Author: George R.R. Martin
# of Pages: 837 (paperback)
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Fiction
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: 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, 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.
Review: With everyone talking about the Game of Thrones HBO series, I had to find out for myself what was so great about this series.
I had picked up this book several times before at the bookstore but was unimpressed with the prologue. While I was skimming through the pages, I realized there would a lot of character development for a lot of characters...and third person POV switching (if you didn't know, I strongly dislike POV, although it is more tolerable in third person than in first). Additionally, I had read (or attempted to read) other books with a similar writing style to Martin that I struggled to finish. However, when I picked up this book for the third time at the bookstore earlier this month, I was determined to struggle through it, even if it took me a month.
Which it did.
Usually, I can finish a book of this length within a week or two. If it takes any longer, I probably don't like the book. However, A Game of Thrones is a different case. The POV switching was disruptive to the flow of the book; right when I would become immersed in one character's story, it would switch over to a different character experiencing a situation that barely overlaps with the previous's. But if there weren't these changes in POV, I do not believe Martin would have been able to depict this world as well as he has or successfully depict how much impact the characters has when carrying out their role in the plot.
The beginning was a struggle; as I predicted, there were many characters who's stories all intertwined with each others' in someway or another. But once I got past the first hundred or so pages, this book was enthralling. I felt as if I was there; I could feel the joy, pain, sorrow, anger of the characters and the despair they felt in this world of lies and deceit.
No, this is not the book for everyone; it contains strong language, graphic depictions of violence, incest, rape, etc. But if you are not uncomfortable with these components of the book, I would highly recommend you read A Game of Thrones.
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