This is not a review--only a preliminary comment. Martin's detailed descriptions of how characters look is fascinating. Coming up, I will compare some of his descriptions with those found in Dickens, King, and others. ( )

Haven’t watched the series which i felt made the story even better! A long read and sometimes tough but once i got into the flow of it, it was a really exciting read. The different point of views from different characters aided the story incredibly and pushed the plot along well. This also made me personally feel more connected to the characters. I will most definitely be reading the entire series after this book!! ( )

I think I liked this even more than the show, and I liked the show a lot. ( )

While this isn't the usual type of book I read, I can't say enough how glad I am that I read this. It's absolutely fantastic. The author writes these characters so well, you love some, you hate some, and you don't know at all what will happen with any of them. I can't wait to dive into book 2. ( )

The book series, "A song of Ice and Fire", and the TV show it's based on, "Game of Thrones", constitute what is quite possibly my favorite media franchise of all time. It is no underestimation to say that I absolutely fucking adore this story. GRRM, despite all my qualms with him and his inability to write new books, remains probably my favorite storyteller of all time. What this man has crafted over the past 30 years is very close to what I'd call a masterpiece. There is so much that I love about this story that it's honestly impossible for me to ever talk about it all, so I'll try my best to mention whatever comes to mind.

My absolute favorite aspect of this story is the politics of Westeros. It is complex, thrilling, exciting, and, above all, unpredictable. The heart and soul of this entire franchise are the numerous characters who form the front and center of the storyline. These books are filled with their thoughts and dialogue. It's all about what you're supposed to do to stay alive, or climb up the ladder of thrones, or keep your loved ones safe, or do what you think is right, etc. The characters come alive through their struggles. You empathize with them because you realize how exceedingly complex and difficult their situations are. They have to think incredibly hard to decide the right course for themselves, and it is an absolute pleasure to read. Even the simpler subplots that don't involve complex politics, such as Jon's story on the Wall and Daenerys's adventures in Essos, are intriguing. The North of Westeros and the realm of Essos are kept alive by things that do not pertain to the Iron Throne, such as the White Walkers and the Dothraki. As a result, there are numerous conflicts in this large-scale story to remain invested in, not just the "game of thrones."

My next favorite thing is the world this story takes place in. It is a living, breathing animal, exceedingly rich and complex, and filled to the brim with intriguing locations and mysteries. There's so much to explore and learn, and I've personally always found it much more interesting than the world and lore of Middle-Earth, which I also love. It's just so much more mysterious and exciting, in my opinion, and it probably has to do with many of the unknown aspects of Essos, especially the Shadow Lands and Asshai. We've just scratched the surface of this magnificent place and its unknowns, both living and non-living, and the upcoming books in the series reveal more and more wonders that absolutely blow the reader away.

However, the most infamous aspect of this story is its unpredictability. The last thing anyone expected when they first read this book was that Eddard Stark would be decapitated by the end of it. Knowing that there are several books in this large-scale story yet to go through, no one would have ever thought that the main character would die in the first one. He has the most amount of chapters in this book, and he's the character who's struggles the reader explores the most thoroughly. The fact that he is brutally murdered by the end brings about another aspect of this franchise's storytelling that enhances the reading and viewing experience to another level: you never know who's going to die next. It could be your favorite or your least favorite character, or someone you couldn't give two shits about. You never know, and it scares the crap out of you. GRRM is an absolute psychopath, and his stories are all the better for it.

It's not just the story and characters that I love; it's also the way this book is written. I swear: I probably got goosebumps reading this book at least 5 times. The last few pages are a good example. They blew me away just now as I went through them.

In the end, despite the bitter farewell I had with the show 4 years ago, I still absolutely love this franchise, and it will always have a special place in my heart for the incredible experience it gave me going through it for the first time (and now upon revisiting it as well). What I've mentioned in this review is just the tip of the iceberg of what I love about this franchise. There's so many aspects of the show that elevate it even beyond the books, and I will talk about them on Serializd as soon as I start re-watching it. ( )

meh....it was ok ( )

