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

published	2005 by Spectra
first published	2006
binding	Mass Market Paperback
isbn	0553588486 (isbn13: 9780553588484)
pages	864
literary awards	1997 Locus Awards Winner (Fantasy)
description	Readers of epic fantasy series are: (1) patient--they are left in suspense between each volume, (2) persistent--they reread or at least review the pre...more [close] Readers of epic fantasy series are: (1) patient--they are left in suspense between each volume, (2) persistent--they reread or at least review the previous book(s) when a new installment comes out, (3) strong--these 700-page doorstoppers are heavy, and (4) mentally agile--they follow a host of characters through a myriad of subplots. In A Game of Thrones, the first book of a projected six, George R.R. Martin rewards readers with a vividly real world, well-drawn characters, complex but coherent plotting, and beautifully constructed prose, which Locus called "well above the norms of the genre." Martin's Seven Kingdoms resemble England during the Wars of the Roses, with the Stark and Lannister families standing in for the Yorks and Lancasters. The story of these two families and their struggle to control the Iron Throne dominates the foreground; in the background is a huge, ancient wall marking the northern border, beyond which barbarians, ice vampires, and direwolves menace the south as years-long winter advances. Abroad, a dragon princess lives among horse nomads and dreams of fiery reconquest. There is much bloodshed, cruelty, and death, but A Game of Thrones is nevertheless compelling; it garnered a Nebula nomination and won the 1996 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. So, on to A Clash of Kings! --Nona Vero [close]
date added	12-19-06 edit book

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Shannon rated it:

(review of isbn 0553573403)

05/25/08

bookshelves: 2008, fantasy

Read in May, 2008

I really feel the necessity of a bit of personal backstory here, before I start the review. Back in 1996 when this book first came out, and I was 16/17 years old, I saw the hardcover on a sale table for about $5 and couldn't resist a bargain (still can't, though I'm more cautious these days). So I started reading this book with the vague idea that it was a flop, and that may not have helped, but I got through 100 pages of it before feeling so crapped off with it that I shoved it in my cupboard a...more

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John rated it:

(review of isbn 0553573403)

04/22/08

Read in April, 2008

recommended to John by: Nick Sabin, Cassie Nichols
recommends it for: Fantasy readers, folklore readers, political fiction readers

This may be the best Fantasy I've read since J.R.R. Tolkien. I highly recommend it to any fans of the Lord of the Rings series who have been disappointed by the other supposed epics that have shown up since. Martin has created a sprawling world, full of intrigue and potential, and sowed it with characters who can carry out interesting conflicts within it. His prose is far more readable than the average Fantasy writer, capable of beautiful phrases and sweeping passages, but also excellent at carr...more

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Tracy rated it:

01/21/08

bookshelves: read-and-liked-it

Read in June, 2004

recommended to Tracy by: no one
recommends it for: fantasy readers, men & women

Book Review: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Fantasy readers will find a rewarding experience when they delve into Martin's epic fantasy series. Find out how this leading fantasy genre author captivates readers with diverse characters and thrilling plot twists.

Career author and television writer George R.R. Martin is well on his way to becoming a legend in his own time with his grandest of epics A Song of Ice and Fire that begins with A Game of Thrones. Published by Bantam Books...more

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Jesse rated it:

06/15/07

bookshelves: fantasy

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: anyone who likes anything epic

I know no one reading this knows me much (well some of you may) but I DON'T reread books. I usually read a book once and its quite well locked into my brain. As much as I've enjoyed many books I've read, they just don't require a second read for me. I read them, now its time to move on. "A Game of Thrones" is different. I loved this book and its characters so much, and crave the world and narrative so much that I couldn't wait for Martin to get the newest installment out. So I st...more I know no one reading this knows me much (well some of you may) but I DON'T reread books. I usually read a book once and its quite well locked into my brain. As much as I've enjoyed many books I've read, they just don't require a second read for me. I read them, now its time to move on. "A Game of Thrones" is different. I loved this book and its characters so much, and crave the world and narrative so much that I couldn't wait for Martin to get the newest installment out. So I started rereading the first book I've ever reread.

