George RR Martin - A Game of Thrones - Review

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George RR Martin – A Game of Thrones
(First in the A song of Ice and Fire series)

Short review
This book can’t be reviewed shortly, only thing I can say it’s brilliant and deserves ***** stars.


Long review
George Martin’s A game of Thrones, first in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, is not your average mainstream fantasy book. No prancing elves, dwarves, orcs or gnomes will appear in this book. There are a few fantasy themed creatures in the book but they mainly are part of the history or myth of Westeros. The book (and series) is better described as an alternate universe medieval fantasy book, where the word medieval has the upper hand by far. It is certainly clear that Martin has done research in that area and era and are wonderfully incorporated in the book.

This is a complex book and can be quite confusing in the beginning, which is mainly due to the number of (important) characters in the book and the many different cities, on different continents, they visit. To give an indication of the number of character appearing, or at least mentioned, you should have a look in the appendices at the end. You will find 29 pages filled with character names, indexed by family or location. The book never goes out of context though and with that many characters that is quite a feat. Due to so many characters, crude politics are an important part of the book.

The chapters are written in a first person view, but every chapter has a different person and thus a different view. Out of the top of my head in the first book there are 9 different POV’s (point of views). These 9 POV’s certainly are not the only main characters in the book, there are many more and most of them don’t even have a POV. I find this leaves the writer with a lot of freedom to write, what you read in a chapter isn’t necessarily true because that POV can interpret wrongly and sets the reader on the wrong direction. I think that is one of the major strengths in the books because intrigues, betrayal and mysteries are easy to write but difficult to discover. Fact is that there are so many intrigues, betrayals and mysteries it is hard to believe at one point that the writer has it all figured out for himself (Which is perhaps why he is taking 5 years to write book 4), nonetheless Martin pulls it off brilliantly as of yet.

Furthermore these books are grey and certainly not black and white. Don’t expect to see one arch-hero and one arch-enemy closing in for a last desperate save the world battle. Every character is grey (with the exception of Gregor Clegane perhaps). ‘Good’ characters will have flaws and they become very clear in the books and will be exploited. ‘Bad’ character will have redeeming qualities and will surprise you at every turn in the book. Characters may start out as the arch-evil only to get a POV later on and see the other side of this person, even making the character ‘good’. This also leads to another strong point (or a weak point if you don’t like it), character die, whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Martin is certainly not shy to kill of his characters and this can be very surprising when reading the book, to the point of reading the chapter yet again to see if you made a mistake somewhere.

Although it is hard to see two sides closing in for the grand finale, for there are more than twenty sides, events can be discovered leading into the direction of an end, even in the first book. The great part is that along the way numerous forces entwine in the story which make it bigger and bigger. I believe originally Martin planned a Trilogy, then he thought about 5 books, and it seems at this point it may become seven. But because and end can be seen at all times I doubt it will come to writing bland books for cash which several fantasy writers seem to be doing now. A Game of Thrones is a unique book out there and should be read by every serious fantasy lover (and even not fantasy lovers if you ask me).

“In the game of thrones you either win or die”

 

Great review.

Great book, soured only by the continual delay in the release of the much promised next books in the series.

 

A great review Apeman!

This book and the others in the series are my most favorite fantasy books of all time....it doesn't get any better.

 

They WERE my second favourite series but they have now fallen to third. If I have to wait any longer for A Feast for Crows and A Dance of Dragons, my impatience might make them slip to 4th or 5th (I know that's not a valid reason, but I can't help it).

 

Thanks, definately my favourites too, and patience is a virtue harbourboy. Judging from the three previous books I am sure Feast will be absolutely great.

 

amen.

What's this? I KNOW it can't be the 5th book in the series because that's just irritating, advertising book 5 when book 4 isn't even done

 

A dance of dragons was originally intended to be book 4 as Martin had planned to have a rather large jump in time between book 3 and 4 but after a while he figured out that it wasnt possible and that he had to write what happened during the time he had planned to skip and thus we have a Feast for crows and it is one of the main reasons it all is so delayed.

 

oh

thanks for the clarification. :sigh:

 

I bought Game of Thrones a little while ago but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Maybe I'll move it to the top of my list. Thanks for the review!

 

You've certainly done A Game of Thrones the justice it deserves, Apeman. Excellent review

 

Nice review indeed.

One of the best books I've read in many a year, and I'm still looking forward to the 'Feast'

As it stands, I shall re-read the first three before I start the next one, and that makes me look forward to it all even more!

Still, I've been checking that website every week for over a year now and it hasn't been updated for two months (re A feast for Crows). A certain amount of my patience is wearing thin.

To add to the reviewer's comment: The whole series is 5* and will, if it ends as well as it has started, be one of the all time classics.

 

I had the same idea viking. I read the whole series again before Feast comes out. Problem is I read them in under a month and now I'm waiting for a few months again

 

Hehe, I'm waiting till I know the date before I start

 

Hah, that would be the smart thing to do. Chances are good though that I'll have to wait such a long time from now I can read them again when I know the date