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

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

4.43 of 5 stars 4.43 · rating details · 416,793 ratings · 24,055 reviews

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...more

Kindle Edition, 819 pages

Published (first published August 6th 1996)

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Mar 02, 2010 Keely rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, reviewed

There are plenty of fantasy authors who claim to be doing something different with the genre. Ironically, they often write the most predictable books of all, as evidenced by Goodkind and Paolini. Though I'm not sure why they protest so much--predictability is rarely a death sentence in genre fantasy.

The archetypal story of the hero, the villain, the great love, and a world to be saved never seems to get old--and there's nothing wrong with this story when it's told well. At the best, it's excitin...more

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Rob Martin has broken way, way out of the fantasy genre ghetto, and his massive popularity has come from mainstream readers, many of whom have never read...more
13 hours, 37 min ago

Han Asra But well, with China Mieville and Susanna Clarke stuff to compare, the argument that fantasy genre always fall short doesn't really work. If people al...more
3 hours, 39 min ago

Dec 14, 2012 Anila rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: blech-ugh-blech, incoherent-anger, reviewed, not-for-the-sensitive, what-the-fuck-was-this-shit, inconsistent-characterization, needed-more-editor, needless-fucking-drama, pacing-pacing-pacing

EDIT: 14 Dec. 2012. I no longer get notifications for the comments. Feel free to duke it out with each other; just don't expect me to respond.

WARNING: If you enjoyed this book, even a little bit, you may not want to read this review. It will probably make you angry. Heaven knows that the book made me furious, and I intend to turn every bit of that wrath back on it.
Instead, I suggest you read karen's review, Aerin's review, Joyzi's review, or any other of the gushing four and five-star reviews he...more

266 likes · like · see review

May 25, 2008 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, 2008, not-worth-it

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 about 14 or 16 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 c...more

336 likes · like · see review

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Andrew I laughed SO hard at this!! Thank you so much for the review. I wanted to know if GoT was worth reading, and now I know it's not - it's everything I t...more
May 02, 2013 06:27pm

Srivatsan I enjoyed this review a lot, up until the point where it complained about swords having names. I just couldn't proceed with the review beyond that poi...more
May 13, 2013 12:15am

Sep 15, 2012 karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: icky-sex

yup.
nerds, now i am among you.

this is going to be a review where i just prattle on and on about meee meee meee, because let's face it - there are a million reviews of this puppy out there so i don't have to worry about doing a disservice to the book. you'll either read the book or you won't. but you should: it's got direwolves.

i wasn't going to read this. after years of watching hordes of desperate sad-eyed nerds coming up to me, asking "any news on the george r.r. martin release??" (like the bn...more

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Apr 29, 2013 StoryTellerShannon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Tim Janke

Shelves: my-very-best-reads, reading-it-again, owned, fantasy-scifi, books-reviewed, the-sweeping-epic

First off, I'm a heavy duty fan of GRRM. I've read over a 100 different fantasy authors in my time. Took about 5 years off from the genre b/c I felt it was all getting too formulaic and cliched. So, when I came back to fantasy I read the usual: Goodkind, Jordan, etc. and then someone told me about GRRM and man, that was the kicker!

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Here are the reasons to choose GRRM. I've also listed the reasons not to choose him to make it fair b/c I know their are certain personalities who won't lik...more

103 likes · like · see review

Sep 29, 2011 Aerin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Aerin by: Everybody

Shelves: fantasy, zombies, well-that-was-awesome

I gave up on epic fantasy a long, lonnnnnnnnng time ago. In those dark days when I was too old for children's books, contemptuously uninterested in the YA available at the time (mostly "horror" novels featuring haunted prom dresses or whatever, or after-school-special books about capital-I Issues like drugs or teen pregnancy), and completely unsure how to navigate the treacherous waters of the Adult Fiction section of the library, I turned to fantasy for comfort. I loved fantasy! I'd spent my ch...more

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May 08, 2009 Ceridwen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Ceridwen by: the Hollender boys

Shelves: dragons, zombies, fantasy

An open letter to George R R Martin:

Dear Mr. Martin,

While I love killer zombies and nobles stabbing peasants in the throat, I think your world doesn't make any sense. If there really were an environment that had ten years of winter and ten of summer, there's no ruddy way that a culture from that environment would engage in war in the manner they do in this book. Or they would totally die off and be replaced by a culture comprised of people who weren't a bunch of short-sighted tools.

Also, pleas...more An open letter to George R R Martin:

Dear Mr. Martin,

While I love killer zombies and nobles stabbing peasants in the throat, I think your world doesn't make any sense. If there really were an environment that had ten years of winter and ten of summer, there's no ruddy way that a culture from that environment would engage in war in the manner they do in this book. Or they would totally die off and be replaced by a culture comprised of people who weren't a bunch of short-sighted tools.

Also, please decide how or if magic works, and then stick with that.

Thanks,

Ceridwen

P.S. I really do love killer zombies though.

Later edit: I wrote this review really flippantly, mostly because I was making a point in some other review about the contested issue of "world building". Now, mostly when I hear the term "world building", I reach for my pistol, because it is code for bloated, environmental scene-setting that now that I'm not 14 and on summer break - when I swallowed down the Lord of the Rings in its entirety in a week, and then started again - I have a lot less time for the romanticized landscape and its import on modern Western constructions of masculinity. Which is pretty much what world-building of that nature comes down to, for me. Maybe it's because LotR is this post-war elegy for a lost and ruined Europe, right down to its rocks, and latter day fantasists have just mimeographed this nostalgia. Not so, GRRM.