Let me just say that I didn't find ANY of the characters boring. Even the characters that I would find an anoying personality type, is deeply engrosing in this tale. And those types of characters number just 1 for me in this book. There are so many characters, with such a broad range of personalities that there is someone to match everyones likes. Yet even the characters I initially found myself repulsed by, grow and change and are just as fascinating as those that I admire and empathize with.

Normally I dislike when an author has too many characters and jumps from character to character from one chapter to the next, not so in this book. Martin's ability to tell a story and hook you on it, is so great that I started to look forward to these jumps to different characters. With this many characters you really are provided with a great narrow and broad picture of the currents of this world and narrative. Its like watching individual storms all over the globe, all adding up to the global weather system.

Which leads me to my next point, his pacing. My share of epic fantasy series. Particular Martin's two major contemporaries/rivals for the top stop of the epic fantasy genre: Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan. Both these authors have good parts, and bad parts to their books. There are momments in their books where I stop and think, "That was the <bleeping> coolest thing (event) I've ever read". Yet there are way more parts in both author's works where I was thinking "when are we going to get to the next awsome and exciting event? Why are we still walking/riding/working/...etc(you get my drift)". I came to expect this in any book, particularly epic fantasy. I just thought that when a book/series gets a long as these tomes, you end up having to spead some boaring filler in there cause one imagination can only do so much exciting work. Martin broke that mold for me. I kept waiting for a momment where part of my mind would start, metaphorically, tapping its foot in bordom thinking, "are we there yet?". It never happened. Each chapter would grab me, and by the time the chapter ended I was groaning at having to leave behind this story thread because I was wrapped up in its narrative path. Then I'm instantly swept up by the events of the next chapters story thread.

Finally there is the commitment by the author to this narrative. Many stories have jeopardy but you kind of know that in the end, the main character can't die, there are more books to come. Don't ever count on that in "A Game of Thrones". Everyone of the characters is fair game, and people/characters will die in horrible and tragic ways. In this book and in subsequent ones in the series, I literally threw down the book and got up in shock. Sometimes even shouting out to no one at all, "Oh my GODS!, he killed <blank>!". It gives me confidence in Martin and his own level of commitment to telling me the best and most real story possible, complete with unfair and tragic events happening to good AND bad people (though in the case of the bad people I suppose it would be "fair and happy" when negative things happen to them..lol). Ok, thats it, I can't believe how much I wrote here. Hope this gets some folks to read this book. Cause once you read the first, you'll be hooked....less

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Jennifer Brown rated it:

11/19/07

bookshelves: fantasy, fiction, own

Read in December, 2006

The book is the first in a series -- A Song of Ice and Fire. It is hard fantasy, and follows characters who are all members of several noble houses, as they vie for the Iron Throne. The story takes place in a fantastical world (think: dragons and zombies) after the overthrow of the Targaryen family. The two surviving children live in exile, while in the homeland they never knew, the remaining houses use intrigue, appointments, marriages, and murders to control the throne.

People who are well-ve...more

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theduckthief rated it:

06/13/08

Read in June, 2008

recommends it for: Anyone who likes fantasy

"Winter is coming."

The Good: The Starks are lords of the north in the Seven Kingdoms and are unaware of the danger threatening their family. The current monarch, bloated and inept, is blind to the treachery and corruption surrounding the court and the Lannisters, his wife's family. Across the sea the heirs of the ousted monarch plan their revenge. Beyond the Wall, a defence against dark creatures from the north, something is stirring. Winter is coming.

