A Game of Thrones - Review

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

By: George R R Martin

Published: first published August 6th 1991

835 pages

Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Booksamillion.com )

*Note: The above links to Amazon, Book Depository, and Booksamillion.com are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--The first volume of A Song of Ice and Fire, the greatest fantasy epic of the modern age. GAME OF THRONES is now a major TV series from HBO, starring Sean Bean.

Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.

As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must … and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.

The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne.

4 Stars - Enjoyed this book. I've always liked this time period of castles, knights, war, and kings. This is outside of the genre I've been reading most frenquently, but I didn't love it any less because of that.

George R.R. Martin writes from a variety of perspectives. These voices range from male to female, from child to adult, and from noble to bastard. The only negative comment I have about the narration is that having just finished the Wolves of Mercy Falls series where Maggie Stiefvater always writes from the character with the most interesting point of view, it was alittle frustrating to go back to an author that swaps view points just when the story gets interesting. George R.R. Martin doesn't always do this--swap just when it gets interesting. But I did find myself being disappointed when the narrators swapped, especially depending on which voice I was coming upon. It wasn't that any of the narrators were boring or I didn't like any of them. I'm not quite sure how to explain it.

It's obvious that George R.R. Martin spent a lot of time creating this world and an intricately interconnected cast of characters. I was also excited when I got to the end of the book and found the appendix containing a break down of each of the seven major house families.

Overall pretty impressed. I have already started book two, A Clash of Kings, and I am anxious to see what's going to happen with the characters I'm growing to love--though people have warned me not to get too attached.

*Updated: September 6, 2013