(1996) 1st of a Fantasy classic that reads much like a history of Medieval England, which Martin based this saga on. Very readable and very good story that even though it was over 800 pages and a slow read for me, I thoroughly enjoyed. Lots of characters in 4 or 5 families as we are set up for the continuing story.Wikipedia:In the Seven KingdomsLord Eddard Stark is the patriarch of House Stark, one of the major noble houses of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and ancestral rulers of the North. King Robert Baratheon, Eddard's childhood friend, journeys to Winterfell with his family to ask Eddard to become Hand of the King, the top advisor and military commander in the realm, due to the death of the previous Hand, Lord Jon Arryn. Eddard's wife, Catelyn Stark, receives a letter from her sister Lysa Arryn, stating that Jon Arryn's death was a murder plotted by Queen Cersei and her powerful family, the Lannisters. Though reluctant to leave his duties and family, Eddard is convinced by his wife to accept the position in order to investigate Jon Arryn's death. Eddard's middle son Bran Stark accidentally sees Queen Cersei and her twin brother Jaime Lannister having sex. To protect their secret affair, Jaime throws the boy out of a tower window. Bran unexpectedly survives and eventually awakes from a coma crippled from the waist down.Lord Eddard travels with the King's entourage south toward King's Landing, the capital, taking his daughters Sansa and Arya. Thirteen year-old Sansa strives to be a proper lady, as she is betrothed to King Robert's twelve year-old son Joffrey, the heir apparent. Catelyn foils an assassination attempt on her still-comatose son Bran, revealing that Bran's fall was no accident. She travels to King's Landing covertly to tell her husband and to show him the unique dagger used by the assassin. Once there, her childhood admirer Petyr Baelish, known as Littlefinger, identifies the dagger as belonging to Cersei's brother Tyrion Lannister, derisively known as "The Imp" due to his dwarfism. On her way home she encounters Tyrion on the road and orders him taken captive to the Eyrie, where her sister Lysa places him on trial and is eager to execute him. Tyrion demands trial by combat and regains his freedom when his unlikely champion, Bronn, wins the duel.At King's Landing, Eddard is focused on duty and justice, and immediately starts investigating the previous Hand's death. King Robert is interested only in drink and distraction, and throws a tourney in honor of his new Hand. Eddard's research leads him to the secret that got Jon Arryn killed: that Robert and Cersei's three children were secretly fathered by Jaime Lannister. Eddard mercifully offers Cersei the chance to flee, but she refuses. Before he can be informed, King Robert is mauled to death by a boar in what appears to be a hunting accident exacerbated by drunkenness. Robert's youngest brother Renly suggests that Eddard should use their combined household guardsmen to detain Cersei and her children and take control of the throne before the Lannisters can act. Eddard refuses on the grounds that it would be dishonorable. He instead recruits Littlefinger to have the city guards legitimately arrest and charge Cersei, but Littlefinger betrays Eddard suborning the captain of the guards for Cersei, who has Eddard imprisoned before he can make her crimes public. Lannister guardsmen round up or kill Eddard's entourage. Sansa is taken captive, but Arya escapes the castle with the aid of her sword instructor.Joffrey is crowned king and executes Eddard. Sansa is forced to watch her father's beheading, and Arya secretly witnesses it from the crowd. Before she can react rashly, Arya is smuggled out of the city by a member of the Night's Watch. A civil war, later dubbed the War of the Five Kings, erupts. Lord Tywin Lannister wages war against Houses Stark and Tully and their supporters. Robb Stark leads an army of northmen into the Riverlands to support his maternal grandfather Lord Hoster Tully and also to seek revenge for the death of his father. Jaime Lannister leads the siege of Riverrun, while Lord Tywin holds a large army south of the river Trident to prevent Robb from advancing to King's Landing. In a bold move, Robb covertly detaches his cavalry toward Riverrun while his infantry carries on toward Tywin's army. Tywin, joined by the liberated Tyrion, repulses the Stark footmen but discovers too late that they were a decoy. Shortly afterward Robb's forces surprise and destroy the Lannister camp besieging Riverrun, capturing Jaime in the process. Renly Baratheon proclaims Joffrey's illegitimacy and declares himself King of Westeros, becoming the second of the war's five kings. Robb Stark becomes the third when bannermen of Stark and Tully proclaim him King in the North.