Sarah Jo.'s Reviews > A Game of Thrones

"When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground."- Cersei Lannister, A GAME OF THONES

Game of Thrones takes place in a world where seasons last for years. When lively summers end deadly winters take their place and last brutally long. The seven kingdoms are recovering from war and cruel kings. Only delicate alliances hold the peace between the seven, and soon the alliance will be broken and summer will end...

I must be truly honest in the fact that I fell in love with this story long before I picked up the book. I first became acquainted with George R.R. Martin's characters through the t.v. series, but even with that being said I found the book to still be highly enjoyable. The book took me all winter and part of summer to finish due to my new busy college kid status. I give the book a steady 84% and 4 out of 5 stars. I found it sometimes difficult to keep up with all of the switching characters and felt that it kept me from building bonds with my favorites. (I'm always half tempted to skip ahead to the next chapter by Arya or Tyrion.)For the full review including SPOILERS please feel free to continue reading.

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Winterfell in the beginning was so warm compared to the emptiness it was left with in the end. King Robert Baratheon's party left Lord Ned Stark with the heavy burden of being the King's Hand, his daughter betrothed to shit stain Jeoffry, and Bran crippled. The strong Ned, once in King's Landing, was forced to let go of his pride in the hopes of securing the safety of his daughters. Sansa; however, has now been faced with using her good manner for survival rather than love. Arya's fire for her home, family, and self continued to burn until the very end. The Stark's loyalty and honor tended to make them charming despite all the trouble it seemed to cause them. Jon Snow truly held this loyalty close to his heart as well and his battle between that and his honor as part of the Night's Watch was one of the most conflicting parts of the novel that truly made me feel for him as a character.

Kings Landing always left me sick at the characters that ruled it. However, despite Jeoffry being a spawn of satan I find that the Lannisters are in many ways just as loyal to their house and their honor. (If only they are loyal to one another.)
The characters in this house, along as in all the other ones, are far from perfect. I am very glad for this. It is refreshing and a great mirror to the grey that lingers in between the black and white of politics and war.

The story of Daenerys Targaryen is one that really caught my attention. At the beginning of the novel she was so afraid and frail. It was truly a story of growth to see her grow as Stormborn and eventually as Mother of Dragons. Her loyalty to her kingdom by right is as strong as her ambition and I look forward to all she has to offer in the rest of George R.R. Martin's Fantistoricals.

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