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

George R.R. Martin

Start date: January 23, 2012

Finish date: February 16, 2012

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Discussion leader: Shellbelle

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What Members Thought

Apr 11, 2012 Melissa (ladybug) rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: yearly-challenge, 100-books-challenge, top-100-fantasy-books

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

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 family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty."

The Song of Ice and Fire series is suppose to be great. Most all my friends gave it high ratings (and many more). I was so looking forward to reading it, but it turned out to be a disappointment for me. I love high fantasy such as The Lord of the Rings and others and I really wanted to read this series for a challenge, but I don't know now if I will or not.

The book kept my attention through out reading it, and I wanted to find out what happened with some of the characters, but others were boring or just too unbelievable. I enjoyed each chapter being about a different POV and found myself skipping ahead so that I could read about one particular character than coming back to the beginning of the book.

Although I like fiction and/or science fiction that contain the evils of society (rape, evil, betrayal, murder, or horror, etc...) such as The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever, horror books such as The Tommyknockers, suspense such as Odd Thomas or Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series, or The Lord of the Rings and non-fiction books (I believe) like the Holy Bible, I just could not bring myself to like this book. There just didn't seem to be any redeeming qualities to some characters and Martin had no rhyme or reason for killing off who he did. Some scenes were even sickening to me. (view spoiler) Another problem for me, in this book, is (apparently) Martin's fetish like fascination with women's body parts, rape, sexual abuse of ALL kinds, incest and bigotry. Now, granted these may not be Martin's idea of good things, but he sure describes them in excruciatingly detail. He sure didn’t want you to miss what women’s breasts are called or other body parts.

Finally George R.R. Martin in an interview on program Q (from Canada), stated that his intention was:

"to take epic fantasy, which I love, and combine it with some of the gritty realism and ambiguous morality of, I think, the best historical fiction, with layers of complexity, and real human characters, sexuality, violence, all of that good stuff." (emphases my own)

The Q fill-in host, Brent Bambury, "suggested that Martin might indeed outstrip (J.R.R. Tolkien). Bambury repeated the claim of Time magazine, that Martin is the American Tolkien. But made it even more provocative: “Many feel it’s an accurate comparison. Others say no, it’s not accurate, because he (Martin's) better. Though Martin went on to spend a good deal of time recalling his reading of The Lord of the Rings as a young man, maintaining that "the books had a profound effect on me," he did not demur. (Quotes from http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/v...)

I really do not think I like the authors idea that this is a realistic view of society. To tell the truth, he even caused me to feel biased against him by basically saying that his book was on the par with or even better than J.R.R. Tolkien's books.

As a friend on Goodreads noted about me: my problems maybe because of the "vast difference between glorying in violence... and using it as a device".

This explains it perfectly!

One last question to consider. A commenter (Mary) of the previous mentioned article had this to say: "Do you want your fantasy to inspire you, or to drag you down into the dirt with it?... From LOTR to Narnia to Star Trek, all of these worlds provided me with a sense of hope. [me too]... [after reading 3 of the books in the series; she said that she] was left feeling disgusted with humanity (men in particular). There may be more cruel people in the world today, but that's not a reality that I'm willing to accept as unchangeable."

I personally want my fantasy to inspire me in the end ...more

100 likes · Like · see review

Apr 26, 2011 Lisa Kay rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-fantasy, epic, reviewed-by-me, authors-m, character-child-children-featured, length-chunkster, amazing-secondary-characters, buddy-read, hbo-series, bom-nbrc

Warning: Don’t expect Donna Reed to show up in this one.

★★★★★ I loved it, I hated it, I couldn’t put it down, I vowed never to pick it up and read another chapter. Yeah. I went on an emotional roller-coaster ride with this fantasy Machiavellian soap-opera. It grabbed a hold of me and wouldn’t let go, even when I pleaded for mercy. I can’t image what those poor people, who don’t read, are doing while they wait for the next installment of this series to come out on HBO.

