A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) in 2025 Reading Challenge

Jul 27, 2019 Kitty Marie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-finished, favorite-books, 2019-books, series-to-follow

As someone who has typically avoided lengthy fantasy novels after trying and DNFing several lauded ones (not because I found them bad, but because they were so description-oriented as to be exhausting) this book has changed my mind and been a sort of entryway through the door of the genre.

I went into A Game Of Thrones expecting to DNF it due to the massive length and what I'd heard was a huge cast of characters to keep track of. It just sounded imposing. But after hearing enough about the show ( As someone who has typically avoided lengthy fantasy novels after trying and DNFing several lauded ones (not because I found them bad, but because they were so description-oriented as to be exhausting) this book has changed my mind and been a sort of entryway through the door of the genre.

I went into A Game Of Thrones expecting to DNF it due to the massive length and what I'd heard was a huge cast of characters to keep track of. It just sounded imposing. But after hearing enough about the show (haven't watched it yet) to get a cursory idea of each character and after playing the Telltale Games Game of Thrones game (which is a charming, honestly very captivating sort of reimagining/fanfiction in game form) I decided to dig in and was surprised to find this novel to be an
inviting pageturner.

The book is split up into a large number of chapters, each chapter pertaining to different characters of the main cast. Though told in third person, each character feels so distinct. Tyrion's chapters are often funny, Arya's are charming and youthfully adventurous, Eddard's are down to business with revealing the main plot, Denaerys's seem to take place in a different world- fitting as she is far removed from the other characters, etc. This approach to storytelling made the pace amazingly fast. If I tired of one character, chances are within a few minutes the focus would shift to a different and more intriguing character or scenario. Often times (especially toward the hectic and exciting climax) chapters would end in cliffhangers, making it even more compulsively pageturn-ey. This is definitely an ambitious approach that I'll be looking for when considering other fantasy novels.

Amazingly, 800+ pages didn't feel long. There was so much more I wanted to know and so much room for other developments. The focus was rarely on minor details and pretty well focused on a grand-scale plot with rich sub-stories and characterization, which is exactly what I'd hoped for. Great read, it lives up to the hype and fandom surrounding it.

My only complaint is that there are just too many characters. Some are mentioned in passing and seem of such minor significance that they'd just be another name on the already too bloated list of names to keep track of.

This is not the ideal novel to read, take a large break on, and read again and just jump into things cleanly. I think my reading it in a shorter and sustained timespan made the large cast and involved little sub-plots much easier to follow, as did my small knowledge of the TV show. I read this book with a Kindle and heavily utilized X-Ray and Word Wise, making for a much easier time at grasping the occasional dated terminology and keeping the characters in order. I suspect it would have been easier to mix up characters and gloss over some of the world building without that nice little aid.

I'm hoping that the sequel, in addition to continuing the main story capably, contains more character back stories and expositions. And maybe a bit more humor, as the few humorous moments were quite effective at diversifying the typically heavy mood. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 15, 2010 Kate rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fill-in-the-gaps-project

This was a really good book and I look forward to see how the rest of the series goes. I am glad that I watched the first season of the show first because it helped me keep characters and events in order. There are so many characters that having watched the first season was really helpful. However, I do not plan on watching more until I have read more of the series.

The characters felt so real. And so sad. It always amazes me when author's are able to create such a complete world with a full hist ...more

Like · see review

Aug 24, 2012 TC rated it it was amazing

Mind: blown. Winter is coming. A++, loved it.

Like · see review

Jan 26, 2012 Mekerei rated it it was amazing

AGOT is one of the best Fantasy novels I've read in years - I'm been reading this genre for about 35 years.

This is a tale of power and corruption, what makes it different from other tales is that Martin does the unexpected throughout the book.

I will definitely read the rest of the series - just want to be able to do this without interruptions - round on the summer holidays. ...more

Like · see review

Jan 10, 2018 Veronika Valerievna rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Thank goodness, it`s over. I am sorry to all fans, but the language in this book is really hard for me. Many slow parts, that are just boring, and they don`t have any sense. Just because there are a lot of descriptions without any further development. I still enjoyed TV show, and would like to read all books. But first certainly has its flows. We`ll see, how it goes with the rest. ...more

Like · see review

Apr 27, 2015 Melanie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Audiobook

I have been a big fan of the HBO show so the curiosity to finally delve into the series got the best of me. As always the book is better and some parts of the show that I had not quite understood are better explained. There are a million characters but if you have the patience for this book it is well worth the read or the listen.

Like · see review