Point being: I don't think that's what's going on here - the world-building of nostalgic landscape - it's something more like political science fiction. And yee haw for that. The magic in these books is terribly sloppy, right down to the landscape, but the endless scheming, and the ways a thousand characters are conjured and set against each other, and no one wins, and everyone has a limited vantage, etc etc - this is just a trip to read. People call GRRM the American Tolkien, which I think is pretty hilarious, because Tolkien's world is fundamentally moral, and Martin's is...not. It isn't immoral, but it's not going to hand you puppies just for thinking you're in the right. I think I'm off my own topic - I was talking about trees, right? - I just wanted to make a note about this review that I didn't think carefully about when I tossed it off however many years ago. (less)

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Aug 24, 2011 Mariel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: I would rather shave my head with a cheese grater

Recommended to Mariel by: I would rather chew broken glass

My brown eyes that hover below the average height of eye to eyeness because of my midgety 5'5 frame struggled in valiant honour inside my pasty white face, despite the ten years of Florida summers, to soak up the cheese whiz blanketed pages with the driest crust of bread of the whole rest of the book. So tasteless this crust was that a Gulag inmate would have turned it down. "No, thank you but the cheese formed with the bread into a kind of glue that got caught in my throat and I couldn't breath...more My brown eyes that hover below the average height of eye to eyeness because of my midgety 5'5 frame struggled in valiant honour inside my pasty white face, despite the ten years of Florida summers, to soak up the cheese whiz blanketed pages with the driest crust of bread of the whole rest of the book. So tasteless this crust was that a Gulag inmate would have turned it down. "No, thank you but the cheese formed with the bread into a kind of glue that got caught in my throat and I couldn't breath for all of the gagging. No, I couldn't possibly have seconds, thirds or fifths. If I get hungry I'll lick the residue from my fingers. I think it's called cheetle?" Brown eyes, reflecting neon orange cheetos lights, presevered in spite of the overwhelming prospect of purple prose duller than the uncared for blade given to the most token of juvenile female warriors in training bras. The duller weapons hurt more like when Alan Rickman wanted to bring the hurt to Kevin Costnor with a spoon. The purple turned to ugly shades of yellow like the mysterious bruises that appear on my upper arms from time to time (I would have rather been confronted by another nosy woman about my abusive nonexistant boyfriend than read more of this series). "Seamus, my chihuahua in dire need of denta bones!" I cried (sorry, baby, but your breath reeks. I'd rather suffocate under his breath another night than read more of this series!), "I have bought more books than my meagre budget should have allowed. It is too big for my hands to hold comfortably in front of my chocolate eyes. All I got for my troubles was boredom and tears! It is too boring, nothing much happens to justify a book this long. It reads like a pompous show only resurrected on the latest hours on the Sy Fy channel, probably a pilot that wasn't picked up, and that only when a paid advertisement cannot be found. Is it supposed to be taken seriously or is it trashy? It reads like the worst of the two worlds. Incest and midgets have no right to be so dull! There are no non-stick pans to compare to the egg sticking to my face! Why didn't I listen to you, my noble beast with the watery bug eyes? I am asking you because you laughed fewer times than I did when we watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua." If there was a blender attractively displayed at three in the morning I would purchase it in five easy payments and test the blades on this book.

Seamus trembles at the prospect of reading any more of this series that he had warned Mariel against. Mariel, the ungrateful girl who ignores him to read books when she should be petting him or something else more worthwhile. He refuses to poop on the book now rather than just say I told you so (again). (Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 was a chance to perfect the formula! Who knew it would be worse?)

My brown eyes that match my brown hair that is too dark because it doesn't see much sunlight, being shorter than the tallest trees, nodded off a lot. I stood shorter than people who are 5'6, 5'7 and '58 because I am a short ass 5'5. Stewardesses fought me to a duel for my claims of short assness. I could not reach the overhead compartments for luggage and also won a round of arm wrestling. My training bra is bigger than their training bra. There are no juvenile girl warriors tougher than me or my chihuahua. Chihuahuas are known for picking fights with dogs bigger than them. This is all you've got? The king was a fat man (the author?) who had hos on the side (that's why he's protracted the release dates. He wants to bribe convention chicks with spoilers! Someone is twisting someone's nipples, anyway, if the sex scenes are any indication of his fantasy life...) and his wife got diddled by her twin brother (ewwww! twincest! It is good for my twin that I am not a fan of this series). The queen is not nearly as scary as my nemesis Turtle. I laugh in the face of their danger. I wish I had a turtle shell of my own to hide in for my own (danger). The bastard son joins the Logan Wildcats and there are thousands of mentions of how dangerous dire wolves are yet they are total pussies for kids because of who their parents are. Insta training. How come montages only happen for realistic stuff and then the color of eyes are trotted out ad nauseum? Montages are meant for cleaning and studying! Why do they only happen for good stuff like sleeping? Even though I fell asleep I know that all of this is true because my chihuahua knew on the spot that my parents were married when they had me. Mariel, daughter of pharmacist, I see pill bottles in your future. Lots and lots of pill bottles. Take that one that says ritalin. You are going to need it. Brown....eyes.....hair.....full...of...shit...Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

P.s. I told my twin about this book. "Blah blah.... twins had sex... pompous scenery shit... Dragons..." She said: "So it's like Eragon?" "Yes." I wouldn't rather read Eragon again.(less)

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Apr 12, 2011 mark monday rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantastickal

there are about a billion reviews of this one so i doubt i have anything to add. the only thing i feel truly compelled to say is TYRION THE DWARF IS AWESOME! my God, i haven't read a character who is so different and so enjoyable in years. many-layered and consistently surprising, hero & antihero, generous & spiteful in equal amounts, as capable of high-handed miscalculation as he is of clever deduction, brave & loyal & vindictive... just overall a superb creation. Tyrion, you ar...more

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Aug 28, 2011 K.D. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to K.D. by: Ranee

Shelves: adventure, fantasy, ya

I did not mean to read this book. My copy was just given to me by a friend as gift for my 47th birthday last month. I think I am too old for fantasy. Life in itself has too much of it and I don't think I need to read more. I enjoyed a couple of Tolkien's works last year and that friend knew that I also shared her love for Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's and I thought that was the reason why she gave me this book. I am past the halftime of my life so what I am trying to do now is to read the books in...more I did not mean to read this book. My copy was just given to me by a friend as gift for my 47th birthday last month. I think I am too old for fantasy. Life in itself has too much of it and I don't think I need to read more. I enjoyed a couple of Tolkien's works last year and that friend knew that I also shared her love for Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's and I thought that was the reason why she gave me this book. I am past the halftime of my life so what I am trying to do now is to read the books included in the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and the works of Tolkien and Adams are there so that was the reason why I read and fortunately enjoyed them.

Before typing this review, I read each and every review of my Goodreads friends. Most of them gave this a 5, including the ones whose taste on books I truly admire. A few of them, 4, and just a couple gave this a 3 but I barely knew them for me to be swayed by their judgement. Oh, there was one lady, whose reviews I also read right away (because she was one of my top friends), who gave this a 2 but her review was metaphorical yet very entertaining so I did not readily understand what she was saying until I re-read it. I actually commented in her review that I shared her views regarding this book.