Mar...more

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Melissa rated it:

05/08/08

Read in February, 2008

recommended to Melissa by: Steve

George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones is addictive. Steve pestered me for months to read the first book of his A Song of Fire and Ice series, but I resisted. The books each range between 800 and 1000 pages. It seemed like quite a commitment, I thought. I had no idea. The commitment, however, does not come from the page count; it comes from the reader's total immersion and investment in Martin's world. Not only are these books real page turners, but they are artfully written...more George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones is addictive. Steve pestered me for months to read the first book of his A Song of Fire and Ice series, but I resisted. The books each range between 800 and 1000 pages. It seemed like quite a commitment, I thought. I had no idea. The commitment, however, does not come from the page count; it comes from the reader's total immersion and investment in Martin's world. Not only are these books real page turners, but they are artfully written, inhabited by compelling characters, presenting a fully developed fantasy world, and showcasing a mastery of language.

A Game of Thrones is a fantasy book that takes place in a Medieval-style world. My rather limited experience of the fantasy genre (think J.R.R. Tolkien and Terry Brooks) associates the genre primarily with quest narratives. A Game of Thrones is, more than anything, a book about political intrigues. As the story goes on, Martin’s characters find themselves entangled in an enthralling web of secrets and lies that will change everything (let’s take a moment to acknowledge my lazy use of a horribly clichéd metaphor. ugh.). Anyway, the plot development, which hinges on these intrigues and lies, is full of suspense, adventure, and awesomeness.

In each chapter, the reader enters the head of a different character, learning their secrets and motives and blurring any possible distinction between the “good” side and the “bad” side. Thus, Martin expertly conveys the complexity of conflicts on an individual, familial, and national (though the nation state doesn’t exist… but what word would I use? kingdomal?) level. His story could have so easily been flattened into a dull battle between good and evil, but it’s not. The reader can sympathize with pretty much everyone, even the character-types traditionally used as villains or comic relief in literature, like the bastards, the deformed, and the dwarves.

I have read other books where the author jumps around between the stories of different characters. You can tell those books are good when you end a section and are absolutely pissed that you have to move on to another character. I can tell that A Game of Thrones is simply outstanding because, after that initial response, I see the next chapter title (which is always the character name) and am instantly mollified.

I can say so much more, but this is long-winded already, and I have already begun reading the third installment of the series. Shorter review of the second book to come soon.

In conclusion, go read A Game of Thrones. Here's a taste of its wonder:

"The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die."

"A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge."

"Love is the bane of honor, the death of duty... What is honor compared to a woman's love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms... or the memory of a brother's smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy."

(BTW - The book often shows the internal conflict of love versus honor, family versus right. Compelling stuff.)...less

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Dale rated it:

07/15/08

Read in July, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

It's been a while since I read something that was undeniably "genre", as I reckon the term. The Man in the High Castle and The Yiddish Policemen's Union both count as speculative fiction, and Specimen Days had a section set in the future with robots and aliens, but all of those felt more like grown-up books and not out-and-out sci-fi or fantasy. But as summer well and truly settles into the area, I found myself gravitating towards yet another big thick paperback in which I could imme...more It's been a while since I read something that was undeniably "genre", as I reckon the term. The Man in the High Castle and The Yiddish Policemen's Union both count as speculative fiction, and Specimen Days had a section set in the future with robots and aliens, but all of those felt more like grown-up books and not out-and-out sci-fi or fantasy. But as summer well and truly settles into the area, I found myself gravitating towards yet another big thick paperback in which I could immerse myself by entering a completely different world. And I had heard good things about Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, so that's where I ended up.

A Game of Thrones is the first book in a high fantasy series. Let's review how many series I am currently in the middle of, shall we?

1. The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - read the first two books of four; the next one is due to be published in 2010.
2. The Hyperion/Endymion series - read the first two books of four; the other two have already been published but I haven't gotten around to them yet.
3. The Kingkiller Chronicle - read the first book of three; the next one is due to be published in April, 2009.
4. The "Watch" tetralogy - read the first three books; the fourth one is due to be published ... this month! See, I lose track!

I could also count the James Herriott novels, of which I've read two of four, and the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency novels, of which I've read three of nine (so far), but those don't form one big epic the way that genre series tend to.

