Title: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1)
Author: George R.R. Martin
Publish Date: 6th August 1996
Published By: Voyager Books (UK)
Publish Date: 6th August 1996
Published By: Voyager Books (UK)
Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.
As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must...and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.
The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne.
Although I may have finished reading the first book, the ASOIAF series still scares me, for it's sheer magnitude, not only in the literal sense of the word but it's plot. It's hard to understand how one man simply thought up the conception for A Game of Thrones, and sometimes I still think we're all being fooled into believing this is a complicated and deep series that is very simple and shallow. However, that being said, I can't lie - A Game of Thrones was enthralling from start to finish.
How on earth can you sum up A Game of Thrones plot? It's obvious from the get-go that this story will continually get bigger and bigger the more we read. I cannot stress enough that this book is the book every aspiring fantasy author should use as a blueprint when worldbuilding. The world is huge and there is so much going on, that it will be impossible to pick up this book and not be immediately thrown into this rich and meticulous world. What's also interesting is each main character's point of view. They have a certain style, and certain way of thinking. For example, Catelyn's chapter are often her thinking of her past and her son with fear and hesitance, whereas Daenerys' are mostly her looking to the present and future with pride and strength. The interesting dynamics between personalities in this is what sets this apart from most epic novels. No one is simply good or evil - as one of the quotes goes, there are no true heroes in this. Everyone has their own sense of justice and Martin twists the notion of heroes dispensing the usual justice we're used to seeing by having Eddard as this character. What happens to Ned in the book is definitely a deliberate way of saying that, for Martin, this is how he sees those unbelievable heroes in reality. No happy endings, no near-deaths and escapes (save for sheer dumb luck for people like Tyrion) - simply a series of events caused by their naivety in a harsh world. George doesn't leave it there though - he then gives us characters like Daenerys Targareyn who posses the same qualities, or very similar, but does things she must do in order to assert her power, not only a leader, but as a female too. It's here you're often conflicted about who should truly sit on the Iron Throne and if that really matters at all when you learn about the Whitewalkers and Jon Snow's storyline. Something bigger is stirring than this war for the Iron Throne - but that is definitely going to be presented to us in the next few books I imagine. (And having seen the series, I already know it is!)
One minor fault with the book - and that is a seriously small minor - is the fact that there are unnecessarily long descriptions of things we don't need to know about. George - if even you have trouble remembering the sex of horses or the colour of everyone and their mother's eyes, it probably means your readers are going to have trouble keeping up too, and probably means it's not crucial information. I do enjoy having certain things left to my imagination, and I would say it would be nice to see him tone down all of the excess information, but seeing the sequels so far, I'm not holding my breath.
A Game of Thrones is a remarkable feat of literature and one can almost forgive George R.R. Martin for taking almost 5/6 years to release his later novels in the series because, seven hells, is it worth it.
As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must...and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.
The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne.
How on earth can you sum up A Game of Thrones plot? It's obvious from the get-go that this story will continually get bigger and bigger the more we read. I cannot stress enough that this book is the book every aspiring fantasy author should use as a blueprint when worldbuilding. The world is huge and there is so much going on, that it will be impossible to pick up this book and not be immediately thrown into this rich and meticulous world. What's also interesting is each main character's point of view. They have a certain style, and certain way of thinking. For example, Catelyn's chapter are often her thinking of her past and her son with fear and hesitance, whereas Daenerys' are mostly her looking to the present and future with pride and strength. The interesting dynamics between personalities in this is what sets this apart from most epic novels. No one is simply good or evil - as one of the quotes goes, there are no true heroes in this. Everyone has their own sense of justice and Martin twists the notion of heroes dispensing the usual justice we're used to seeing by having Eddard as this character. What happens to Ned in the book is definitely a deliberate way of saying that, for Martin, this is how he sees those unbelievable heroes in reality. No happy endings, no near-deaths and escapes (save for sheer dumb luck for people like Tyrion) - simply a series of events caused by their naivety in a harsh world. George doesn't leave it there though - he then gives us characters like Daenerys Targareyn who posses the same qualities, or very similar, but does things she must do in order to assert her power, not only a leader, but as a female too. It's here you're often conflicted about who should truly sit on the Iron Throne and if that really matters at all when you learn about the Whitewalkers and Jon Snow's storyline. Something bigger is stirring than this war for the Iron Throne - but that is definitely going to be presented to us in the next few books I imagine. (And having seen the series, I already know it is!)
One minor fault with the book - and that is a seriously small minor - is the fact that there are unnecessarily long descriptions of things we don't need to know about. George - if even you have trouble remembering the sex of horses or the colour of everyone and their mother's eyes, it probably means your readers are going to have trouble keeping up too, and probably means it's not crucial information. I do enjoy having certain things left to my imagination, and I would say it would be nice to see him tone down all of the excess information, but seeing the sequels so far, I'm not holding my breath.
A Game of Thrones is a remarkable feat of literature and one can almost forgive George R.R. Martin for taking almost 5/6 years to release his later novels in the series because, seven hells, is it worth it.
AMEN. This review is exactly how I felt for this first installment. Martin's worldbuilding is glorious. Then again, he takes YEARS to write them. If I am not mistaken, he took 10 to write A Storm of Swords. I think.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the minor flaw. There are times he does go overboard with descriptions. I guess he was trying to paint a Picasso picture.
AHH. SO GLAD WHEN I SEE PEOPLE LOVE ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS!
Yes! I know, Martin has to be applauded for his incredible attention to detail when creating this world. I've read some of the backstories to the characters and settings and he truly must have thought about this as a teenager because I cannot imagine how anyone could write such a lengthy backstory to such an epic tale in a short amount of time! So much detail about how the world began, the First Men, every battle, houses that have been wiped out and (at this point) seem to have no *major* impact on the plot - just amazing. I also think that gives the ASOIAF series it's edge amongst other epic novels. I'll be reading more epic fantasy in the near future but I doubt they will be as detailed as this series.
DeleteAh, I'm rambling but you could just go on and on about this series couldn't you?!