Game of Thrones by Geroge R.R. Martin

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


Author: George R.R. Martin


Grade:  A


Recommended To:  Everyone.  This book should have a wide ranging audience, despite the fact that there are some dragons. 


I can't rave enough about this book and series.  The first book is over 700 pages and I finished it in 4 days.  This was after knowing almost everything that was going to happen because I watched the HBO series Season 1 right before starting the book.

I'm not sure where to start in describing what Game of Thones is about.  There's a super interesting dwarf character.  A bastard that decides to devote his life to protecting the kingdom from the White Walkers (basically zombies).  Lord Stark who despite his better judgment goes to the capital to be King Barathon's hand, and pays dearly.  An incestuous brother and sister.  A snotty child-king.  A braided Dothraki war lord and many many other compelling and interesting characters.   There's lots of sex, intrigue, back-stabbing and outright war.  It is an epic novel and an awful lot happens in a mere 700 pages.

Plus, there are four more books in the series with a sixth on the way.  Allegedly book three is the best one.  

There's not a lot of bad things to say about this book, except that there are an incredible amount of characters. It is often difficult to keep them straight because many of them have more than one name, or they have nicknames.  Fortunately, the author has included a handy guide in the back of the book to tell you who belongs to what family/house etc.  I've heard the other books add even more characters.  Yipee.

My one complaint is that I wish I had read the books before watching the show on HBO.  The problem with watching the show first is that now I have a fix on exactly what HBO wants each character to look like.  There's no imagination left since I watched the show first.  But, I likely would never have picked this up if HBO hadn't made the show.  Catch 22.

I finished book one over the weekend and raced out to the store to buy the rest.  I'm about 300 pages into the second one and it is just as spicy and delicious.

I bet you will enjoy these!

Happy Reading!!