Written by George R. R. Martin

Number 1 in A Song of Ice and Fire

Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Pages: 835
Genre: Fantasy
Published: 1996-08-01
Original Language: English

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.

Read from 2012-06-27 to 2012-07-16
Read in English
Rating: 5/5
Review: Many people have heard about Game of Thrones by now. Most of them, myself included, probably wouldn’t have unless HBO had made A Song of Ice and Fire into a tv-series. As everyone said the tv-series was great I gave it a try, but after a few episodes I didn’t like it as much as everyone said I should. Then I was told that I would certainly like the books. I did. At least I’ve loved the first one.

Mr. Martin has really created a huge, rather complex, and truly impressive world in which the story takes place. Though, the most impressive thing is not the world itself, but how effortlessly and naturally I became immersed in it. I’m not quite sure how or when it happened, but after 150 pages I was engaged in the book, and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. And that’s another thing which sets this book apart, there really isn’t a way of knowing what happens next. It doesn’t take long to realise that most of the regular tropes are thrown to the wind by this book, and once you acknowledge that anything could happen, it makes it all the more exciting to see which one of those anythings actually does happen. Over almost a thousand pages I was never bored of this book. Even after hours of reading, I never didn’t feel like reading the next chapter right away. Despite many sub-plots being dealt with at the same time, they never became hard to follow. I really enjoyed this book, and I would hereby like to berate all of my friends who’ve read it, and who haven’t recommended it to me until now.