Rating: 
Summary: A game of thrones: Epic Fake History
Review: I should note that I'm rounding up to a four star review. This book was much closer to 3 1/2 stars. Why? Well, I read this book after hearing fantasy readers and critics sing its praises. It was a well written book with a fairly compelling plot, but it never quite lived up to my expectations. A Game of Thrones is an epic fake history. It takes place in a world where the feudal system is still strong and the seasons can last for decades. Its plot centres around a noble family called the Starks, who are forced to leave their home in the North when the patriarch of the family is called to serve the King in the capital city. Like the first half Frank Herbert's Dune, much of this book focuses on the secret world alliances, political innuendo and corruption that the nobility busies itself with. Also like Dune, we know from very early on that certain characters aren't going to survive. Here are my main problems with A Game of Thrones. 1). It isn't really a fantasy. You have Knights in shining armour, big wolves, vampires, rumours of giants, dragons, evil people in power, honourable people done in by their trust, all within the context of a feudal society. All of this is fairly conventional stuff for the genre. Even the idea of "The Wall" seems to be derived from Hadrian's Wall in England. Even the idea of evil coming from the North is conventional in folktales. Essentially Martin took preexisting ideas that were common in the genre and shuffled them around to make a new story. 2). Martin made his evil much too real. Usually this wouldn't be a criticsm, but having to read blow by blow accounts of incest is too much. 3). It just took too long. Epics derive much of there joy from there enormous palette of characters, stacks of subplots, and mountains of hints and red herrings, but if you're going to do all that, you have to change the setting around. Too much minutiae of court intrigue. Here's what I liked about a Game of Thrones. 1). It's well written. I mean both its lyrical prose style and its structure. Each chapter is basically a short story, a technique that makes each chapter interesting and exciting in its own right, while never diminishing the main narrative. Martin names each of his chapters after the character whose point of view the story is told from. This keeps things simple, but also builds suspense and anticipation (Sometimes just seeing the name of the chapter had me hooting and hollering). 2). It's funny. There are some great lines in this story, especially from one character in particular: Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion is a dwarf (but not in the way you might think)who makes wry comments about life from his unique perspective. 3). It keeps you guessing. Just when you think you have it all figured Martin shows you some new layer of the story and you have to reformulate everything from the beginning again.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent writing, in the same class as Robert Jordan
Review: I had thought that I wouldn't find another fantasy writer of Robert Jordan's caliber. But then I picked this up and couldn't put it down. It's very intense, gritty, and has more of a medieval feel than Jordan. The best new sf/fantasy author I've come across in many years.
Rating:
Summary: Easily the best in the genre
Review: When someone told me that George R.R. Martin's characters were even more developed than Terry Goodkind's, I was skeptical. I then asked for this first book in Martin's series for Hanukkah, and long before I finished it I was eating my own words with a shovel.
A lot of traditional authors in the genre I find incredibly shallow and long-winded(particularly Jordan and Eddings, who I blame for the ill-constructed stereotype of fantasy in the first place), mainly because their characters are incredibly boring and do nothing to -really- hook the reader into their minds and emotions. Martin not only does this with a shrug, but almost every single one of his characters are completely three dimensional. Sandor Clegane and Jaime Lannister, to name a couple, delightfully surprised me inside out as the series progressed like no other character or twist has ever done.
The person here who called Martin's characters flat must be dim-witted or tasteless beyond anything on the scale, not to mention jaded to a nauseating degree for wanting the Starks to die. They represent the moral strongholds, the light amongst the corruption of Martin's world, and are all none the less rich or developed for it.
The magic in this series, also, is refreshing and far more subtle than what I've come to expect. The Stark-wolf connections, the green dreams, the crows, all of it is just enough to tingle the reader's interest without going overboard and flooding the story with magic to the point of it losing its effect, or becoming tiresome. My only complaint is that Martin is a bit too naturalistically brutal at times (while Goodkind is usually a true come-away-feeling-good heroic writer), but everything else of his more than makes up for it and is perhaps superior to Sword of Truth.