When I was a young boy, I used to enjoy radio programs with flying white horse, wizards with magic wands, warriors with powerful swords, knights saving damsels in distress, kings fighting for their kingdoms, sorcerers with their magic cauldrons, etc. I think reality dawns earlier to children belonging to poor families than their privileged city-based counterparts living with their rich mom and dad. There is no magic when a poor boy goes to the city, rides a bus, endures a knife poking on his side and becomes a victim of pickpockets and snatchers because the poor provincial boy looks so ignorant, vulnerable and gullible. No wand, no sword, no magic spell to use against the hoodlums in the city. So, from those incidents, few months after arriving in the city, I guess I naturally shed off those fantasy worlds from my mind, woke up to real world and started reading books that were more realistic. Good that my father had a cousin who worked in the army that became the source of hand-me-down books on battles, wars, western and crime. Just like our body's built-in defense mechanism, our taste on books changes depending on our life's circumstances.

But I am still rating this book with a 3 that means I liked it!. It is definitely engrossing and superbly entertaining. Considering that it is the first book in the series, I understand the reason for its many almost overcrowding characters. I thought that Martin wanted to have spare characters to use in case he needed to tweak the plot down the rest of his story. Another reason why I did not go crazy while reading this first book was that I saw its HBO mini-series (blame it on the proliferation of cheap pirated DVDs in our third-world country) prior to my reading. So this, being a plot-novel, for many instances, bored me as I already knew what would happen. I had no choice but to switch to the other books in my currently-reading folder. Hence, for the next 3 books in the series, I will make sure not to watch the HBO adaptation before reading the book. You see, I oftentimes enjoy reading books whose movie adaptations I saw already because I'd like to understand or savor the story more, catch the smallest of their beautiful dialogues, appreciate the imagery by forming them in my mind once again, thoroughly digest the theme or live the characters in my own world. However, this book, Game of Thrones is presented in a clear-cut fashion sans meaningful quotes, vivid imagery and memorable dialogues. Well, except seemingly the catchy one-liners like the one that sounds like a song title, the things we do for love and the trite the winter is coming that I am not sure why many Filipinos love even if we have no winter here in the Philippines. I also noticed that even if there were some scenes or characters that were excluded in the HBO mini-series, the two - book and the screen adaptation - were basically the same.

But don't get me wrong. I will still read the other 3 books. Afterall, my profile pic is that of Khal Drogo as we both share the same acronym. K.D. for Khal Drogo! Too bad, he cannot grow old to my age so he has no picture as an old man like me.

Dra. Ranee, thank you so much for giving this book to me!(less)

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Apr 24, 2013 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A Game of Thrones has been plaguing my Amazon recommendations list for years and, for just as long, I've gone back and forth over whether or not I wanted to plunge in and give it a try. Some sources used words like epic, Tolkien-esque, and masterpiece, so I would promptly put it on my list for my next bookstore visit. Before I could purchase a copy, though, I would encounter other sources using words like convoluted, complex, and plodding, resulting in my just as promptly striking it off my list...more A Game of Thrones has been plaguing my Amazon recommendations list for years and, for just as long, I've gone back and forth over whether or not I wanted to plunge in and give it a try. Some sources used words like epic, Tolkien-esque, and masterpiece, so I would promptly put it on my list for my next bookstore visit. Before I could purchase a copy, though, I would encounter other sources using words like convoluted, complex, and plodding, resulting in my just as promptly striking it off my list. And so it went until . . .

HBO. As much as I hate to admit it, I turned to television to tell me whether or not this is a series I would like. And I was hooked immediately. Now I wish I had read the books sooner because it's somewhat difficult for me to separate the book from the series as I have never seen a film or television adaptation stick so closely to the original source material. However, that may be a moot issue as the very fact that I found the book compelling and suspenseful even though I knew what was going to happen is testament enough to Martin's writing.

Told from alternating points of view, Martin vividly captures a wide cast of characters, but I never felt intimidated by keeping up with who is who, nor did I agree with other reviewers who have stated that the plotlines are "overly complex." I also disagree with those who say the novel has misogynistic tones--the men are strong and (I would argue) the women stronger. The court intrigues and the Machiavellian jockeying for the Iron Throne amongst the great houses of the Seven Kingdoms is delightfully entertaining: the scheming, the lying, the seducing, the killing--what's not to love?

I'm also impressed with the world Martin has created here. Admittedly, the world building is not as complex as many other fantasy novels I've read, but I consider the simplicity of his world to be one of its strengths. Set in a somewhat medieval time period, the fantasy elements are subtle: there are direwolves, the Others, the ominous certainty that "winter is coming" (a winter that can last generations). Plus, there's mention of dragons (and everything's always better with a dragon). However, many writers in this genre try to stuff their novels so full of fantasy tropes that they almost become parodies of themselves. Martin's work feels as though you're reading the history of another culture or society; everything seems authentic and nothing forced.

There were a few repeated phrases that began to vex me (such as "breaking their fast" and the blushing, oh, God, the blushing), but I suppose such repetitions can only be expected in a novel of this size. I also dreaded the Sansa chapters (simply because she's such an unlikable character) and the Bran chapters (though I suspect Bran has the potential to become a favorite character in later books). These flaws are minor, however, and I definitely plan on continuing with the series as I have the feeling that Martin is just beginning to weave the tangled web of the Seven Kingdoms.

Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder (less)

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Feb 01, 2013 Dan Schwent rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, fantasy

When the King comes to Winterfell, Ned Stark soon finds himself given the post of Hand to the King by King Robert. All is not well in Winterfell, however. Stark's son is gravely injured and signs point to the King's wife's family, the Lannisters. Stark will soon find out that when you play the Game of Thrones, you either win or die...

Okay, so it's way more complicated than that but it's hard to write a teaser for an 800+ page kitten squisher like this.
I was bound and determined not to read the S...more When the King comes to Winterfell, Ned Stark soon finds himself given the post of Hand to the King by King Robert. All is not well in Winterfell, however. Stark's son is gravely injured and signs point to the King's wife's family, the Lannisters. Stark will soon find out that when you play the Game of Thrones, you either win or die...

