A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)

by George R.R. Martin

The first volume in the hugely popular, violent and action-packed epic fantasy.

The first volume of George R R Martin’s glorious high fantasy tells the tragic story of treachery, greed and war that threatens the unity of the Seven Kingdoms south of the Wall. Martin unfolds with astonishing skill a tale of truly epic dimensions, thronged with memorable characters, a story of treachery and ambition, love and magic. Set in a fabulous world scarred by battle and catastrophe over 8000 years of recorded history, it tells of the deeds of men and women locked in the deadliest of conflicts and the terrible legacy they will leave their children. In the game of thrones, you win or you die.

And in the bitter-cold, unliving lands beyond the Wall, a terrible winter gathers and the others — the undead, the neverborn, wildlings to whom the threat of the sword is nothing — make ready to descend on the realms of men.

• ISBN13: 9780002245845
• Publish Date: 5 August 1996 (first published 1 August 1996)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 15 January 1998
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: HarperVoyager
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 672
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[ibeforem]

This was recommended to me by a friend of mine, and I appreciate it (thanks, Margo!) I’ve very picky about the fantasy I read, and this fell smack dab in my range of acceptability.

This was a slow read for me, but that was more because of its length and the start of football season than the story itself. It’s different than others I’ve read, because you get the point of view of several different characters. In fact, each chapter has a different narrator. The only downside to this is that you don’t get particularly attached to any one character, though I found myself liking the child, Arya, the best. I did find that Martin uses a few phrases a little too frequently… just how many times can someone “not pretend to surprise”? This ends as any book in an epic fantasy series should… with a cliffhanger and no real resolution whatsoever. I’ll definitely be reading the others in the series.

“In the game of thrones, you either win or you die.”