Creative Reviews discussion
Fantasy Reviews
>
Review -A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1)
date
newest »
newest »
I am trying to go back and post some of my previous reviews!! I have slacked getting them here in the group!!Just wanted to clarify, since I obviously wrote this one in April before the show started ;-)...
Great review! So how does the tv show compare to the book?
It actually went along with the book really well! They changed some things in the beginning...not much... I haven't watched this past Sunday's episode, but I think I know what happens & I think it is the same as the book ;-)... I was really impressed with it. Jason was so confused in the beginning...lol... There are a lot of plots going on at once (in the book and the show), so it isn't hard to get a little lost. Since I had read the book, he drove me crazy asking me to explain what was going on ;-)...
Ah, interesting. Have you read the rest of them? I read these and thought they were excellent if bleak - haven't watched the show yet but Sean Bean as Ned Stark sounds like good casting to me.Though he is toooooo weeeeeee, Sean Bean. But they disguise it well.
JAC
I have only read the first two and a tiny bit of the third. I got extremely busy about the time I started it, and they take so long to read anyway...lol... I already have the 5th one preordered. I'll have to fit them in somehow and finish up the series.I think they casted quite well ;-)...
Great review.I loved his this book series and the TV series is very good too.
I just wish he wrote faster....
Splitter
Canary,It just depends on whether or not you are prepared to wait for the subsequent books as Martin is sloooow. Each of the last two books have taken 5 years each and there are at least 2 more in the series after "Dance with Dragons" is published in three weeks.
I hope the series is completed some day, it is my favorite fantasy series. But if I had not started reading it back in '96, I personally would not start now because of the wait between books and the chance that it will never be completed.
Splitter
You could wait another 10-20 years when the series is complete and then just read them all ;-)... I don't regret starting the series...yet... I think it is worth it.I wonder if he'll speed up any now that he has a TV series to provide content for???
Also it's pretty bleak. I saw a cartoon in the paper with two guys chatting. The first one says "Have you heard the latest GRRM is out? What's it about?"The other one says "Well according to the author it's just 1000 words of snow blowing across the graves....!"
Harsh but funny...
JAC
LOL... Well, it's not "that" bad... But that is just my opinion... It certainly isn't for everyone!;-)
By: George RR Martin
ISBN: 9780553588484
Available formats: Hardcover, Paperback, ebook, and Audiobook
My rating: 5 stars
In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to 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, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
A Game of Thrones is a mature epic fantasy that carries a strong European historical undercurrent. Martin focuses each chapter on a particular character from the third person point of view, so the reader is easily carried from one region of the land to another, giving the story a rich diversity and dimension. The central character of this book is Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell, and the majority of the plot involves his life and his family. When Ned’s close friend, King Robert Baratheon, visits his home and asks him to come south with him to take the post of the Hand, the king’s most trusted and powerful advisor, the Stark family soon realizes that their lives will never be the same again. Their family motto—“Winter is Coming”—takes a deeper meaning for each of them. Before they even depart, they are warned that the previous Hand was murdered, possibly at the hand of the queen and her brother, and their young son, Bran, suffers a strange tragic accident leaving him crippled and comatose. Stark has no other choice; however, than to accept the post and travel south with only his two daughters.
Stark’s illegitimate son, Jon Snow, travels north to the great ice wall. North of the wall lies the Haunted Forest where Wildlings and Others roam and peculiar things are beginning to happen. It is unclear if it is something inhuman, dark, and demonic or the work of worldly sorcery. The ever thinning guard of the wall is losing rangers left and right with no explanation, and soon the danger enters their own camps. Jon is torn between his duties as a sworn brother of the Night’s Watch and the plights of his family to the south.
To complicate matters further, the son and daughter of the previous king, usurped by Baratheon, are exiled across the sea. Viserys agrees to sell his sister, Daenerys, to the leader of the Dothraki horse warriors in exchange for his aid in reclaiming the Iron Throne. As a wedding gift, Dany receives three dragon eggs that are believed to be petrified—but are they??? Dragons are believed to have been extinct for hundreds of years, but Dany cannot help but feel a strange connection to the eggs which are always warm to her touch. Dany manages to find love with her new husband, and they conceive a son that is prophesied to be the greatest ruler of the world. Perhaps it is Daenerys, the blood of the dragon, which is actually the focus of that prophesy.
In my opinion, A Game of Thrones is in a league with greats such as The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Martin brings a whole new world to life as he weaves the mystical so subtly into the realistic. I was completely drawn into the story just as much as I have ever been drawn into any of my favorite fantasy or historical fiction novels. I found myself anxious with the fear of the events in the Haunted Forest, warm with the love that grew so quickly between Daenerys and her Kahl Drogo, and heartbroken with the sad losses disappointments the Stark family faced along the way. Thanks to Martin’s immense descriptive story-telling abilities, I became truly personally invested in each and every character in this read. The most notable aspect of the story, I believe, is that there never really is an obvious protagonist or antagonist. It makes the story so much more relatable, because real life is rarely ever clear cut good vs. evil.
I am certain not everyone will be able to appreciate this book. It is long (over 800 pages), and the pace can sometimes be a bit slow. Anyone who can commit themselves, however, should not be disappointed. I began by listening to the audiobook, and the narrator did a perfect job of bringing the characters and the story to life. It became apparent to me, though, that I am far too impatient for audiobooks, especially those that are over thirty-three hours! I am really looking forward to reading the remainder of the series, and I have high expectations for where Martin will take me from here. I think I might have found another favorite author!!
I first became interested in the Song of Ice and Fire series when I saw a preview for the television adaptation, Game of Thrones, which will debut on HBO this weekend, April 17, 2011. I am truly excited to see how they will translate this tale onto the screen, and I hope it does not disappoint. Some of my favorite actors and actresses are portraying the characters, and I am sure that it will soon be high on the list of my preferred television shows and movies.