A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin

When I first started reading A Game of Thrones I wasn’t too impressed. The story flowed well enough and the writing was good, but something felt slightly amiss. The style in which it was written and the way people thought was too, dare I say, modern for the setting and the story. Two chapters into the story I was past caring. The book is an addictive page-turner which will leave you on the edge of your seat from cover to cover.

George R. R. Martin created a world which is believable because it contains no knight in shining armour, no invincible hero, no Frodo to unerringly take the ring to Mordor throughout the series. There is no single character which is always evil or constantly good. No relationship is sacred, no vow is kept and just when you think a character has the upper hand, someone unearths a new nightmare to dish out on them.

A Game of Thrones is a hybrid between fantasy and an historical novel. Dragons and magic co-exist with great families of nobility, peasants and hunting tribes. It is written in the third person throughout, but you follow a different character in every chapter. George R. R. Martin takes you deep into the psyche of some of the central characters and sets up dilemmas which leave you, the reader, as confused about the direction that has to be taken as the poor soul caught between a rock and a hard place. At times there is no clear path and each option seems as desperate as the other.

Even though I seem to have painted a very bleak picture, I seriously suggest that if you like fantasy or historical novels you just find time to read this book, but make sure you have time to read the rest of the series. One other warning (read: spoiler). Don’t get attached to any of the characters – no one will be spared.

From the back cover:

First volume of a brilliant new fantasy trilogy: the most powerful, original and absorbing new epic since Stephen Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. The first volume of George R R Martin’s glorious high fantasy tells the tragic story of treachery, greed and war that threatens the unity of the Seven Kingdoms south of the Wall. Martin unfolds with astonishing skill a tale of truly epic dimensions, thronged with memorable characters, a story of treachery and ambition, love and magic. Set in a fabulous world scarred by battle and catastrophe over 8000 years of recorded history, it tells of the deeds of men and women locked in the deadliest of conflicts and the terrible legacy they will leave their children. In the game of thrones, you win or you die. And in the bitter-cold, unliving lands beyond the Wall, a terrible winter gathers and the others — the undead, the neverborn, wildlings to whom the threat of the sword is nothing — make ready to descend on the realms of men. A Game of Thrones begins the most imaginative, ambitious and compelling fantasy epic since The Lord of the Rings. Thronged with memorable characters, it unfolds with astonishing skill a tale of truly epic dimensions. There have been many pretenders to the throne of Tolkien: now at last he has a true heir.

I wrote this short review for a couple of reasons. The first is that Kathy Marlock asked me to do so ever so politely and the second is that this is:

(#3 of 366 X 2012 project)