And A Song of Ice and Fire is truly epic, as I just found out after doing a little Googling. A Game of Thrones is the first of seven planned books, of which four have been published since 1996, which means I am probably going to catch up and find myself in the same situation I am with Kingkiller: waiting eagerly for the next volume to start.

This series gets off to a promising start in the first volume, opening with an attack by supernatural creatures on the guardsmen at the edge of known civilization, shifting to a nobleman's family as they receive the king as a visitor, following various threads that lead inevitably to the king's murder, and ending with a realm about to plunge into war, with a long winter full of undead wights menacing from the north (the ice) and the return to the world of dragons commanded by a possibly insane young queen across the sea (the fire). All of this unfolds over a little more than 800 pages, but the plot never dragged. And although many, many characters are introduced, each one has a voice and a viewpoint. Some are sympathetic, some are just pathetic, a few are detestable, and the lines are clearly drawn for the struggles to come.

This was exactly what I wanted from a new fantasy series, with plenty of invented mythology, worldbuilding, action, plot twists, humor, and so on. I'm definitely hooked in and will be picking up more in the series, and hoping that it does in fact get finished. That's a risk you run when you invest yourself in an unfinished series, written by someone pushing sixty who is only mortal, after all (and genre-loving dorks - including authors - tend not to be the healthiest specimens around, either). ...less

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Ben rated it:

10/12/07

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: if you don't hate fantasy

This book is actually quite good. Despite it's ranking, I can't quite bring myself to put it in the same category as my very favorite of fantasy series: LOTR, Dark is Rising, Wizard of Earthsea, etc. But it's still remarkably good, and what you could justly call enthralling.

When I started reading A Game of Thrones, I was a bit put off, first by the people who recommended to me (the same type who raved about the Da Vinci Code), and then by a bunch of the names. Some of the naming is quite bad...more This book is actually quite good. Despite it's ranking, I can't quite bring myself to put it in the same category as my very favorite of fantasy series: LOTR, Dark is Rising, Wizard of Earthsea, etc. But it's still remarkably good, and what you could justly call enthralling.

When I started reading A Game of Thrones, I was a bit put off, first by the people who recommended to me (the same type who raved about the Da Vinci Code), and then by a bunch of the names. Some of the naming is quite bad -- especially if you inspect the map inside the cover. Aside from the location names (which you get used to and forget), he's doing something that doesn't quite work, at least for me, where he changes the pronunciation of old-sounding names and titles. Sir becomes Ser, Edward becomes Eddard, and so on. But actually his last names are pretty good, and at any rate, it's just a superficial blemish on the book.

The book. Imagine an unholy illegitimate child of Tolstoy, Thomas Hardy, and Tolkien, and he'd look surprisingly like George R.R. Martin. This novel (and I believe the whole series) is dark, broad in scope, and delves with a sort of intense fervor into the lives of probably a dozen or so different characters as the course of dramatic historic events unfold in a fictionalized version of Dark Age England. The characters are quite good. The world, a clever blend of reality and fantasy, is convincing and really actually sort of enchanting. I think it's fair to say that the author achieves the goal of many a fantasy writer: it's a world you can really imagine being in, and sort of want to be there.

His are the hard sort of characters -- realistically flawed people, but in a setting and in roles that do not permit much in the way of change, sublimity, or release. Good people witness terrible things, bad people are goaded into more horrible acts. Major characters can die, and by the end of the novel, you understand that this is no romantic fantasy where the heroes are safe. Anything can be lost, and much will be. But the book is fair -- even the abominable characters are not cardboard-cutout evil, every side has its motivations, and no side is entirely in the right. This sort of insightful, wise evenhandedness goes a long way in my book.

