a game of thrones // george r. r. martin

Title:  A Game of Thrones

Author: George R. R. Martin

Ideal Age Range: Adult

Mass Market Paperback: 835 pages

Copyright Date:  March 1996

Blurb: In A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has created a genuine masterpiece, bringing together the best the genre has to offer.  Mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill the pages of the first volume in an epic series sure to delight fantasy fans everywhere.

In a land where summers cans last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to 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 Rating (★★★):

Let me start my review off with saying: It took my over a year to read this book! I honestly read it because everyone loves it. I have to say, I hated and dreaded reading it most of the time (I finished 3 other books while I was trying to finish this book), with an exception: The last 200 pages.

If A Game of Thrones was ALL like the last two hundred pages, I would have loved it. As it is/was I only liked it, and that is only because of that last 25% of the book. The last quarter of the book is where the action was, after all the world building and such was done, the battles commenced and all the drama happened.

I hated almost every character save for a few. I’m not sure if that’s the kind of “caring” for the characters that authors normally go for, but it sure made those characters human. I liked the Daenerys story arc, Jon Snow and Robb Stark the best. With a special mention to the Tyrion arc.

I am on the fence still if I will ever continue the series. It literally made me want to quit reading it for a year. A YEAR. Anyway, that’s about all I have to say about it.  Oh no. Wait! I have one more thing. I am not one to appreciate OVER descriptive prose, and he certainly loves to describe what each and every lord is wearing. That’s just not necessary, in my opinion.

And that is all. Finally. Done.  HUZZAH!