A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1

First of all, these books are a great read. They're well written with elegant articulation and beautiful descriptions. The plot is thought out and complex just like any good book should be, the characters have a lot of personality like any good character should have, and there's enough of a storyline to keep a very lengthy book interesting. I like that there are so many character POVs but nothing seems overdone at all. Each storyline and each character has their own separate life that the book portrays and they all have enough scattered chapters through the book that you never forget what's happening with a certain character. That being said... I have read books 1-5 and pretty much the only thing that has disappointed me - and greatly - is the injustice to the protagonistic family done by the antagonistic family. We'll call them family PRO and Family ANTI for protagonistic and antagonistic. The Anti-family has done atrocious - and I mean ATROCIOUS, not just running a dog over and urinating in your soup atrocious but I won't use specifics as to spoil anything - things to this family. These are devastating things that make me sympathize with the Pro-family, things that make me loathe the Anti-family and yearn for justice yet... it seems that the Pro-family just keeps suffering and the Anti-family continues to flourish gaining more power, wealth, and malice. The pro-family sees tragedy after tragedy for standing up to Anti-family. I keep waiting for the Pro-family to get at least a little bit of justice, just to make the books tolerable. Just a morsel, a smidgen of reprieve from this horrible life they've been condemned to but after five books they've had almost all their opportunities to get the right amount of injustice taken away from them. For them to get their much-deserved retribution they'd need to have A, B, C, D, E, F, and G killed, maimed, humiliated, overthrown, mauled, slaughtered, flayed, (enter your own ideas of the most horrific scenarios and enter some explicits and you might have an idea of what this family needs - and me too, to be satisfied) but with so many events chances of justice and ways that they deserve justice has been reduced to only options A and B. Seriously, I'm so disappointed at how the things I've been looking forward to reading in this book keep getting ripped out of the Pro-family's (and my own) hands. Other than that, though, this book moves fairly quickly, the plot furthers at a decent speed, there is just enough action and plot to keep it from being overdone or underdone. WARNING, SPOILER ALERT: I'd like to add, too, that my favorite part of the book is the Others and they've been only a minute part of this book. I watched the pilot of GoTs before I read the books and the very first five or so minutes when they showed the White Walkers hooked me and easily became my favorite part, and this has only been about two percent of the book. I'd love to read more on these things. Being that book six is supposedly the last one, and the really wicked things haven't even really made their debut I'm wondering if they'll get to do so in book six. They're like a threat that's been looming over human-kind unbeknownst to them, and no one believes they're going to be making their much-awaited appearance to the whole world. No one believes they'll be coming back. So, if I had the chance to beg anything of the fantastic author, it would be to give the family their much-deserved revenge and make the Others a huge part of book six. Please! Please!

If you like the HBO series, you will not be disappointed here. This first book corresponds to the 1st season of Game of Thrones. It is nearly exactly the same with a few interesting differences which I liked, and there is more details on the history of Westeros. The sex scenes in the book are somehow more graphic than the show but nothing that an adult can't handle (not for kids)! So I am not a big reader. I hated it when I was forced to read in school and have done a good job of avoiding serious reading save for magazines and news articles. It probably has to do with the fact that I am a slow reader. When I learned there was a book series that the TV show was based on I was interested to look into it. But when I saw just how long the books where, I just knew darn well I wouldn't read it. But the further I got into the show, the more interested I got in the maybe giving the books a try. Finally I downloaded the Kindle sample and it didn't take long to be hooked. For those that haven't seen the show but are interested in the books: The setting is a place and time like medieval Britain. The story follows a handful of great and formerly-great houses in their struggle with love and honor and power. It is a fantasy, but that is not the major part, at least not in this first book. The characters are humans and their life-struggles are those of all humans. The fantasy element is somewhat on the fringes but is there, so it may be more accessible to those weary of learning fantasy worlds like Tolkien's, like myself. The sex and violence is quite graphic and Martin's descriptions of battles is wonderfully vivid, something Tolkien skimps on in The Hobbit; I haven't finished the Lord of the Rings so I can't comment on the comparison there. If you are someone like me who got bogged down in the first book of the LOTR series, this is much easier to read and more engaging throughout. There are multiple stories line occurring all at once and Martin switches between them with every new chapter so it takes some getting used to but they are now hard to follow. The prologue was very confusing (and I've seen the show) so get through it because it sets a scene and you will understand it later. And WARNING, as I was warned prior to watching the show or reading the books, Martin has no loyalties to characters. You will love Martin one minute and curse him the next. If you want a story where the main character/hero triumphs of evil, honor over dishonor, do not read this book. But that is what makes the story so interesting: it's like the real world we live in, evil often triumphs. As for the Kindle edition: I have the both the Kindle and the paperback editions. I always have my phone on me but not always the hard copy so they serve 2 different purposes. I am someone how does like the feel of a book (I know, I know. I said I don't read... Nonetheless). As far as I can tell there are no differences. Even the art at the beginning of each chapter is the same. I switch seamlessly between the two. So in summary, I loved it. I would recommend it to everyone, even to adults who don't read much. It's a great story covered in sex and war… what's not to love!