The writing starts a little rough, in my opinion, but by half way through it's perfectly well written. I should mention that it's an adult book. There's plenty of sex *and* violence, although for the most part I don't think you could call any of it gratuitous. Most of both types of "adult content" are there to depict the relationships, and he has a powerful way of illustrating what a world where class distinctions are wide would *feel* like, in matters of love and war. "Powerful," actually, is a word that's fitting to this book (and the series). He deals with heavy stuff, and he deals fairly well with it, which, when you come right down to it, isn't something you see that often....less

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Ryan rated it:

06/02/08

bookshelves: fantasy

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: not everyone

So I wasn't sure I liked this series at first. It's kind of depressing. Many main characters die, sometimes right about the time you are getting to like them. And I'll be frank here, the book is very explicit in sex and violence--it is not for everyone.

The book is very loosely based on the War of the Roses, but set on a continent instead of an island like Britain. Seasons span years instead of months. Magic exists but only in rare persons and on rare occasions.

The good points of the seri...more So I wasn't sure I liked this series at first. It's kind of depressing. Many main characters die, sometimes right about the time you are getting to like them. And I'll be frank here, the book is very explicit in sex and violence--it is not for everyone.

The book is very loosely based on the War of the Roses, but set on a continent instead of an island like Britain. Seasons span years instead of months. Magic exists but only in rare persons and on rare occasions.

The good points of the series are:

1. Realism - I know it's fantasy, how real can it be? Well, just because a book has magic in it (and this one has very little) usually the author never kills anyone except for the main bad guy and only at the end of the book. Even many historical fiction novels keep characters alive which in the realities of war probably would die.

2. Point of View Characters - Martin has probably the most POV characters of any book I've read (not that I've actually counted, but he has more than Robert Jordan used) and as per point 1, just because a character is POV doesn't make them live for the rest of the book.

3. Good vs Evil - One of the biggest problems I have with books is the clear-cut line between good guys and bad guys. Some books are worse than others (JK Rowling is pretty bad at it*) It's almost as if the characters are evil for evil's sake, and I can never believe it. The motive issue is usually at the heart of it. People frequently do terrible things for revenge, power, lust, etc but only in rare occasions is a person really evil. This is where point 2 comes in. By taking multiple POVs you come to find out that a character you thought was evil has deeper motives many of which are not bad. Then you also find that someone you thought was good isn't as nice as they seemed in the other POVs.

*You might respond: "Harry Potter is for kids, there should be good and evil clearly in kids books" and I would answer why? to prepare them for the real people they will meet? stupid. And she's said that only the first couple of books where supposed to be for kids and they would become more adult as they went along (at least I've heard other people say as much), well, I didn't see that, they all seemed to be written at about the same age level. But if she truly wanted to do it then giving more complex motives to some of the evil characters would have been one way. Most of them either wanted power or just hated Harry for inexplicable reasons. Like the Dursleys, I still don't understand what was supposed to make them cruel. Perhaps I am at the disadvantage of living my childhood with a family that loved me, but parents might be negligent, easily angered, and even bad enough to abuse or kill their own children--but never showing affection? It is possible in the case of severely deranged people, but come on, if they can't show any affection they aren't likely to do the thing what makes kids in the first place....less

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Siria rated it:

(review of isbn 0553573403)

06/04/07

bookshelves: 20th-century, american-fiction, fantasy

I've not read any high fantasy in a long, long time, but I decided to pick this up purely because so many people on my flist were raving about the series. I can definitely see why it's a best-seller. It's long, with solid prose and a plot which is complex, but not overly so; the pacing is good, and the action is mostly organic, not engineered. Martin's characterisation is probably his best point. He has a vast array of characters, and switches POV between seven or eight different characters thro...more I've not read any high fantasy in a long, long time, but I decided to pick this up purely because so many people on my flist were raving about the series. I can definitely see why it's a best-seller. It's long, with solid prose and a plot which is complex, but not overly so; the pacing is good, and the action is mostly organic, not engineered. Martin's characterisation is probably his best point. He has a vast array of characters, and switches POV between seven or eight different characters throughout the course of the book. All of them have convincing motivations, to greater or lesser degrees, and are well-sketched, even if none of them ever really came alive for me.

