, but most of the issues I had with the book couldn't be excused for being merely a fantasy element.
The characterization was severely lacking. George R. R. Martin is now slightly famous for being the man who kills off his characters in his novels, but that seems to be a necessity when you have a ridiculously excessive number of characters. I found myself mixing up characters who I thought were good with characters who turned out to be evil; I found myself wondering "who the hell is that?" or "when was that THIS character?" WAY too many times. A large part of this could be due to the sheer number of characters and the limitations of the human brain to contain that many characters, or to how often those characters went by multiple names (I'm still not sure who the Kingslayer is, to be perfectly honest, and if Littlefoot goes by any other name I have no idea what it is). But I think most of my problem with keeping the characters straight is attributed to how unmemorable the characters were. I remember Theon Greyjoy because he laughs a lot, only because I thought of how stupid a way that was to distinguish a character. I remember the fat kid from The Wall because he's described as a coward (or, once Martin discovers the word "craven," as a craven 400 more times... more on that later). I felt absolutely nothing for many of the characters who died, simply because I was relieved I would never have to look at their name again and wonder who they were. It seemed like a lot of the time, more names were simply spit out with no reasoning behind them; it was just another character, another name, possibly distinguishable by his rank or his occupation, but that was all. Sometimes there was backstory introduced, which could make a reader feel closer to a character, but that often came far too late; I'd already been way too confused as to why that character had been introduced in the first place to care.
The backwards backstory was something I had a MAJOR problem with. For example, with the bloodriders: I remember reading something about Drogo and his bloodriders and thinking "wait, what in god's name is a bloodrider?" I didn't get my answer until 200 pages later, when the bloodrider element is actually explained. I know that a writer can't give a full description for everything, due to space limitations and the fact that that can get very dull, but you can't use your own language without first explaining what that language means. Call them his "men" until you've got the space to call them bloodriders. Please. There were way too many times when I wondered what a word meant or why a certain plot element had been introduced, only to find out why eons later when I was no longer interested. I still have a feeling that that innkeeper who chewed sourleaf (which I only know because that was the only description given of her--and it was given of her about 25 times, thanks, George) will turn out to be important, but only because I was hit over the head with her character so many times. Who knows. Maybe that's an entire 3 pages that could have been cut out. And you wonder why the book is so long.
My last gripe is that Martin needed a much better editor while writing this book, as well as a better thesaurus. The choppy sentence fragments, which I suppose are meant to increase the speed of the novel and relay a sense of urgency, but which mostly just give me the eyerolls, that I mostly attribute to YA fiction the caliber of The Hunger Games (once you see it, you can't unsee it), make an appearance far too often in this novel. I know this novel isn't something one could consider high literature, but sentence fragments are something that shouldn't be found in a novel written for adults, or at least shouldn't be found as often as they are. Dangling modifiers can be found EVERYWHERE in this novel and it drives me crazy, but I at least derived some pleasure from laughing at how ridiculous some of them were. Furthermore, the language was sloppy. There has got to be more than one alternative to the word "coward". After reading this novel, I never want to see the word "craven" again. Ever.
I started reading this novel because I'd heard about the Red Wedding and wanted to read it and see what the fuss was about, but after reading A Game of Thrones I don't think I'll ever get to it. I'm certainly not picking up the next book in the series any time soon. ( )

Read from May 21 to 31, 2011

It just ENDED! I have to get my hands on the next in the series because all of that just happened and then it ENDED! (And I wish I had known about that appendix when I started because that would have been HANDY.)

I'm not gonna say this is a literary masterpiece (few books are), but it is highly entertaining and well-written. I loved it. ( )

I haven't read all the books in this series, though I really want to. I tried to read this book some years ago, but it just wasn't the right time. I read up to around 700 or so pages and gave up. I'm hoping to eventually give it a go again since I love the TV show.