A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
by George R.R. Martin
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Book Summary Information
Author: George R.R. MartinEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Print
Published: 1997-08-04
ISBN: 0553573403
Number of pages: 831
Publisher: Bantam
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780553573404
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Book Reviews of A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
Book Review: Worth the hype.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been a fantasy enthusiast since I was a child. Since I have worked in a bookstore for the past year I have seen that there are two fairly new fantasy series that everyone talks about like crazy. One is Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" series. The second is George R. R. Martin's "A song of Ice and Fire". Having the inclination to read one or the other, to see what the fuss is about I chose Martin... and I was thoroughly impressed with his first book In the series, "A game of thrones".
The Story starts out simply enough. Lord Eddard Stark (oft called Ned by his family) is out on an excursion after witnessing a beheading of a traitorous man of the Night Watch with his sons in tow. Along the way they happen upon several direwolf pups that have recently been rendered orphans due to the fact that their mother has been slain. His sons ask to keep them since there are several pups, and they want to divvy them out between Robb (14), Sansa (11), Arya (9), Bran (7), and Rickon (3). At first Ned is reluctant, owing to the fact that dire wolves are vicious and hard to control, but his bastard son, Jon Snow (also 14), points out that since the dire wolf is on the sigil of the House of Stark it is fitting that all of the trueborn children get one, leaving him without. Ned consents and Jon is surprised to find another pup nearby who is not only the runt of the litter but is also an albino and he takes this pup as his own, giving him the name of Ghost.
This is only a precursor to establish a great chain of events heavily rooted in political intrigue and machination. But allow me to attempt to simplify it.
Ned Stark's closest friend, Robert Baratheon, is King of Westeros, a kingdom similar to Western Europe where the seasons can last for years and it has been Summer for nearly 7 years running now. Baratheon, at one point, had been engaged to Ned's sister, Lyanna, but when the current reigning Mad King Aerys Targaryen's son, Rhaegar, kidnap and raped her the Starks and the Baratheons went to war to get her back, acquiring the House of the Lannisters, Tullys, and Arryns as allies after King Aerys had Ned's father and older brother executed and threatened to kill Lyanna as well. In a battle Rhaegar was killed and the Lannisters went ahead to the king's capital, where Jaime Lannister executed the king, earning him the name of Kingslayer but because of the majority of the Houses having loyalty to Robert Baratheon he was placed on the throne instead of Jaime, which forever caused strife and tension between the two houses, especially as Robert decided to wed Jaime's twin sister, Cersei, to forever cement the alliance. During this war the Mad King's other heirs, Viserys and Daenerys, were stolen away to be hidden beyond the seas, where their hatred of the current reigning King has been left to fester. Ned also weds to Catelyn Tully, the former betrothed of his deceased brother Brandon.
Well, after the incident in which Ned Stark finds the Direwolves with his sons he returns to his home, Winterfell, in the northern territories of Westeros to discover a surprise. Robert is present with his entire court in tow, and he has come to ask that Ned take over the position as the hand of the king since the former occupant of the position, Lord Jon Arryn, has been mysteriously poisoned. An investigation into this matter is began by Ned Stark when he agrees to take over the position for his wife, Catelyn Stark, as her sister, Lysa Arryn, was Jon's wife before he passed. Ned prepares to depart for the south with Robert's party. During this visit other oddities come to light, as Ned's son Bran mysteriously falls from the heights of the rooftops, leaving his body forever broken and himself in a coma for some time to come. When Ned leaves for Court in the south Catelyn stays behind with Bran, as she is devastated by his convalescence, especially when she later thwarts an attempt on Bran's life that appears to be made of the House of the Lannisters. Catelyn leaves Winterfell to the capital so that she may seek the council of her childhood friend Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish and discover if the Lannister's are truly behind the attempt on her son's life.