Rating:
Summary: Winter Is Coming... and I welcome it
Review: Why is George R.R. Martin's A GAME OF THRONES so good? Its characters are believable. They are chock full of human strengths, faults, weaknesses and virtues. Martin does not set out to create heroes - instead, he writes his characters a path, a behaviour a human being would take as a matter of human nature... and the heroes and villains make themselves. And yet, this is not the kind of character stock where heroes and villains are as white and black - so much is grey, and yet totally recognisable in ourselves. Martin's world is unrelentingly real, almost unforgiving. Life propels his characters, energises his characters. Death is death, and simply, directly, literally grinds those who die to a halt (well, except for the Others, of course...). In A GAME OF THRONES, death is frighteningly, terrifyingly *STARK*. (And isn't that such a wonderful family name). There have been very very few books of fiction where a death of a character has truly moved me. My most memorable (and painful) has been the death of Sturm in the Dragonlance Chronicles. But to this rank of legend I now add Martin's A GAME OF THRONES, and A Song of Ice and Fire. Some readers complain that Martin kills characters too fast. So? You should be asking yourself do the deaths shake you? Sure, many deaths seem meaningless - but therein lies the atmosphere of the world Martin wants to portray. People, this isn't a world with modern medicine and the modern obsession with keeping alive anyone regardless of worth. This is a world where "if you play the game of thrones, you win or you die". Life is like that even in Earth's medieval past. But more important is the way Martin conveys death to the reader. Martin is not so interested in describing to the reader the act of killing, or the act of death. Martin's genius is in letting you see death from afar, from a detached place. Death is a reality; making it seem unreal, or making one helplessly watch it claim good men - is the most painful. In a world so rash, so cruel and biting, children grow up very fast. I think some readers who complain of Martin's highly mature children forget that these are children without TV and computer games. You have to grow up very fast. But look, even with his children, Martin portrays many different personality types. There are the little innocents, the rebellious ones, the responsible mature, the spoiled brat, the sibling rivalry, and so on. These characters are not 2-dimensional, and they exhibit growth based on their individual personalities, giving a sense of unity. Martin's plotlines seem linear, and yet his twists are staggering - but best of all, his twists are always within possibility. They are not products of deus ex machina. This only accentuates the power of his story. Martin's story moves, his characters move... and they all move us.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Saga Begins With a Bang
Review: Before "A Game of Thrones" was released, an excerpt from it appeared as a short story in "Asimov's Science Fiction". I was hooked, and my expectations were high. When the book did come out, I bought it immediately, and my expectations were surpassed. This is the beginning of a truly great fantasy saga. This saga puts George R.R. Martin on a par with science fiction epic writers like Stephen R. Donaldson (Thomas Covenant series), Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Herbert's Dune books, and Arthur C. Clarke's Rama series. Why do I like this book so much? 1) The technique of rotating viewpoints is used to perfection here. It is not always a technique I like, as it causes confusion and non-sequitirs if not used well. In "A Game of Thrones" it lets the reader see situations and characters from inside and out, and from different viewpoints, resulting in a fuller, richer understanding of everything. It also allows the otherwise-unthinkable option of an apparently crucial main character dying. 2) The writing and editing are flawless. I remember no logical contradictions, no editing errors, and no slow spots. It's a huge book, but it MOVES. I've read smaller books that had slow spots, but I do not recall any slow spots in this book. I also feel that I know some of these characters and have been to some of these places. 3) Some of the characters are not only memorable, but quotable. The Imp, Tyrion Lannister, makes several statements about dealing with disabilities and the resulting stereotypes that I have used in my work as a child psychologist. 4) Possibly because of the shifting-viewpoint technique mentioned above, the author is able to create a plot that is extremely complex and intricate, but still coherent. My only concern is that the proposed length of the overall saga keeps growing. Initially described as a trilogy, it later became a four-book series, and is now described by Amazon as a six-book project. I hope that the author will be able to A) maintain the high quality over that much of a story and B) complete it in my (and his) lifetime. I don't want to be morbid, but the series is apparently only halfway done, and could end up not finishing until 2008 or so, given the huge size of each book. We could be looking at a total of 5000 pages over ten years!
Rating:
Summary: Can sing that song to me any day...