Okay, so it's way more complicated than that but it's hard to write a teaser for an 800+ page kitten squisher like this.
I was bound and determined not to read the Song of Ice and Fire for a variety of reasons.
1. I am not a huge fan of today's fantasy novels, never-ending doorstop fantasy series in particular.
2. The series is not yet finished and I don't want to be Dark Towered into waiting years between books or having Martin pull a Robert Jordan and die without completing it.
3. Hype. Anytime someone tells me I have to read something, I almost always dig my feet in and resist. One of these days, I'll stop being stubborn when people recommend me books. Sure, most of them read probably 20% as much as I read in a year but there are reasons why certain books sell thousands and thousands of copies.

So after my girlfriend and I blazed through the first season of Game of Thrones in a weekend, I figured it was time to cave in and give it a try. My fears were unfounded. The Game of Thrones took over my life while I was reading it. Even after watching the first season of the TV series, I couldn't be bothered with things like cleaning house and eating properly. I was captivated by the tale of the Lannisters, the Starks, the Targaryens, and the rest.

I read an interview with George R.R. Martin where he mentioned liking historical fiction but hating knowing the ending before he started. Game of Thrones feels way more like historical fiction than it does fantasy. While there are magical elements, they don't dominate the story. The story is the battle for the throne of the seven kingdoms and intrigue behind the scenes by various factions. It feels way more like Pillars of the Earth than it does epic fantasy.

For me, the main strengths of the Game of Thrones are the characters and GRRM's willingness to do horrible things to them. While fantasy is usually about good vs. evil, nothing is so black and white in the Game of Thrones. King Robert is a man with a drinking and whoring problem. Ned Stark fathered a child out of wedlock. The Lannisters are a bunch of well-meaning scumbags. Jon Snow looks down upon his companions because of his noble upbringing.

As for GRRM's willingness to do horrible things to his characters? Don't get too attached to anyone. There were several shocking deaths in Game of Thrones and I'm told it gets worse from here on out. I can't wait for someone to settle Joffrey Lannister's hash!

For me, one of the marks of a good book is if it makes me want to rush out and write something similar. It happened with the Dark Tower, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Elric, Hyperion, Amber, and now this. Speaking of Amber, Martin thanks Roger Zelazny in the acknowledgments. I already knew he and Zelazny were close. Now I'm wondering if the machinations in Game of Thrones were in any way inspired by the ones of the family in Amber.

Differences between the book and the first season of the show are pretty minor. One thing that really stood out was that a lot of the characters were younger in the book. Also, there weren't so many women being taken roughly from behind in Martin's text. Other than that, it was mostly chronology and a few minor scenes that were missing.

That's about all I can say since I don't want to give too much away. This book is a monstrous tome but it didn't feel like it. There's always something going on and everyone better watch their backs. After all, Winter is Coming...(less)

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Jun 06, 2011 Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In A Game of Thrones, Martin's dwarf, Tyrion Lannister, explains that "most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it."

True, I think. Isn't that why we read fantasy novels about gallant knights that die fighting bravely against the undead? Sure, they die, but they die bravely. When other soldiers die serving their lord, they die loyally. Regardless, the Dark Lord will eventually implode and flowers will bloom, unlike in reality.

Of all the characters in fantasy, few seem to have stepped so...more

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Apr 22, 2008 John Wiswell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fantasy readers, folklore readers, political fiction readers

Recommended to John by: Nick Sabin, Cassie Nichols

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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Mar 22, 2009 Jesse rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone who likes anything epic and historical

Recommended to Jesse by: William

Shelves: fantasy, jesse-s-all-time-favorite-authors

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...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, are deeply engrosing in this tale. And those types of characters number just 2 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. I've read my share of epic fantasy series. In particular Martin's two major contemporaries/rivals for the top spot 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 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 as long as these tomes, you end up having to spread some borring filler in there because 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 !". 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.

03/22/2009: I just finished re-reading this book, and have to say it was even better the second time around. I caught subtleties to the plot that I never caught before, particularly about Jon Snow, Lyanna Stark, and Eddard Stark. I also found it interesting how much more the tension in the book was increased for me because I knew certain great momments were coming in the book, and the tension that created for me was most enjoyable. This is quite possibly THE best first book in a fantasy series I've ever read. I can't wait to re-read book #2 now, if only I had more time to read!(less)

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Jun 25, 2012 Jason Koivu rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fantasy fans

Recommended to Jason by: just about everyone

A Game of Thrones is really good. You may not think so after reading the rest of this review, but yes, I enjoyed this book. I liken it to Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in that it's a sweeping epic mostly focused on the movers and shakers while keeping the timeline linear by shifting the focus back and forth between characters and groups of characters, specifically families.

Also, it's a big honkin' huge book, just like those Russian classics. Honestly, A Game of Thrones could have been made into two o...more A Game of Thrones is really good. You may not think so after reading the rest of this review, but yes, I enjoyed this book. I liken it to Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in that it's a sweeping epic mostly focused on the movers and shakers while keeping the timeline linear by shifting the focus back and forth between characters and groups of characters, specifically families.

Also, it's a big honkin' huge book, just like those Russian classics. Honestly, A Game of Thrones could have been made into two or three books. George RR Martin has slowed down his publishing rate for this series and some think he's burning out. By breaking up these massive tomes into smaller books that could be released over time, there wouldn't be such a large and noticeable gap between books. On the other hand, if your book is meant to be a thousand pages long because that's how it naturally progresses and ends, the action remains intense, and the reader's interest can be maintained through out, then by god you should publish that thousand page book!

Let me state now, I'm not a big fan of the fantasy genre. It's reliance on cliches, the general poor quality of the writing, the immaturity sometimes seen in relating to characters of the opposite gender of the author, etc. Martin succeeds in many of those areas where so many others have failed. There were relatively few moments while I was reading when I felt like I knew ahead of time exactly where the scene would inevitably lead. On the whole, his writing is solid. His many female characters are fully rounded, not "full-breasted". Yes, there are heroes and there are villains, but there are plenty of shades-of-gray characters in between as well. People are forced into unpleasant choices that they'd rather not make as it goes against their morals or code of honor, but they do make that choice because it's necessary or because - even if it's seen as wrong by many - they just can't see a loved one suffer. I like that. I don't need to see Mr. White Knight Johnny-do-good making noble sacrifices, nor do I want the bad guy doing evil for the sole purpose of doing evil. Martin is very good about giving his characters their due motivation.