[edit] On the WallThe northern border of the Seven Kingdoms is fortified by the Wall, an ancient barrier of ice 700 feet tall and 300 miles long, manned by the brotherhood of the Night's Watch. In the "lawless lands" north of the Wall, a small patrol of Rangers from the Night's Watch encounter the fabled Others of legend, and are slain except for one. Driven to madness, the survivor flees south of the Wall, where he is captured and executed as a deserter.Jon Snow, the bastard son of Lord Eddard Stark, feels increasingly awkward about his future in House Stark. With encouragement from his uncle Benjen Stark, the First Ranger of the Night's Watch, Jon decides to join the brotherhood permanently.At the Wall, Jon initially feels contempt for his fellow recruits, most of whom are lowborn criminals who chose exile at the Wall in lieu of imprisonment or execution. Eventually he puts aside his prejudices, unites the recruits against their sadistic instructor, and protects cowardly but good-natured Samwell Tarly. Jon hopes that his superior combat skills will earn him assignment to the Rangers, the military arm of the brotherhood. To his dismay, he is assigned as steward to the Lord Commander of the Watch, Jeor Mormont, but comes to realize that this post means he is being groomed for command. He arranges for his friend Sam to be made steward to elderly Maester Aemon, a job suited to Sam's superior education and lack of physical ability.Benjen Stark leads a small party of Rangers on a patrol beyond the Wall but fails to return. Nearly six months later, the dead bodies of two of the rangers from Benjen's party are recovered from beyond the Wall, and their corpses re-animate as wights in the night. Undeterred by sword wounds, they kill six men. One wight is finally hacked to pieces by a dozen brothers, while Jon single-handedly saves Lord Commander Mormont by destroying the second with fire. For saving his life, Mormont presents Jon with the Valyrian-steel bastard sword "Longclaw", an heirloom of the Lord Commander's house. Jon's friends then give him a pommel for the sword in the shape of a white direwolf's head, representing both House Stark and Jon's direwolf, Ghost.When word of his father's execution reaches Jon, he attempts to desert the Night's Watch, a capital crime, and seeks to join his half-brother Robb's war against the Lannisters. His friends among the brotherhood catch him and convince him to return before his desertion is noticed. Mormont later reveals that he knew of Jon's attempted desertion and convinces Jon that his place is with his new brothers, and that the war for the throne does not compare to the evil that winter is about to bring upon them from the north.[edit] In the EastAcross the sea in the Free City of Pentos, Viserys Targaryen lives in exile with his thirteen year-old sister Daenerys. He is the son and sole surviving male heir of King Aerys II, who was usurped by King Robert. Viserys arranges to sell his sister in marriage to Khal Drogo, warlord of a horde of nomadic Dothraki horse warriors, planning to use Drogo's army to reclaim the Iron Throne of Westeros for House Targaryen. Among the wedding gifts are three petrified dragon eggs, rare artifacts that are regarded as valuable but useless, since dragons have been extinct for centuries. A knight exiled from Westeros, Ser Jorah Mormont, joins Viserys as an advisor.Unexpectedly, Daenerys finds trust and love with her barbaric husband, and they conceive a child who is prophesied to unite and rule the Dothraki. Drogo shows little interest in conquering Westeros, which provokes the temperamental Viserys to lash out at his sister. Initially, Drogo endures Viserys and punishes his outbursts with public humiliation. But when Viserys publicly threatens Daenerys, Drogo executes him by pouring a pot of molten gold on his head, symbolically giving him the "crown" he desired. As the last Targaryen, Daenerys takes up her brother's quest to reclaim the throne of Westeros.An assassin seeking favor from King Robert unsuccessfully attempts to poison Daenerys and her unborn child. Enraged, Drogo agrees to invade Westeros to seek revenge. While sacking villages to fund the invasion, Drogo is wounded. The wound festers, and Daenerys commands a captive maegi to use blood magic to save him; however, the treacherous maegi sacrifices Daenerys' unborn child to power the spell, which keeps Drogo alive in a vegetative state. As the leaderless Dothraki horde disbands, Daenerys takes pity on her once-proud husband and smothers him. Eager for revenge, she orders the maegi tied to Drogo's funeral pyre and places her three dragon eggs on the pyre with Drogo. While she watches it burn, Daenerys is seduced by the beauty of the flames and walks into the inferno. Instead of perishing in the flames, she emerges unscathed and with three newly-hatched dragons draped around her. Awestruck, the few remaining Dothraki and Ser Jorah swear their allegiance to her. As the first female khal and mother to the world's only known dragons, Daenerys becomes determined to build an army to reclaim the throne of Westeros.