Review: A game of thrones is one of the best fantasy novels out there; one that actually shows the author actually can write, and isn't just using fantasy to make the job of writing easier. The characters live, the characters die; some are jerks, some are overly good; but none of them are just that. None of the characters are one sided; almost all of them show something from another side; (though there are some, mainly lesser characters, who are only one thing. Talking about the main characters). And it's apart of a series of novels that don't leave you flat, leave you asking the writer: why can't he write as good as he did the first time? The whole series is wonderful; and if you read more, you can see the fleshing out of characters in novel two that you rarely even register in novel one. He builds on characters, and builds; and sometimes he tears them down. The people in Thrones are my friends and they are my enemies; almost all of them I wanted to live or die; not because I was tired of them but because I hated what they had done. I cared. So will you, if you give it a chance.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Robert Jordan in the making--ugh
Review: How could any of you like this? I am one of the few who go with the caveat "never listen to reviewers", well, I guess I should have listened to my own caveat! There are 3 major things wrong with his first book: 1) The story line was, well, not original and not interesting enough for me to keep reading. I eventually finished the book--all exhausting 700 pages of it, but I had to put it down many many times. 2) The characters were flat. I cared for no one. I rooted for all the Stark family to die. There were also too many characters introduced at once. He should just have stuck with one or two Stark members, and used them as true "main characters". He has the same Robert Jordan problem. Plots, and characters that seemingly go nowhere but into a wall. 3) He dealt with too many subplots and sometimes lost the main focus of his story. Things that were good: 1) The battle scenes were decent, but just about anyone with patience and a pen could write a decent one. 2) At least his story had pacing, and felt like it was going somewhere! Which, two things are un-Jordanesque. Thats all I can think of. I was truly angry at wasting my money though. None of these new "epic" authors match Tolkien's true fantasy. How could any reviewer even have the GALL to think that of Jordan, Martin, and Goodkind? I am so sick of reading these 800 page novels that go on and then go on to a 5th book or more! Its really all Jordan's fault for ruining a good method of fantasy writing by creating those monstrosities. The fact remains that when you create a novel, the quality(and depth)has to be there in order for most readers to have a reason to want to continue reading--rather than doing your novels in a Jordan style. I am not sure what possessed me to get those truly terrible RJ books, and RR Martin ones,(I am in the process of believing them to be the SAME PERSON, but using two different pennames!). I can only advise you not to buy any more of this junk.
Rating:
Summary: This book is honestly amazing
Review: I loved this book. I think that this book shows how wonderful of an author George RR Martin is. The prolog grabs the reader's attention right away, and the first chapter locks in the reader's interest by introducing you to the Stark family. Other characters are introduced throughout the book, but it is with the Starks that I think the most development occurs. Martin does a great job bringing them to life, and using their lives and experiences to tell a story that has so many twists and turns that even in the end, the reader doesn't know exactly what has happened and looks eagerly forward to reading the next book.
Rating:
Summary: When you play the game of thrones, you live, or you die...
Review: This book grabbed hold of me from the prologue. I first heard about this book and series on Amazon.com; it seemed to be highly recommended by many members, so I checked them out. I now own and have read the first three and eagerly await ADwD, to be released next Autumn. And it all began with a Game of Thrones. Mr. Martin deftly creates a wonderful world with real people all of which are at risk of losing their lives at any moment. Magic seems to have disappeared for good and there are many contendors for the Iron Throne. Some of which are good, others bad. SOme of which will die, others will live. Any way you look at this book it is certainly a masterpiece and an original addition to the fantasy genre. The multiple viewpoints are a wonderful touch. A Game of Thrones is a powerful introduction to this compelling series. Unlike the actual Game of Thrones, where you win a chance to live and play some more, or lose and die, when reading the book you only win, and the reward isn't life, but a good reason for it.
Rating:
Summary: A Triumph of Epic Proportions!
Review: Just when I thought there were no more great Epic Fantasy's out there, I came across George R. R. Martin's wonderful novel. This has to be the best series I've come across since the original DragonLance Saga. Martin's strength is his ability to develop a wide range of characters. Unlike the characters of most fantasy novels, the inhabitants of Martin's world are varied and numerous. There is the incestuous and powerful Lannisters, the Noble and Courageous Starks, the rebellious Greyjoys, and the exiled Targaryans (just to name a few). However, just when you think you have someone figured out, you find out something new about that character, some twist to his or her personality which shows just how ingenious Martin is. In this, the first novel of the series, he establishes a precedent of killing off characters YOU thought would make it to the end, which adds a bit of danger to this series (something not found in most novels). The plot itself is an intricate one, and I will not give it away. Suffice it to say that civil war is looming and the only question is when will it happen, not if. Just as in his talent for creating 3-dimensional intricate characters, Martin is a master at weaving a plot of such depth and intricacy that the reader is left breathless. If you like epic fantasy and GREAT writing, along with numerous twists and turns in the plot, then this is the series for you!
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