George R. R. Martin is a literary crackerjack. His episodic, massively detailed, completely fleshed-out, throughly chronicled world of Westeros complete with a multitude of characters is an undeniable page turner. Starting in the cold hard packed lands of the north filled with honor bound men and many a thing that goes bump in the night, the reader is led south to the seat of power in the Red Keep-- the iron throne. On this journey, you meet both pawns and kings and realize quickly that every act in public and promise in secret is building towards a power coup that could end the realm. Trouble descends from every direction. Intrigue is plotted in every shadow. And no one-- I mean no one-- is safe. Who will win the match and live to see another day? Because in the game of thrones you either win, or you die. This book just does it for me on so many levels. Martin's style is fully detailed but not overly flowery. I appreciate the succinct way he describes the people, the places, and the power struggles. It allows you to get engrossed in your imagination without getting swamped in the mountains of words on the pages. That is not to say that this is a brief read. This book is long, but I think even the faint of heart will look up several hours later and realize they have read 200 pages. Don't let the thickness of the book dissuade you from the fabulous story inside. Characters are the mortar that binds this book together. Martin's story is chocked full of some amazing people. Some of my personal favorites are: *Jon Snow the bastard(Martin's words not mine) son of an otherwise honorable man who leaves his family in search of adventure beyond Winterfell. *Arya Stark the rough and tough young lady of the north using a sharp tongue and shaper sword to get into all kinds of trouble and scrapes both at home and in the capital. *Tyrion Lannister the ill-begotten dwarf son of the richest of men who uses his brain in the absence of brawn. Martin is also talented at writing characters you hate. Some that I loathe are: *Prince Joffery Baratheon the cruel, painfully immature, and frighteningly merciless young king to be. *Ser Ilyn Payne the mutilated and muted knight bent on delivering the king's justice... with his axe. *Queen Cersei Baratheon the cunning, manipulative, and grasping woman beside the king who'll stop at nothing and step over anyone to stay on top. And this is really only the briefest of lists. So many characters to love and loathe and then loathe and love in turns. Get reading! The book is so good that I need to give you a disclaimer. DO NOT watch the HBO series first if you can help it. Season One of GOT did such an amazing job recreating Martin's book that it steals a bit of the glory from the novel if viewed before the book. Many of the conversations and small details are EXACTLY like the book. But some things just can't be transferred to the silver screen. The book has a few third person perspectives that really add to the feel of the tangled tale not to mention the overall story that I believe Martin is trying to tell. Knowing some things before hand can cause the book to feel like a doomed march to destruction, an illusion that Martin meticulously suspends-- until the silent sword is already swung catching the reader unawares and doubtless unprepared on several occasions. Besides, the series will rob you of the opportunity of imagining some of the characters-- personally, my favorite part of reading books like this. Overall this book is a 5 Commendable Yarn. I say 5 because I stayed up until 2am on several nights reading, the consequences of a tired day with twins to come be hanged. That and I am telling absolute strangers to read this book. I am hooked. I am trying to pace myself so that I don't finish the books too soon before the next one comes out, but I started Clash of Kings yesterday and am halfway through...