Very good. Some parts crazy and over the top but mostly a great story. I'll need to read the next book before season 2 on HBO. ( )

Story: 7 / 10
Characters: 8
Setting: 9
Prose: 7

Sadly not the "best fantasy book ever", as I was told. However, certainly a contender for my Top 5. Although I did love the book, there are a few overwhelming issues with the plot that limited my enjoyment.
1. The story has no central character. The saga centres on the Stark family as a whole, thus denying the reader a central conflict to maintain interest. Since most of the characters are children, they are simply victims of pomp and circumstance. A third of the way into the book, it looked as though Lord Stark was the main player. However, the conflict he was following immediately changes form. Ultimately, there isn't a single story being told; the story is multifaceted, but at the expense of its clarity.
2. Two characters besides the Starks are followed: Tyrion and Daenerys. Why are they there? One of them is especially problematic for the reader.

Certainly not going to continue with the literary series. Nevertheless, now that I've invested so much time in the book, I can endure the lacklustre first episode and watch the TV series. ( )

what to say.. this has to be the longest time it has taken me to read a book. not because i didnt like it i loved it it was just a very slow read for me ( )

I was curious, could GOT be as bad as they say it is? Or is it the first modern fantasy novel to really give Tolkien a run for his money? Well, folks, GOT isn't great. The writing is pedestrian (this is why it is so accessible). The fantastical elements aren't unique and often take backstage. The world he has built is just boring. This is the war of the roses with dragons thrown in.

Set in a "magical" version of the Middle Ages, it chronicles the exploits of the Stark, Baratheon, Lannister, and Targaryen families as they struggle for power in a deadly civil war. Violence percolates through nearly every scene, including sword fights, beheadings, rapes, wolf attacks, death by molten gold, and more. Sexual content includes an incestuous relationship between a brother and a sister, the marriage of an older man to a teen girl, and a prince's love affair with a courtesan. Now, I am not a prude BUT Martin's treatment of children and woman was just too brutal for me.

All in all, not my cup of tea.

If you want to read contemporary fantasy, go read Brandon Sanderson or Patrick Rothfuss instead.

Kind of shocked at how much I enjoyed it. ( )

Oh. My. Goddess. I had forgotten how much I adore this series! This is my 3rd time reading GAME OF THRONES, and I am *not* a re-reader. I can count on one hand the number of books I've ever read twice, but I just can't get away from this one. Every time I read it, I like it even more, which is an amazing feat.

Martin's characterization is second to none. His attention to detail, his world building, his plotting, his pacing... he's such a master of his craft. I could say more, but everyone else has already said it before. This is the start of an incredible series, and it's the standard to which I compare all other fantasy novels. ( )

I'm a solid 20 years behind the times on reading this one but I've been exploring some fantasy lately and it seemed I should give it a try. I'm not totally sold. I found the multiple plots and shifting character perspectives by chapter to be jarring and there are so many characters that I lost track of more than a few. As much as I love big sprawling novels, this felt like it could have split out into a few books without much loss and had a tighter and more compelling narrative. Despite over 80 pages with this world, I am still not sure I know much about it. I also found it fairly light on the fantasy aspects, which could have drawn me in a bit more. But, I enjoyed it enough to be willing to give novel 2 (all 800 odd pages) a try.

Can't stop reading. Must. Go. To bed. ( )

Great book. I can't decide if I love it so much because I have already bought into the HBO series. ( )

The first book in the epic series. It is of a fairly slow pace but what you get for that is a more complete world view and more rounded characters. You can definitely sense the authors familiarity with the brutality of medieval politics, even though the story is based within a fantasy world. It is refreshing to read such a story where the romanticism (as exemplified by Sansa Stark) is met with the hard reality of politics waged via the sword.

The story is told from the perspectives of various characters and this sometimes feels disconnected but if you are patient it is worth persevering. ( )

I said earlier that I was not likely to read the rest of the books in this series. Yeah, um, about that...... ( )

I am seriously displeased with the killing off of one of the characters. That said, I did enjoy this book. Very fast moving, well imagined, and engaging. Off to book 2. ( )

Not going to say much about this one, I'm sure all my points have already been covered, and I'm tainted from watching the tv show first.

The large number of characters, settings and plots might have been hard to handle coming into this cold.

The show tracked the book pretty darned closely.

Very enjoyable. ( )

lovedddd it! Definitely a baby mammoth of a book compared to the others but this book was awesome! The detail he has put into his world is amazing and his ability to do the complete opposite of what readers expect is unreal and infuriating (but in a good way)! ( )

3.5

I enjoyed this - more than I thought I would as well. I was put off for a long time due to it's... "adult" reputation but although there's certainly the odd "saucy" scene it's no where near as smutty as I was expecting. From what I gather, the TV series is much worse in that regard.

The story is clearly very well thought out, and there's a huge host of characters which, for the most part, are well developed. There are some characters that get more attention than they deserve, and some that don't get enough, but most of these are either killed off or (from what I've gathered) are paid further attention in later books.
The writing is nothing to be praised, but it's not particularly bad either. I was definitely hooked for a good 200 hundred pages or so, but after a while things began to drag a bit. There's a lot of unnecessary description - most of the time when you least want it. I often found that just when I was really getting into a character's story, the chapter would suddenly end and I'd have to wait for other characters to have thier turn before getting back to very person I was interested in. Unfortunately, by that point I was already then hooked on another character, only then to be taken back to the other character of which I had previously cared for but now cared for much less... And so on and so forth.