As for the writing itself, a gripe I have with fantasy epics is a reliance upon stock phrases. I understand repetition was a memory device used in the old oral tradition, but we write this stuff down now. There's no need to ape a dead art that even its purveyors wouldn't still use if they were around today. They'd get a computer, printer and a ream of paper and be happier than a pig in shit. Having said all that, I'm not even sure this form of repetition is even intended as a homage to the bards of yesteryear. It think this boils down to lazy writing. Now, before you get all upset let me say that I'm not calling George R.R. Martin a lazy writer. He has written many books with many pages. It is truly amazing the amount of output he's produced. But therein lies the problem. When you write a 900 page epic that people eat right up and then beg for more, you are put in the position of having to produce more as rapidly as possible. Coming up with fresh ways of describing actions, characters and scenes can be difficult, even over the course of one regular sized novel, so it's no surprise to see people "breaking their fast" every time there is a morning scene. It's very useful in that it tells the reader not only that it is morning, but also that the characters are eating. That's great! So then as the writer you shouldn't feel obliged to say anything else on the matter and we can keep the action moving on...but wait...oops, he's gone and described what the characters are eating for breakfast, for the dozenth time. A couple times is fine, but unless there's something special about the food that we need to know, a couple mentions for the sake of detail is fine. The other issue being that, because "breaking their fast" and "milk of the poppy" are unusual phrases, they stand out. Therefore repetition of them stands out even more, and if you continue to see phrases that stand out time and time again, they tend to stand out for the wrong reasons and become stand-out annoyances.

Another pet peeve of mine is the adverb. It's a way of quickly describing something without going into much depth, which is fine in some instances, but overuse leads to weak characterizations and the like. Adverb use is fine for journalism, where a reporter needs to describe say a multi-death house fire in the span of 150 words. There's no time for lengthy prose. But when you've got hundreds of pages to work with, there's time. Martin's not as egregious as some fantasy writers about this, but he does get a little adverb heavy now and then. There seemed to be these sections where clusters of them would appear like pack animals rumbling by, causing a momentary disturbance in my reading. It's not a big deal, but they do stick out like a soar thumb to me, especially when used one after another. Hell, there's at least one occasion, and maybe two even, when...suddenly something happened suddenly! Really? Come on, who's editing this stuff? Anyone?

When I was boy I would come home from school and mom would be there doing the ironing or whatever while watching the daytime soap opera General Hospital. This was during the heady days of the "Luke and Laura" saga, and I LOVED every minute of it. Their forbidden love affair dragged on forever, through all kinds of impossible odds. The tension was just exciting enough, with a plot on a level a 9 year old could follow, but more importantly, essentially the same thing happened in every episode so that the story dragged out into epic length. That really appealed to me. I think that's because children seek stability. Here was this fun story that I could come home to everyday and rely on it being there for me, giving me that little thrill I enjoyed so much and being the constant I so desired. That's what the soap opera did for me. To this day I love me a good ol' series. However, series or no, I'm okay with only reading this first book and stopping. I don't feel an overwhelming desire to read on. I'm older now and have things I want to do, other books I want to read. I'd love to follow these characters to the end and maybe some day I will, but good golly miss molly, there's a whole lotta readin' goin' on for what is essentially a soap opera!(less)

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Jun 03, 2011 Cassy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: physical-own, 2011, region-elsewhere, fiction-scifi-fantasy-paranormal

The world kept screaming at me that this book is one of the best fantasy novels ever. So I bought it (and scored an awesome 1990s cover). Then people started warning me how complicated it was. So I let it collect dust on my bookshelves for a couple years. Until now.

I didn’t find it difficult to follow. Sure, I had to flip back a few times to recall characters and events. That is to be expected in a long book with multiple points of view. I do wish Martin had stuck to one name per character. But,...more The world kept screaming at me that this book is one of the best fantasy novels ever. So I bought it (and scored an awesome 1990s cover). Then people started warning me how complicated it was. So I let it collect dust on my bookshelves for a couple years. Until now.

I didn’t find it difficult to follow. Sure, I had to flip back a few times to recall characters and events. That is to be expected in a long book with multiple points of view. I do wish Martin had stuck to one name per character. But, on the whole, it was easier that keep up with than the dwarves in The Hobbit or the political intrigues in Kushiel's Dart. Lesson learned: don’t let people scare me off books. James Joyce, here I come!

At first, it bothered me that the majority of the main characters are under twenty years old. How can they already be discussing the marriage of a seven year old? Is it really a good idea to let a twelve year old boy order executions? Then given that the average life span in this medieval-type society would be maybe forty years old, I can see how one would want to kick start life’s big events earlier. And I am excited at the prospect of seeing these characters grow up over the course of the series. Instead of flashing back to transformative childhood events, we can experience them in real-time.

Martin masterfully manipulated my feelings toward the characters. I was prepared to despise the barbarian king, Drogo and ended up liking him. I hardened against Catelyn when I learned how she treats her stepson, Jon, only to soften when she doubts her decisions toward her (maybe) enemy, Tyrion. I went back and forth with the enigmatic Petyr. I questioned the sanity of a favorite, Daenerys at one point. Heck, I even sympathized with the whiny Sansa by the end. Masterful! Martin really set up compelling backstories for his characters and took me for a ride. I love that no one is completely evil or loveable.

The world-building, while solid, is not the best I have encountered. To his credit, Martin did create some striking images – namely the imposing Wall of ice, a castle perched on the side of a cliff, and (view spoiler). Several times I wanted to shake the characters and yell, “If you know a decades long winter is coming, shouldn’t you be preparing your food stores?” I was also expecting more fantasy elements. There is no magic to speak of. I suspect, at the very least, that the otherworldly Others and dragons will emerge from the sidelines as the series continues.

After some wishy-washy debate, I knocked off a star. I am starting to notice how derivative all fantasy novels are. This is probably not fair to Martin since he wrote this book years and years ago. Many of the fantasy authors I’ve read recently likely copied elements from Martin himself. Alas, I cannot change the order of my readings and the impression stands. The star also fell, because I didn’t read this one at breakneck speed. Normally the pages of these epic fantasies fly by so fast my hair stirs in the breeze. This book felt as long as its full 800+ pages.

Hmm, now that I've written them down, my downgrade rationale seems pretty lame. Back to five stars! This really is an excellent fantasy novel. I will certainly be continuing the series. As the Texas summer heats up, I am looking forward to escaping into an all-out winter with Martin! I’ll tell my husband I am “getting into character” as I lower the thermostat a few more degrees. Martin, I am sending the electricity bill to you.
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Jun 04, 2007 Siria rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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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Jun 12, 2011 Brad rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, sword-and-sorcery-opera

I am finished. My real review will be coming soon (and here it is), but here's the last installment of my reading journal for those who are still interested. This star rating reflects my feelings about the last quarter of the book and may not be my final rating for the book in its entirety. Since I am writing about the book as I go, there will necessarily be spoilers, so don't continue if you want to avoid them.