It's been ages since I originally purchased this book on my Kindle. I saw the size of the book and when I got my Kindle it was one of the first purchases I made. I figured it would be better to carry it on that slim device than to lug around the rather large book. I wanted to read the book prior to the premier of the show but... well that didn't happen. So my goal shifted; I wanted to read the first book before the second season began and that also didn't happen. Well, I gave it a try at least. I began reading this book in April just after I moved to Virginia and didn't have a job. I would spend my mornings putting out job applications and then by late afternoon I'd sit back and read a little. But the size of this book overwhelmed me, not that I haven't read anything of this size before, but for some reason the slow moving percentage on my Kindle wasn't being very helpful. Then I got my temp job and this book was put down. Back and forth over the past five months I went. I would read a new book, put it down, then read 50 pages of Game of Thrones. Not only that but with trying to maintain a regularly updated book blog with ramblings about books I've read it's hard to just guarantee a number of days to read this huge book. However, I finished a book and went back to GoT for my few chapter read through and realized I was actually pretty darn close to being finished. Only, like, 200 pages left! So I read it in a flash and loved every moment of it then sat back and wondered why I hadn't just read it in one go to begin with. Nonetheless, let's talk about the book for the very few people out there who haven't read it. Because, it seems, I am the last person in the world who got around to starting this series. If you've seen the show it's a lot like the book; they did a very good job at portraying the characters and many of the scenes in my opinion. Still, this book is long so obviously it has much more detail and scenery than the show does. If you've seen the show but have not read the book I'd suggest doing so! While I wasn't keen on carrying around a copy of the book because it was so large I do wish, in a way, that I had that opportunity so that I could flip back and forth between the maps and family trees. It would have helped as the cast of the book is huge and the families are very wide spread and detailed. I have forever had issues of remembering people's names, book characters included, and had it not been for the fact that I had already watched the tv show and had faces to place with the names I probably would have been more lost as to who was who and how they were connected. The story is good, the imagery is good, the description is good. This book is good. If you have a fascination with anything remotely like Tudor history, Arthurian legend or the long, detailed writing in Lord of the Rings then A Song of Ice and Fire is perfect for you. Dragons, princesses, secrets and swords fill its pages and often times left my head spinning. This book has a touch of fantasy but it doesn't go overboard. You aren't stuck feeling like you just slipped into the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy or Hogwarts. It's slipped in so casually that you find yourself, whilst reading the book, to just accept what they are speaking of and not think twice about if dragons exist or the dead can rise and kill. Martin may put a little too much emphasis into certain details but I suspect they all come around to meaning something and he certainly helps you to picture the world he has created. It reads like some fantastic part of history yet the characters are certainly living and breathing at your ear, over your shoulder, while you go from page to page. Often times I'll read books by authors who have long since left this earth and I'm left feeling melancholy. "Why don't people write like this anymore? Why don't they put detail into their books and write so beautifully?" and I think I've discovered that there are authors who write in such ways and Martin is one of them. It's refreshing to be able to read a book so beautifully written and with such perfect detail that is current and published within my lifetime. Could it have been shortened down at some points? Certainly. Every other chapter I found at least a few pages that I could have gone without but what are you going to do? It's not like I didn't already know this was going to be a long book when I began it. It does have its fair share of sex scenes, incest, and rape so be forewarned of that those of you who like to avoid such plot. But it's relevant to the story, or so it seems... most of the time, so it's kind of worth talking about. Martin leaves a lot of tidbits of information through out the book which you can pick apart in your own time and wonder what it all could mean. Apparently, it's a Thing fans of the series like to do and I can understand why they would when it spans such long periods of time between publications of books. In that regard, I'm glad I waited to pick up the books so that I won't have to wait forever for each book to come out. Granted, when A Song of Ice and Fire was first published I was ten and this was way beyond my reading comprehension but at least now I can take my time, play catch up, and maybe once I'm completely caught up with the books I can join the countless others who eagerly await the next book in the series. I think what I liked best about the books was that the characters grow and change while you read. Often times you are able to witness how the surrounding events will alter a person or you are simply given privy to details otherwise unnoticed. I started the book with a dead set group of characters whom I liked and ones I disliked but by the end of the book that list had shuffled a little bit. Some of the characters I disliked at first (Sansa, for example) I had begun to like a little more by the end. While I have many other books I have to get through before I start A Clash of Kings I will be happy when I have that opportunity and look forward to it. There are many people out there who love this book and consider it a work of art, the best thing they had ever read, and swear by it. There are others who refuse to speak nothing but negative things about the book - it just did not work for them. For me, I liked it, I enjoyed it, and while I may not be standing on my office's roof proclaiming to the people waiting for their lunches that they must read this book - I still will quietly refer friends to it who are looking for a good tale.