And yet, there is a but coming. This is very good high fantasy, but it's still high fantasy, and falls victim to a lot of the weaknesses of the genre. It's book one of a cycle, which inevitably means dumps of information and portentous events which foreshadow events which won't happen for hundreds, if not thousands of pages. It's full of people who go around referring to themselves as being "of the blood of the dragon" amongst other such melodramatic epithets; I rolled my eyes at them when I was ten, and I wince at them now.

The setting is also absolutely stock, faux medieval Europe. The seven kingdoms clearly make up England and Wales below Hadrian's Wall, with the Starks who were formerly Kings in the North a clear parallel to the history of England before its eventual unification under one king. The society he creates doesn't hold up to close scrutiny; this is a top-heavy world of kings and lords and ladies. And just as I winced at Tolkien's Haradrim, what we saw of the Dothraki, but most especially the glimpses of one particular lord from the Summer Isles, made me uneasy. Did Martin find it absolutely necessary every time Jalabhar Xho was mentioned to remind us that he was "black-skinned" or "dark-skinned" or "dark as night"? My god, a character who is not a lily-white European! Shocking! Clearly that is his only important character attribute.

Enjoyable and entertaining enough, though, and I might very well pick up the next few volumes if I come across them secondhand in Chapters. I don't think I'll be buying them new, though....less

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Dake rated it:

03/19/08

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: those who have low standard for fantasy

okay, here's my thing. when an author writes a book, i read the book to believe that their ideas are real. whether it comes from great dialogue, intriguing plot twists, an emotional story, gritty characters, or gripping intrigue, i want to believe that what is written is real. sadly, there were so many holes in Martin's game that i just didn't believe him.

i read this because, a) i hadn't read a good genre fantasy book in a while, and b) a good friend highly recommended it. actually, ...more okay, here's my thing. when an author writes a book, i read the book to believe that their ideas are real. whether it comes from great dialogue, intriguing plot twists, an emotional story, gritty characters, or gripping intrigue, i want to believe that what is written is real. sadly, there were so many holes in Martin's game that i just didn't believe him.

i read this because, a) i hadn't read a good genre fantasy book in a while, and b) a good friend highly recommended it. actually, he told me that he envied me, being able to read the series for the first time. so i started reading immediately.

first off, a wtf prologue. maybe it makes sense later in the series--who knows? second, it's slow. really slow. really, really slow. really, really, really slow. i forgave Martin the slow start, because i've read books in a series before, and i know how large stories have to be set up for a longer time in order to feel the effect of the story. but after 300 pages, it was still slow. in fact, it seemed that the story went through bits of pretty good parts (when you think the story is about to speed up) to really boring parts (and lots of 'em!).

third, i hate the dialogue. there was so much of it, too. boring and unneeded. did he really have to say "steel" every time he mentioned a sword?

fourth, the action seemed contrived to me. it seemed almost like he knew there were too many slow and boring parts of the book and he felt he needed to spice it up with action. and it seemed pretty cheesy. not to mention the deus ex machina. wow.

i will say that the last 150 pages were the best in the book. at that point, he finally was able to sling a few interesting threads back-to-back and it didnt seem as slow. i did like a few of the characters. i did like a few of his settings and ideas.

overall, it seemed almost YA to me. the dialogue was corny as crap, and the characters were mostly thin and two-dimensional. and i could really go on a rant about the "melted gold crown" scene. tell me again what the melting point of gold is? it surely couldn't be melted in a stew pot. and if he mentioned the title "game of thrones" any more, i swear i would've torched the book.

i was generous with three stars. from what i gather, the series gets better. but why couldn't it have been good to start with? this was okay. i can see why people like this series--especially after you read other fantasy. this is a different style. but still not great....less

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Kelly rated it:

06/27/08

bookshelves: fantasy, favorites, fiction, worth-rereading

Read in October, 1999

recommends it for: people who love the sadistic meanness of Joss Whedon and also well written epic fantasy