My Game of Thrones Journal: volume iv

Arya -- I sure hope Syrio’s not dead yet. That...more

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Apr 13, 2011 pinknantucket rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hmm..."A Game of Thrones"... the book I read to see if it was really true. A Game of Thrones first came to my notice via the attentions of a Twitter spambot, who tweeted what seemed to be extracts from a racy fantasy novel ("The dragon does not beg, slut!") in between links to porn and new iPads or whatever. A fellow tweeter put one of the quotes into Google and discovered the quotes were from an actual book! And not just any book, an IMMENSELY POPULAR book beloved by fans worldwide! I had to ru...more Hmm..."A Game of Thrones"... the book I read to see if it was really true. A Game of Thrones first came to my notice via the attentions of a Twitter spambot, who tweeted what seemed to be extracts from a racy fantasy novel ("The dragon does not beg, slut!") in between links to porn and new iPads or whatever. A fellow tweeter put one of the quotes into Google and discovered the quotes were from an actual book! And not just any book, an IMMENSELY POPULAR book beloved by fans worldwide! I had to rush over to Borders at lunch time to confirm it with my own eyes.

It tells the story of the Starks and the Lannisters (primarily), who become engaged in a battle for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms. Another major storyline is that of the surviving Targaryens, Dany and Viserys, who fled the Seven Kingdoms as children, when their father was deposed as King. It is politically complex (in a medieval kind of way) and has intrigue, betrayal, murder, zombies, barbarians and I did read all 807 pages after all.

But... I think the best fantasy and science fiction (or speculative fiction or whatever it's called now) allows authors and readers alike to explore the big themes - death, faith, gender, society, class, race - at a remove from our own society, in a purer form, without some of the baggage that goes with "real life" fiction. The best speculative fiction (for me) is about ideas as much as the fantastic world that's been created.

So it was disappointing to read a book where gender roles and class and everything else were so - feudal. If you're going to invent a complex society, it seems a shame to do nothing new with it. For example, women occupy the types of roles you might expect (lady wives of great men, prostitutes, cranky nursemaids). There are some strong women characters, but they're also the ones who cause the most trouble. There's a token tomboy, who (gasp!) learns swordplay.

One thing that creeped me out was the junior age of many of the characters - many begin the book aged 3-15. All these children do things and feel things that seem to old for them. (Maybe I'm just becoming an old fuddy duddy and don't remember what it was like to learn swordplay at age nine). Dany's story, in particular, made me feel a little ill at times. Her vile brother (Viserys) is keen to raise an army and go back to claim his throne so he sells her to a Dothraki horse lord (Khal Drogo) with the understanding that he will be provided an army in return. The Dothraki are barbarians; we know this because they have sex in public and like to do it doggy style. We're party to Dany's sexual awakening, with phrases like "she took his hand and moved it down to the wetness between her thighs" and "she rode him fiercely" and "his manhood glistened wetly". Which is fine (except for "his manhood glistened wetly" ROFL!!) only SHE'S THIRTEEN. By fourteen she is pregnant (with "the stallion who will mount the world", jeez no one could mention her baby without someone going on about the stallion who will mount the world, enough already!). I thought it was all a bit yucky. But apparently Dany's story extracted into a novella won a Hugo Award, so what do I know?

Other niggles - silly names (Joffrey? Direwolves?), frequently hilarious prose ("Daenerys Targaryen wed Khal Drogo with fear and barbaric splendour in a field beyond the walls of Pentos" and let's not forget that glistening manhood), repetitive character identifiers (OK OK Jon is a bastard, WE GET IT and he misses Arya's GRIN and being able to MUSS HER HAIR) etc etc.

Now this book (and the series) have legions of fans, so I hope I don't get any hate mail after this review.(less)

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Aug 07, 2012 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

His trusty steed at a trot, Ser Merk headed forth into the Seven Kingdoms. Along the way, he met a sly lil dwarf, an honorable man, his honorable wife, a young boy who thought he could fly, Ser This and Ser That, Ser Used-to-Be, and Ser Has-Never-Been, and in the end, it turned out to be the boring young lady whose chapters Ser Merk often dreaded to see coming that finally stole his heart.

Young lady, you hath woneth my hand. May I have this daynct?

Cut a rug, bugaloo. Cut a rug, bugaloo. La lal...more His trusty steed at a trot, Ser Merk headed forth into the Seven Kingdoms. Along the way, he met a sly lil dwarf, an honorable man, his honorable wife, a young boy who thought he could fly, Ser This and Ser That, Ser Used-to-Be, and Ser Has-Never-Been, and in the end, it turned out to be the boring young lady whose chapters Ser Merk often dreaded to see coming that finally stole his heart.

Young lady, you hath woneth my hand. May I have this daynct?

Cut a rug, bugaloo. Cut a rug, bugaloo. La lala La lala.

Young lady, you done lost ye clothes. Tyrion, you knave, get thee offeth thy floors and stop starin uppeth yon lady's skirts! Oh yes, I see, yes, I'll give you that. She doesn't seem to wear clothes often, does she? You've a keen eye there, Lannister. But a tart tongue. But I like ya. I think you'll go far.

CORN!!! CORN!!! CORN!!!!

Oh shut it you mangy crow.

Look Jon, do what you have to do, okie? If you gotta trot, trot that bastard over hill and over dale. Over long rivers and short. Itty bitty squatty rivers, and great big ole massive watery arms that could fill a flagon the size of Pluto. Oh, yes, that's right. I understand. I'm aware they downgraded it. But in your time. Ohhhh. You don't know what Pluto is. Alright then.

Bran, Bran, my boy. Come here, my lad, let's talk. Hey!! Where you goin!!? See, you should've done that do begin with!! Things would've turned out a whole lot better! ...Fine, run then.

Joffrey, my boy! You're the biggest eunuch, dickless, ball-less, hopeless, sack of horse shit on the face of the Seven Kingdoms. Inquiring minds at home wanna know: how's it feel?