Thoughts on Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One [Audio book, Unabridged] [Audio CD] George R.R. Martin (Author), Roy Dotrice (Reader) Ok... most of my buds know I am a big fan of the HBO series. On Amazon here: Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season And while I own the paperback version ( A Song of Ice and Fire, Books 1-4 (A Game of Thrones / A Feast for Crows / A Storm of Swords / Clash of Kings) , I haven't been plowing through it as fast as I want to (wacky things like, the farm, MS, and life keep getting in the way.) However, Sally and I on our recent trek to Toronto for Pinballapalooza (to support the Stratford Festival's production of Tommy: http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/OnStage/productions.aspx?id=20233&prodid=47004 ) we started listening to A Game of Thrones on Audio book. I cannot heap enough praise on the production of the unabridged edition of this book in Audio book form. Roy Dotrice does a phenomenal job of reading and imbuing each character with a distinct voice. This is very impressive for a series with so many characters. The audio itself is well recorded, crisp and clear and picks up the different intonations of Dotrice perfectly. This is the kind of audio book I like - unabridged, the entire original book. Read word for word. With appropriate vocal modulations to help you keep characters straight when listening. I found it much easier to keep track of who was doing what where from the audio book than I did the HBO series (which cuts "a bit" too much in some parts.) I have listened to some of the "fully dramatized" versions of audio books. Most notably I listened to the BBC's dramatized versions of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. I have not enjoyed them as much as the straight unabridged versions, as in order to "fully dramatize" there are usually sound effects, music, and worse modification of the text of the book to fit the story into more of an audio-play format. Given I am a fan of the original source material, whenever there is something dropped or added from the text, it jars my suspension of disbelief and takes me out of the book. Roy Dotrice treads a fine line. He does give each character a unique voice, and "acts" the books. But there is not any distracting music or sound effects, and Mr. Dotrice sticks to the source word for word. His narration of the book is spot on and absorbing. What's more, my wife, who is not as much of a Fantasy fan as I am, also found it absorbing and can't wait for the next chapter and next book. The number of books in the series is another big plus. Mr. Dotrice has recorded not just the first book, but the first five books in the series all unabridged. My wife and I look forward to listening to all of them. It is our hope he continues and does books 6 and 7 as soon as George R.R. Martin completes them. If you like fantasy novels, character driven stories, or stories told from a character (or different characters' perspectives), I highly recommend Game of Thrones. If you want to watch some great drama on TV, try the TV version (or try Battlestar Galactica or The Walking Dead). If you want to listen to a great story told well... try the audio book version. They are all good and worth owning and reading, watching, or listening to.