Another story playing out in tandem with all of these elements is that of Viserys and Daenerys, the children of the Mad King, who have been the wards of Magister Ilyrio Mopatis in the free city of Pentos in the East. Viserys and Ilyrion have made an agreement with the Detrain to sell 13 year old Daenerys in marriage to Khal Drogo, a warlord who commands 40,000 strong and Viserys wants to use them to help him reclaim his lost throne from the "Usurper", as he calls Robert. They set off to the Dothraki stronghold with a man named Jorah Mormont, formerly the son of the commander of the Night Watch who has since been exiled from Westeros for slave trading. Viserys is cruel to his younger sister, using the idea that he is the last of the "dragons" to get his way with her. This is an idea previously used by his father and other ancestors that in their blood resides the last of the fire of the beast that explains for their contemptible rages and accounts of madness as well. Daenerys is very afraid of her brother and quails at his bouts of wrath until she is wed to Khal Drogo and discovers that Viserys rages are nothing more than childish whims, especially when Khal Drogo continues to make Viserys appear a fool in Daenerys' eyes. After she becomes pregnant with Drogo's child she becomes convinced that the Dragon of which Viserys speaks is growing in her womb, while the entirety of the Dothraki believe that the child is the saviour known as the "Stallion who Mounts the World".
And of course there is also storylines following Ned's children who all have their part to play in this political drama, including Sansa, who only at 11 is playing at the idea of being betrothed to Prince Joffrey Baratheon (12); Arya who is a tomboy and learning to play at swords; Bran who comes out of his coma to learn of his paralysis and seems to recall something odd occurring the moment he fell from the eaves; Robb, who has to learn to be a man and a leader in his father's absence; and Jon, who decides to take the oaths of the Night Watch in the hopes that he will be like his uncle, Benjen. All of these characters are woven together like threads of a tapestry to form this amazingly complex drama that is actually quite simple. Who killed Jon Arryn? And who will take the throne if the killer is attempting to get at Baratheon as well?
I haven't enjoyed a fantasy series in some time like I enjoyed this book. The plot is fabulous, and Martin's way of weaving together the characters and plotlines in this epic story are so deft it is unreal. I gobbled up this book and immediately have picked up the resulting sequels, of which I intend to start within the next half hour. What I loved about this book is that he used 8 different narrators to lend viewpoints to the story that truly make it that much more rich and grandiose. Within the story you have Ned, Catelyn, Arya, Sansa, Bran, Jon, Daenerys, and Tyrion (a "half man" of the House of the Lannisters) all telling the events of Westeros from their own unique points of view. Sometimes Martin doesn't get back around to a certain storyline or narrator for over a hundred pages, and this only lends itself to make you want to read through the story at a breakneck pace, as he is so skilled at throwing in little plot points that make you want to get back to certain narrators, and then he does it again in the following chapter with someone totally different. While this is not a new literary device it is a very powerful one, as Martin is a master at complex storytelling. These characters seem to break down his aggrandizing narration to something simple and heartfelt. I have had people tell me that they read each characters own separate storyline in turn, skipping ahead several chapters until the find the narrators next chapter, and then go on to another sub character... but honestly I think too much is revealed within chapter to chapter to do this. Some authors I would certainly use that tactic for, as overall I find this method of storytelling nebulous and annoying. However, Martin pulls it off with such grace that I can't help but be awed by him. I can't wait to see if he will do it again, or if he will change his narrators in the next book. Well, he would have to as one of them is no longer.. But I'm not going to tell you which one. Read "A game of thrones". It really is worth all of the hype.
Summary of A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
A NEW ORIGINAL SERIES, NOW ON HBO.Here is the first volume in George R. R. Martin?s magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R. R. Martin?s stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.
A GAME OF THRONES
Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can 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.
Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. 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.
Readers of epic fantasy series are: (1) patient--they are left in suspense between each volume, (2) persistent--they reread or at least review the previous book(s) when a new installment comes out, (3) strong--these 700-page doorstoppers are heavy, and (4) mentally agile--they follow a host of characters through a myriad of subplots. In A Game of Thrones, the first book of a projected six, George R.R. Martin rewards readers with a vividly real world, well-drawn characters, complex but coherent plotting, and beautifully constructed prose, which Locus called "well above the norms of the genre."
Martin's Seven Kingdoms resemble England during the Wars of the Roses, with the Stark and Lannister families standing in for the Yorks and Lancasters. The story of these two families and their struggle to control the Iron Throne dominates the foreground; in the background is a huge, ancient wall marking the northern border, beyond which barbarians, ice vampires, and direwolves menace the south as years-long winter advances. Abroad, a dragon princess lives among horse nomads and dreams of fiery reconquest.
There is much bloodshed, cruelty, and death, but A Game of Thrones is nevertheless compelling; it garnered a Nebula nomination and won the 1996 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. So, on to A Clash of Kings! --Nona Vero
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