And there you have it folks. Live from the Seven Kingdoms, this is Ser Mirk, er, Mork, er, why did I decide to spell these names just slightly different from their "modern English" counterparts, again? Might wanna rethink that in the second draft. Again, this is Ser Merck. ...Merck... Lineage. German pharmaceutical giant. Note to self: check blood line. Vast wealth could like in the near future. Ask Varys, he knows shit. So, this is Ser Merck, signing off. Back to you in the booth, Old Gods.

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Apr 15, 2011 Ben Babcock rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, 2011-read, fantasy, nebula-nominee

I know I keep telling this story over and over, and I feel like I've been talking about those books I consider "formative" to my interest in fantasy and science fiction rather a lot lately—probably because I've been re-reading some of them. So apologies if the anecdotes have become tiresome. Nevertheless, it is necessary in this case for the wavey lines of flashback to cascade down your computer screen, for A Song of Ice and Fire played such a big role in kindling my love for fantasy that it wou...more

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May 13, 2013 Joanna Tsiou rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: magic, mythology, worth-every-minute

Winter is finally returning after years of summer and it brings its horrors with it.

"Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a hundred feet deep and the ice wind comes howling out of the north. Fear is for the long night, when the sun hides its face for years at a time, and little children are born and live and die all in darkness while the direwolves grow gaunt and hungry, and the white walkers move through the woods."

The lords and the armies prepare for a war that seems in...more

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Oct 29, 2010 Hazel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I'm somewhat disappointed by this. I found it fun and entertaining for the first couple of hundred pages. It was interesting and engaging, and I could see why it's being filmed. But as the book progressed my enjoyment waned. It may be mostly me.

First, I've come to fantasy from science fiction, and expect writers to be logical and consistent in their world-building. I love Martin's idea of a climate where winter can last for years and summer can last for years, but he doesn't seem to have thought...more I'm somewhat disappointed by this. I found it fun and entertaining for the first couple of hundred pages. It was interesting and engaging, and I could see why it's being filmed. But as the book progressed my enjoyment waned. It may be mostly me.

First, I've come to fantasy from science fiction, and expect writers to be logical and consistent in their world-building. I love Martin's idea of a climate where winter can last for years and summer can last for years, but he doesn't seem to have thought it through or developed it at all. What does it mean for a medieval agricultural and economic system? what happens to trade if there's no harvest? Does he mention granaries, or stockpiling of foodstuffs? If so, I must have missed it.

Then, perhaps I'm not really a fantasy lover, because the more fantastic elements don't sit well. I don't mind a little magic or supernatural phenomena. I should like dragons, shouldn't I? But that whole plot thread was rather dull and hackneyed; and then veered off into the bizarre. Symbolic stones that are actually long-dormant eggs, ok. Newly hatched dragons that suckle their human 'mother'? That was a bridge too far. Even in fantasy, there must be some internal logic.

And then there were the characters. Did the bad guys have to be cartoon villains? Incestuous, maniacal; rapists and sexual abusers? Aren't venality, duplicity and murderous ambition evil enough characteristics?

And the good guys; why is nobility wedded to stupidity? Why would a senior politician in possession of information about treason reveal his hand to the traitor and then share his escape plans with a misguided child? Can one not have both integrity and intelligence?

By the time I got halfway through I realised Martin was unlikely to significantly advance the story in one volume- another feature of fantasy novels nowadays. So different plot threads were started, but none of those dozens of characters could be well-developed. A pity; some of them were promising. I liked the dwarf, the climbing (and falling) child, the wayward tomboy and, of course, the bastard. And the wolves! :-)

I'm not all prudish, but I didn't like the sex either. It's all bad sex. Pain and humiliation are inflicted on somebody, usually a woman or girl. Or else it's illicit and dishonourable and distasteful. None of it seemed to me to advance the plot, or illuminate the characters in any way. It felt like Martin was updating Tolkien, so, there had to be sex. I admit fetishistic is too strong a word, but it was always forced and unnatural. Perhaps its violence and misogyny are due just to the medieval culture? Hmmmn.

Overall, I'm dissatisfied.

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Dec 08, 2007 Allen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

A friend and I were talking about Tolkien one night after a sesh of Call of Cthulhu and he came at me with the insane standpoint that George RR Martin's breed of fantasy is superior, though indebted to, Prof. Tolkien. I immediately informed my friend that he was once again proving the ineptitude of his intellect. Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy and the ultimate writer within the genre. This is not opinion but fact.
That said I was intrigued and promised said friend to look into this infi...more A friend and I were talking about Tolkien one night after a sesh of Call of Cthulhu and he came at me with the insane standpoint that George RR Martin's breed of fantasy is superior, though indebted to, Prof. Tolkien. I immediately informed my friend that he was once again proving the ineptitude of his intellect. Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy and the ultimate writer within the genre. This is not opinion but fact.
That said I was intrigued and promised said friend to look into this infidel that he was willing to prop up above the Professor.

And well, I am fucking hooked. I recently started book four in the series and then after about 100 pages put it down because I new that after I voraciously devoured yet another volume in the series (to my surprise I read the first three volumes in about three months. with each volume being in the neighborhood of 800 pages this was quite a feat for little ole slow readin me.) I would have nothing to follow it up with. That prospect is unbearable. So I will continue reading book four when Ii find out that book five is near published. I hope that Martin doesn't journey off to the great beyond previous to finishing the series. Odin forbid that another door is left open for Kevin J. Anderson to step in and finish a series for someone. Seriously, does that guy not have original ideas?

Anywho, I think the best description I gave of this book to a friend was "equal parts LOTR and DUNE with a heavy dose of Penthouse letters. Seriously. Lines about glistening wet
members and quivering quim. Well maybe not the quim. But isn't quim an amazing word?

Because Martin wrote for television (new Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast among others) the books have this nice episodic feel. Each chapter is driven by a different character. Really great plot twists. He loves killing off the characters that you love and forcing you to love the characters that you hate.

If you have any even cursory interest in the fantasy genre read these books. He may not be Tolkien, but the hobbit looking mother fucker is damn close.

Quim.(less)

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Apr 12, 2011 Brad rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, sword-and-sorcery-opera

I am nearly half way through now, so I thought it was time to put up the second installment of my reading journal. My star rating is always where I at in the book at the time of writing. It's going to fluctuate. Since I am writing about the book as I go, there will necessarily be spoilers, so don't continue if you want to avoid them.