That was epic. I first heard about Game of Thrones from the TV series. I watched Season One, and a little bit of Season Two. To be honest, I really REALLY wanted to like it. But hard as I tried, I couldn't get into it; everything was just so confusing, and there were way too many characters and plot lines to follow. I gave up after the third or fourth episode of Season Two. Then, people started talking about how much better the book is. I still really REALLY wanted to like it, so I decided to give it a read. Those people were right. As is typically the case, the book is about a thousand times better than the TV series. There are still lots of characters, and many different plot lines. In fact, there are more sub-plots than there are on TV, but the book goes into so much more detail, that everything just started falling into place. That, and the fact that I'm reading the book at my own pace, and can always page back if I forget who a certain character is, or where he fits into the story. The characters are all instantly memorable, but fair warning: what you've heard about Mr Martin's propensity to kill your favourites off without warning is absolutely true. It makes the world feel more REAL, though, and it's very period-appropriate. One moment you believe that a character's going to be the saviour of the world, and live on throughout the series, and the next there's a jousting accident and he's dead. Gone. Never to be mentioned again. My favourite character, like I think most people's favourite is (whether you're reading the book or watching it on TV), is Tyrion Lannister, the Imp. He was cast perfectly in the TV show, but he's portrayed in even more detail in the book. If you'll indulge me, I'll share a quick quote: "How would you like to die, Tyrion Lannister?" "Peacefully in bed, with a young whore's mouth around my cock, at the age of eighty." Something like that. I may have paraphrased. Other things I noticed, that made the world seem more real, and more appropriate to the period, were the ages of the characters. I think they're mentioned on TV, but it's little more than a gloss-over, if I remember correctly. Jon Snow, for example, is fourteen years old when he goes to spend the rest of his life on The Wall. Dany is thirteen on her wedding night, and her husband is something like twenty-five. I understand that stuff like that would be difficult to portray on screen, because of modern sensitivities to things like the age of consent and statutory rape. If you've watched Season One of the TV series, you're sure to enjoy the book, because it contains things that I don't remember seeing on TV. If you haven't, you're even surer to enjoy the book. Oh, one more thing: the book actually ends a little way (probably the third or fourth episode) into Season Two of the TV series. Which happens to be about when I gave up watching, so from here on in, EVERYTHING'S going to be new for me!

I mostly review independent books in this spot, but a lot of times I am reading other things as well that I don’t review. I recently revisited a bunch of Robert Heinlein books I had not read in years, I’m currently on a Game of Thrones kick and this leads to somewhat erratic posting. So I thought I would just start reviewing whatever it is that I read and readers can decide whether they want to view it or not. Anyway, on with the book. I did a marathon of the HBO series before starting on the books. I was not a follower from the beginning, but during a particularly long and cold week this winter I watched the whole series up to where the current season would start. I really enjoyed the TV series, but was curious what tidbits might have been left out from the written version. There are always differences between a TV series and the books, nuances that you miss, foreshadowing and outright changes to the story though I do have to say that the first season of the series was pretty much right to the book. I’m enjoying reading the books though sometimes the descriptions drag on a bit long for me. Of course, I’m inpatient by nature so that may not be a problem for others. The story as a whole is complex and well done. I immediately became a fan of the Stark clan and their direwolves and I’ve enjoyed every moment of the time I have spent in this fantasy realm. I suspect that I will read all of the books since I’m finishing the second one and have the third one waiting for me on my desk. The first book introduces all the characters, sets the scene for the story to come and is long enough to give you time to really get familiar with the characters and start to love or hate them as they deserve. Martin did an excellent job with this book. The characters have obvious depth and the world building was done well enough to suck me in at once. I read a lot of science fiction, but I enjoy a well crafted fantasy from time to time. There are more hints at the usual fantasy elements of magic and dark things in the first book than actual experiences for the characters with such things, more ancient tales that people wonder if they are true. I’m going to leave it there for anyone who hasn’t read the books or watched the series and would like to. Nevertheless, I’m enjoying my adventures with the characters on both sides of the Narrow Sea and hope my fascination with this world continues as I’ve had such a good time up until now. This review was originally posted on my blog [...] and is worded as such.

It’s a magical journal reading this book. Very fun. Author really knows how to write. I enjoyed it a lot even tho English isn’t my native language. Recommend!