An enjoyable read, but a bit of a frustrating one. I've come to the end of the book feeling satisfied, intrigued and moderately curious about the rest of the story; however, I'm not sure I want to read 6 other books of the same length or longer (some of which are split into two parts because they're so long!) if they're going to be as inconsistent as this first entry has been. The book could easily have had around 200 pages shaved off and been made all the better because of it. But maybe I'm asking too much... I mean, it's epic fantasy right? Maybe 600 pages just wouldn't have been epic enough. ( )

I went into this book knowing nothing about it. I had never seen an episode of the show, and never read any of the books. At first it was very slow, and it took me a LONG time to get hooked. So many names, and places, it was hard to keep everything straight. However, once I got halfway through, e... ( )

The book series, "A song of Ice and Fire", and the TV show it's based on, "Game of Thrones", constitute what is quite possibly my favorite media franchise of all time. It is no underestimation to say that I absolutely fucking adore this story. GRRM, despite all my qualms with him and his inability to write new books, remains probably my favorite storyteller of all time. What this man has crafted over the past 30 years is very close to what I'd call a masterpiece. There is so much that I love about this story that it's honestly impossible for me to ever talk about it all, so I'll try my best to mention whatever comes to mind.

My absolute favorite aspect of this story is the politics of Westeros. It is complex, thrilling, exciting, and, above all, unpredictable. The heart and soul of this entire franchise are the numerous characters who form the front and center of the storyline. These books are filled with their thoughts and dialogue. It's all about what you're supposed to do to stay alive, or climb up the ladder of thrones, or keep your loved ones safe, or do what you think is right, etc. The characters come alive through their struggles. You empathize with them because you realize how exceedingly complex and difficult their situations are. They have to think incredibly hard to decide the right course for themselves, and it is an absolute pleasure to read. Even the simpler subplots that don't involve complex politics, such as Jon's story on the Wall and Daenerys's adventures in Essos, are intriguing. The North of Westeros and the realm of Essos are kept alive by things that do not pertain to the Iron Throne, such as the White Walkers and the Dothraki. As a result, there are numerous conflicts in this large-scale story to remain invested in, not just the "game of thrones."

My next favorite thing is the world this story takes place in. It is a living, breathing animal, exceedingly rich and complex, and filled to the brim with intriguing locations and mysteries. There's so much to explore and learn, and I've personally always found it much more interesting than the world and lore of Middle-Earth, which I also love. It's just so much more mysterious and exciting, in my opinion, and it probably has to do with many of the unknown aspects of Essos, especially the Shadow Lands and Asshai. We've just scratched the surface of this magnificent place and its unknowns, both living and non-living, and the upcoming books in the series reveal more and more wonders that absolutely blow the reader away.

However, the most infamous aspect of this story is its unpredictability. The last thing anyone expected when they first read this book was that Eddard Stark would be decapitated by the end of it. Knowing that there are several books in this large-scale story yet to go through, no one would have ever thought that the main character would die in the first one. He has the most amount of chapters in this book, and he's the character who's struggles the reader explores the most thoroughly. The fact that he is brutally murdered by the end brings about another aspect of this franchise's storytelling that enhances the reading and viewing experience to another level: you never know who's going to die next. It could be your favorite or your least favorite character, or someone you couldn't give two shits about. You never know, and it scares the crap out of you. GRRM is an absolute psychopath, and his stories are all the better for it.

It's not just the story and characters that I love; it's also the way this book is written. I swear: I probably got goosebumps reading this book at least 5 times. The last few pages are a good example. They blew me away just now as I went through them.

In the end, despite the bitter farewell I had with the show 4 years ago, I still absolutely love this franchise, and it will always have a special place in my heart for the incredible experience it gave me going through it for the first time (and now upon revisiting it as well). What I've mentioned in this review is just the tip of the iceberg of what I love about this franchise. There's so many aspects of the show that elevate it even beyond the books, and I will talk about them on Serializd as soon as I start re-watching it. ( )

Interesting, fun, fast paced book full of information, which was very intimidating at first, but got easier as the book went on. Obviously meant as part of a series, as there in no real clear ending, more of a cliffhanger. Definitely have to go pick up the rest. ( )