Then again, I may co ...more

84 likes · Like · see review

Nov 21, 2013 Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: a-own-book-form, first-in-series, monsters, part-of-series, fantasy, 4-star, reviewed

I'm not one for high fantasy or shifting POVs. Actually I'm not one for historicals either unless they're of a dramatic or harmlessly fun slant. Still, with everyone goo-goo eyeing this series in TV and printed form, I just HAD to read it to catch up with the masses, didn't I? So read it I did, enjoying some things more than I figured before diving in, while a few things met expectations.

First, I'm impressed by how well George R.R. Martin writes. In no way does he take the high road of difficult I'm not one for high fantasy or shifting POVs. Actually I'm not one for historicals either unless they're of a dramatic or harmlessly fun slant. Still, with everyone goo-goo eyeing this series in TV and printed form, I just HAD to read it to catch up with the masses, didn't I? So read it I did, enjoying some things more than I figured before diving in, while a few things met expectations.

First, I'm impressed by how well George R.R. Martin writes. In no way does he take the high road of difficult, head-scratching fantasy with created terminology that aches the head as well as tires the patience. Here is a writer who writes beautifully, not having to cram too many words into a sentence to come across poetical and sublime, but he puts the right amount of emotion into a sentence with the right amount of effort. I can see how he would lead so many through his series with his writing technique alone.

Second, I knew a lot about the first book already since my ex watched the first season on TV and I saw glimpses of it. I knew the major deaths before the occurred - really there's not too many in this one - and I knew about some of the plot points, torment sequences, and affects. Ugh on the 'crowning scene.' What I didn't get from just glimpses of the show was what was actually going on. Who was who, where did they stand, what was their purpose? After reading the book I of course understand much more, while a few wonderings still tremble in the wind for me.

Expectations met as eventually some of the characters points of view started dulling for me. They all started well enough, none bored me from the start. I always liked Ned Stark, he was enjoyable as a person and a father, but the political maneuverings later through his POV were slightly meh-ed. Daenerys stayed fascinating from start to finish, a tense start with sympathy and a bang ending with promise. Bran was impossible not to like, maybe love. Tywin was always a different POV to glimpse into, a likable character that pops up to progress the plot and someone I look forward to seeing in the next book. I started out liking Catelyn well enough but ended up disliking her toward the end and found her POV dull. Arya, who was a wee stereotypical, was a fun character who I'm curious what the author will do with. Despite not staying firmly invested in all the characters viewpoints, Martin does not overdo the head-hopping.

Historical villains can especially come across harsh - I can't see many siding with Joffrey or not wishing for his death sooner rather than later, although perhaps Cersei is even worse. I have to say I understand the point of view of Mirri; being treated kindly by one of the heads of the invading clan would not cause a favorable enough look to forgive the losses.

Fascinating characters stumble through the historical world Martin weaved, the plot a diabolical one that holds surprises, betrayals, tragedy, and motivations for future struggle. Despite all the characters intertwining in plot points, the world seems somehow huge. The length of the book is large, over 800 pages, but it doesn't seem too long with all that occurs and sort of flies by despite some of the less interesting POVs.

Honestly I enjoyed this one more than I figured. I'm new to fantasy so didn't know what to expect with this one. I will definitely continue the series and have a feeling it will keep improving. ...more

39 likes · Like · see review

Sep 26, 2012 Erin L rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. George R.R. Martin can tell a heck of a story. He can weave several threads together and leave you wanting much more.

But he's also left me with a bit of a dilemma. He killed NED! He killed off the only character I actually liked and cared about! What the heck????

So here's the thing - I really did like this book, but I thought it was a bit too long. He seemed overly focused on bits of detail that probably didn't need to be focused on. And overly obsessed with ladybits. I skimmed a lot of pages ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 06, 2011 Suzanne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own, august-2011-rrrc-pick-if-for-me, library-overdrive-e-book, library-overdrive-audiobook, bookworm-bitches-catch-up-challenge, tower-teams-read-2014, read-in-2015, top-50-fantasy-books-on-gr-2017, scifi-and-fantasy-club-bookshelf, top-50-fantasy-books-on-gr-2018

I tried reading this book before the TV show started and I was completely lost. Once I saw the show and could keep the characters straight, I really got into this book!

1 like · Like · see review