A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin

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

by George R.R. Martin

NOW THE ACCLAIMED HBO SERIES GAME OF THRONES—THE MASTERPIECE THAT BECAME A CULTURAL PHENOMENON
 
Winter is coming. Such is the stern motto of House Stark, the northernmost of the fiefdoms that owe allegiance to King Robert Baratheon in far-off King’s Landing. There Eddard Stark of Winterfell rules in Robert’s name. There his family dwells in peace and comfort: his proud wife, Catelyn; his sons Robb, Brandon, and Rickon; his daughters Sansa and Arya; and his bastard son, Jon Snow. Far to the north, behind the towering Wall, lie savage Wildings and worse—unnatural things relegated to myth during the centuries-long summer, but proving all too real and all too deadly in the turning of the season.
 
Yet a more immediate threat lurks to the south, where Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, has died under mysterious circumstances. Now Robert is riding north to Winterfell, bringing his queen, the lovely but cold Cersei, his son, the cruel, vainglorious Prince Joffrey, and the queen’s brothers Jaime and Tyrion of the powerful and wealthy House Lannister—the first a swordsman without equal, the second a dwarf whose stunted stature belies a brilliant mind. All are heading for Winterfell and a fateful encounter that will change the course of kingdoms.
 
Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Prince Viserys, heir of the fallen House Targaryen, which once ruled all of Westeros, schemes to reclaim the throne with an army of barbarian Dothraki—whose loyalty he will purchase in the only coin left to him: his beautiful yet innocent sister, Daenerys.

Reviewed by Chelsea on

5 of 5 stars

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There are hundreds of reviews of this book out there. Google it and you’ll find a ton. I don’t want to bore everyone with another good review of this book. I loved it. That’s it. It was completely amazing and I think everyone should read it. But I’m not going to ramble on about why I loved this book, I’m going to tell you why YOU should read it.

Why you should read Game of Thrones:

1. This isn’t a typical fantasy book. There’s no good guy vs. bad guy thing going on in this book. You have your favourites and the characters you hate. Many of them you will hate. There’s no character that is the “main” character who almost died every chapter but never ever does. There is a lot of death. I’m warning you now, don’t get attached to anyone.

2. You like medieval themed books. This is actually one of the better medieval themed books. It’s pretty accurate I think. Obviously there weren’t too many dragons in that time (that we know of) but the language, setting, clothing, etc is all medieval. Not only is everything medieval themed, but all the medieval inspired wars are there too. There is so much intense fighting. It’s amazing. It’s all so real too. Characters actually die, and don’t come back to life. They stay dead. You cry. You’re sad. But they still don’t come back. That’s how it works in the real world.

3. You love sneaky awesome “villains”/characters that you will absolutely HATE. I said before that there’s no good and bad people in this book. BUT there are some characters that are sneaky and clever. Littlefinger is one. I’m sure he’s a great guy and all, but he’s not loyal to anyone. He does what he wants even if it means stabbing people in the back. It’s great! There’s so much planning in this book. It’s set so that you see different points of views but everyone is always planning something. Whether the plans work out or not is a completely different topic.

4. Lots and lots of fighting and action. I mean lots. There’s this massive war going on that could last forever. Not to mention all the wars to be. Everyone wants that throne so badly.

5. So many characters. Usually I hate this. I can’t keep track of everyone and I get confused. The author makes it easier in this book. There’s different family houses that make it easier to figure everyone out. Plus the characters are so awesome. Even the ones you hate just have so much detail put into them. You will never hate or love a character as much as some of these characters.

Why you shouldn’t read Game of Thrones:

1. You like your favourite characters alive. I swear the last book in this series every single character will be dead. Just everyone.

2. You don’t like multiple points of view. There’s a lot of views in this book. Every chapter it goes to a different person.

3. You like all action and not the decisions behind the action. There are some dry parts. Some parts where the characters are trying to figure out what comes next. I enjoyed these parts, but you might not.

4. You’re a huge feminist and can’t stand that the men have all the power. There is one woman that has power. Over pretty much all the men. It’s part of the medieval theme.

5. You can’t deal with stupid characters. There are some pretty interesting characters.

6. You can’t focus when there’s a lot of characters. There is a lot of characters. Not even just the points of view,but other people that get mentioned that are slightly important. I couldn’t even name them all.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 30 January, 2014: Finished reading
  • 30 January, 2014: Reviewed