My Game of Thrones Journal: volume ii

Tyrion--I really enjoyed his discussion with the Lord Commander, and Mormont’s request for more troops. The others are coming,...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Jonathan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: adults who want a gritty fantasy read

Shelves: fantasy, fantasy-challenge, fantasy-sci-fi-challenge, gritty-reads, popularity-contest, thriller, action-challenge

2-Star book review

The world building may be brilliant, the writing may be fine but ultimately there feels at times as if there is little to distinguish this novel from among fantasy novels. That is apart from the gritty nature of the book and also the fact that George R.R Martin loves to talk about body parts and kill main characters. Hang on other fantasy authors have written equally gritty novels and they also kill off main characters in similar ways. Is this book actually just a blown up vers...more
2-Star book review

The world building may be brilliant, the writing may be fine but ultimately there feels at times as if there is little to distinguish this novel from among fantasy novels. That is apart from the gritty nature of the book and also the fact that George R.R Martin loves to talk about body parts and kill main characters. Hang on other fantasy authors have written equally gritty novels and they also kill off main characters in similar ways. Is this book actually just a blown up version of the modern fantasy novel craze of having ambiguous characters? The characters aren't too likeable and to be honest there's not as much enjoyment in this novel as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings or even Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon. So while it is well written it could be seen as standard fare and just okay.

4-Star book review

The world building and the writing in this novel were brilliant, hence revealing that fantasy can also be fine literature. This was an epic novel with an extensive character list and a plot following the scheming and machinations of seven great houses as they fight over the throne. It's clear that Martin is a fan of historical epic sagas and it appears his aim is to construct a fantasy story that stretches on in such a manner: where individual after individual takes control of the kingdom until some conclusion that ends with perhaps the total destruction of the dynasties and great houses. Who knows? I am a little worried that this series won't have a proper conclusion. The story spun here is somewhat fascinating however, even if most characters are unlikeable.

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All in all my contradicting views are there to reveal what I roughly percieve as the best and worst aspects of this book and how it could be viewed. Ultimately while I see that there are many positives in the book there are also many negatives. I liked the fact that it was a fast paced read and that I could note some noble characters. I didn't like the dominance of ignoble characters and the fact that Martin thinks he needs to create a gritty atmosphere by incredibly detailed description. There are better artisans who can create tone without that kind of description and less shock and awe. I also have to say that Martin is not the next Tolkien even though his book is so hyped up. Therefore I give it a 3-star rating and say that I have no other comment to give, any other comments can be found in the multitudes who have read this book and loved it. (less)

15 likes · like · see review

Apr 21, 2011 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Becky by: Chris&Dawn

Shelves: fantasy, nook, 2011, highly-recommended, leg-hump_worthy, favorites, political, reviewed, to-buy, blog_etb, challenge-1010

Before I read this book, I had read some reviews which had me wondering if this one would be something I'd like, reviews from people whose opinions I trust. I am willing to read anything though, so the book stayed on my "TBR Someday" mental list... Until I decided to read it along with some friends. Friends who then got me so excited to read this that all of my reservations were hanging by a thread and blowing in the breeze.

And I can honestly say that not only did this book not suck, but that I...more Before I read this book, I had read some reviews which had me wondering if this one would be something I'd like, reviews from people whose opinions I trust. I am willing to read anything though, so the book stayed on my "TBR Someday" mental list... Until I decided to read it along with some friends. Friends who then got me so excited to read this that all of my reservations were hanging by a thread and blowing in the breeze.

And I can honestly say that not only did this book not suck, but that I loved it so much that I feel like other books I've loved should now be re-evaluated on this new scale in my head. I love it when a book exceeds my expectations and leaves me kind of lonely afterward because it's over. But luckily, this story isn't over... I've only just begun. SQUEEE!

I'm not going to discuss the story in this review. I wouldn't even know how to do it justice anyway. I will say that it kept me completely enthralled all the way through. Reading this book was less like reading and more like living it vicariously through the characters. I loved the characters, and reading about them had me a bundle of anxiety almost from the very beginning. I HAD to know what would happen, and at one point I had my fists so tightly clenched in nervousness that I left fingernail marks on my palms. One event was so gut wrenching to me that it took about 10 minutes to fully hit me, and then I was lost. I was so angry and shocked and hurt by this event that I had to vent and let it out and I was left seething and miserable... and then the sadness hit.

THIS is the kind of thing I read for. All of those feelings and reactions are why I read. The bar has been raised.

I loved the writing as well. In fact, it worked so well for me that I barely even noticed it - which to me is a great thing. I don't want to notice the writing - I feel like if I do, the author should have done better at making it invisible. The subtleties in the writing were awesome, especially the voices of the characters in their point of view narration - not their dialogue, but their interpretation of things going on around them. The foreshadowing was so perfectly done that I didn't even realize it was being used, even though it was serving its purpose and making me into that little bundle of nerves, until it was mentioned.

I loved this book. I cannot wait until the next one. Fantastic. (less)

64 likes · like · see review

Sep 21, 2011 The Flooze rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to The Flooze by: Laura Lulu

Shelves: fantasy, owned, vanquished_2011

**4.5**

I got the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire for free at last year’s New York Comic Con. I’d heard wonderful things about the series, yet I held off on reading it.

I’m not one for traditional fantasy. Swords and sorcery call to mind my experiences with Tolkien: the exhaustive descriptions of landscapes, the sweeping battle scenes filled with incomprehensible strategic maneuvers, the jumping around between characters and places that had me constantly flipping to the included map. It wasn...more

21 likes · like · see review

Sep 03, 2012 Melissa (ladybug) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: no-one

Shelves: fiction, top-100-fantasy, 100-books-challenge, team-read, fantasy

I had originally given this book 2 stars, but while writing this review; I realized that while the book had kept my attention somewhat, I hated it.

Goodread's description of A Game of Thrones:

"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 fa

...more

19 likes · like · see review

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About George R.R. Martin

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,...more 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, and was a Journalism instructor at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1976-1978. He wrote part-time throughout the 1970s while working as a VISTA Volunteer, chess director, and teacher.

In 1975 he married Gale Burnick. They divorced in 1979, with no children. Martin became a full-time writer in 1979. He was writer-in-residence at Clarke College from 1978-79.

Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93.

Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/george...(less)

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Books by George R.R. Martin

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2)

A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3)

A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4)

A Dance With Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)

A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold (A Song of Ice and Fire #3, Part 2 of 2)

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“A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.” — 5,455 people liked it

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” — 3,532 people liked it

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