Review: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones

Author: George R.R. Martin
Series: A Song of Ice and Fire #1
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Format: Paperback, 807 pages
Release Date: August 6, 1996
Source: Borrowed from a friend (Thanks, Christopher!)
Rating: 4.5 Stars
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Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

My Review:

I did it! Can we all just sit back and celebrate the fact that I FINALLY read the first book of the Song of Fire and Ice series after saying I was going to do it for months? One of my co-workers has been bugging me nonstop about reading the books because we talk about the show constantly. Then he let me borrow the first book and I really had no excuse. Yet I still sat on it for a few weeks before finally starting it. (If I hadn't, I think he would have murdered me...) We did have a disagreement on how long it would take me to finish. He said 3 weeks. I laughed in his face and said one. The final count: 4 days. So what did I think?

I loved it! I was really nervous that I would be bored since I already knew what was going to happen, but the world is just so interesting that I didn't care that I was revisiting places and scenes. I just love being immersed in this world. Speaking of the world, the world-building is absolutely phenomenal. There are so many tiny minute details that George R.R. Martin has woven into this story. It is insane. I seriously want to know how he keeps it all straight in his head.

I do wonder if I would have been a bit confused had I not watched the show first. There are a LOT of characters and I could definitely see how it may be confusing for someone who doesn't have some kind of foundation down like I did. I did love learning more about the characters though. We got to see these characters in a lot more depth. We got more back story. More description. Just more everything than we got with the show. All of them felt fleshed out and real to me. Maybe that's because I could actually picture them in my head, but for the amount of characters he has, I think that Martin has done a pretty damn good job of fleshing them out. Their ages did throw me off though. The characters in the books are MUCH younger than the ones on the show (for obvious reasons). Dany is only 13 in the book. Crazy. It kind of made it more emotional to me though. The things she went through were that much more meaningful because holy crap this girl is only 13! Same goes for Robb Stark. I can't believe that he was doing the things he was at 15.

There were some characters whose chapters I wanted to skim over (cough...Catelyn...cough), but for the most part, every single POV grabbed my attention and held it. I can see how it may be frustrating to readers who don't know what's going to happen. You'll see one characters chapter and then they fall off the face of the Earth for like 200 pages!!! Luckily, I already knew what was going to happen so it wasn't a big deal, but if I hadn't, it would have been pretty tempting to skip forward and spoil myself.

Even though it's over 800 pages, this book flew by. While there is a lot of description, there's also so much action and political intrigue. It will keep you glued to the pages and you'll fly through all 800 of them just like I did. Part of me wishes that I had read the book before watching the show, but the other part of me likes that I was able to picture the characters in my head as I was reading. Final conclusion: epic. Read this series. I know it's scary. I know it's a commitment. But if you love high fantasy, you will not regret it! Happy reading all!

Let's talk! Have you read this book/series? Watched the show? Which did you do first? If you read the books first, do you think you would have enjoyed them less had you started with the books? Who is your favorite character? Mine is clearly Jon Snow. Because obviously.