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

Mar 18, 2010 Bjoern rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2010-reads, fantasy, 2007-reads, multiple-reads, asoiaf

If anything the second reading was more fulfilling, more thankful than the first one, even if the occasional surprise moment might be gone, the details fit much more closely together if you can already see some of the stuff they're hinting at. And GRRM like to throw such hints into his text a lot.

A Game of Thrones may be nowhere near high literature or even come close to the prose of some contemporary writers, but it is a solid tale, a work of art through all the intricate plot turns and schemin If anything the second reading was more fulfilling, more thankful than the first one, even if the occasional surprise moment might be gone, the details fit much more closely together if you can already see some of the stuff they're hinting at. And GRRM like to throw such hints into his text a lot.

A Game of Thrones may be nowhere near high literature or even come close to the prose of some contemporary writers, but it is a solid tale, a work of art through all the intricate plot turns and scheming of the characters, of all the Westerosi Martin is the one who plays the Game of Thrones the best, it seems to come almost naturally to him.

One of my Goodreads friends reviewed the book and mentioned, that he was disappointed by how sparsely fantastic the story seemed to him. Here i beg to disagree: in how the world was built in how the world grows and gains believeability Martin shows that he is one of the greates Fantasywriters we have got today. Many have managed to overtrump him in points of inventing fantastic beasts or weird magic rituals and even by writing more fancy lores and sagas into their works. But Martins WORLD, his whole concept of a pseudo-medieval society with all their aspects and believes is simply "unfantastic" because it comes so close to something that might have happened in our world, if there would have been some things just a tad more like in Westeros than they were here and then.
Oh and don't take any of that as a lack of imaginary power on the sides of the author, he created a whole world out of thin air, even if much of it seems to be inspired by true historical events and circumstances and there is a lot of "classic" fantasy elements in it besides the "obligatory" stuff like thou-ing and so on. (when i do think about it there is not much thou-ing in it either). Westeros is not England during the war of the Roses but it feels as if it could have been such. It is not Europe during or after the crusades, but it might have been.

And over all this realistic touch it has the harsh contrasts between stories (like Old Nan told the Stark children, stories of chivalry and gallantry in the "good old times") and the reality in which people DO die, in which gallant knights tend to rape, pillage and murder as they feel fit and in which policies and scheming rule the every day life of those which play the game of thrones and it uses every single one of these contrasts to the best effect it might bring his writing.

So A game of thrones is an emotionally truly moving story, that reads like a historic retelling of events that almost could have happened and at the same time it is so much more than just that. Tolkien invented a whole legend for his country he felt too poorly provided for in this field. GRRM skillfully brings a legend to life which does not need to stand for anything than itself. And the best thing: it will even get better with every further volume of the story! ...more

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May 23, 2010 Manuel rated it it was amazing

It is one of the most amazing books I have ever read for the fantasy genre, one of the most exciting features of the book is the way the author masterfully develops the intrigue along the entire book.
I recommend this book to anybody who likes fantasy but at the same time appreciate an author that bets for new and different stories.

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