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Summary: Fantistorical Achievement
Review: I really enjoyed this book as it incorporated a lot of elements of early medieval history and fantasy. Magic and the fantastical is subtle and mysterious to the characters which helps with the suspension of disbelief and added to the drama and tension of the story. I thought it quite interesting to watch the characters learn more about things that they thought were only superstition.The characters were well developed and I thought more tangible than those in Jordan's books or Goodkind's. The women don't all read like scheming, manipulative charicatures for one. I can't wait to read the rest of the series!
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Summary: Fantasy for realists.
Review: Bored with tiresomely evil orcs, unbelievably heroic fighters, and nauseatingly saintly maidens? You've come to the right book with A GAME OF THRONES, in which each of the dozens of major and minor characters -- thanks to Martin's clarity and structural skill, fairly easy to keep up with if you digest the book in 70-80 page daily chunks -- have three full dimensions and complex motivations. There are no cardboard villains or heroes here: just people trying to survive and triumph in a very cruel and devious environment. There are fantasy and magic elements, but they are very subdued. Not the beginning to just another interminable door-stopper fantasy series, A GAME OF THRONES moves quickly and surprises throughout. Be warned: it's not for the squeamish, or those who expect fantasy to be nothing more than children's fiction in adult clothing. Martin unflinchingly evokes a harsh world of terror, human failing, and violence. But he does take time to shine a bright light and even a laugh on the proceedings now and then. Here's hoping Martin can keep up the pace and quality in the chapters to follow. In the meantime, it's well worth taking for a test read. Maybe you'll get hooked like so many of the rest of us!
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Summary: The best saga ever deserves the best book ever!
Review: Tolkien had originality, but sense then nothing has really compared to his work. But Martin comes along and arguebally blows tolkiens work out of the water. Martin is a master at charecter devolpment, He has introduced us to charecters that will be remembered by its readers for a very very long time to come. Martin uses a sertain grace with his writing, its as if he takes his time with every little detail that happens to his charecters. Out of the 3 books that are currently out, this book is by far the best so far. once you start you will not be able to put it down, and I almost would recamend not starting, for when you do you will be addicted to Martin and a song of ice and fire for life.
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Summary: Can't put it down.
Review: I think perhaps the best way I can sum up A Game of Thrones, and in fact the Song of Fire and Ice series so far, is that it's so REAL compared to others in the genre. 1. Not everyone is all good or all bad. Of course, some are "more good" than others, but even they have faults and reasons to question allying with them. 2. You don't know whom to trust. So many agendas are on the table that even those you think you know will surprise you. 3. Characters interact with each other differently on different occasions. There are no "char X = sweet and humble; char Y = evil and harsh" constants throughout the story. People are complex and varied, with different motivations on different days. 4. People make mistakes, and suffer the consequences. No one is safe here, and people don't always learn from their pasts, or even their own advice. 5. People die. Main characters die. Again, no one is safe. Martin creates an enormous melee where both the prizes and weapons are power, loyalty, love, honor, and life. He provides us with the god's eye view of it all and allows us to see through the different character's eyes...although what we see is distorted by what the character _believes_ is taking place at a given moment. Due to jumps in time and space from character to character, we may or may not know the truth of the facts presented. Sound confusing? It is, sometimes. But the effect is breathtaking...to truly be immersed in this world and to not know what will happen next, to try to figure out who should win, and who in fact will win, to try to reconcile the losses...to this is what fiction should be.
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Summary: On Par With Robert Jordan
Review: One of the best fantasy books I've read in the last ten years. The plot was complex and compelling. I could not put this book down the first or second time I read it. Amazing.
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Summary: Gritty and realistic fnatasy epic.
Review: "A Game of Thrones" is an incredible fantasy epic. Unique in its depth and detail describing the political turmoil in a fuedal kingdom. Most of the familiar fantasy elements are here, but the focus is on the characters, and they could easily have been plucked straight for medival Europe. Martin does not populate his fantasy world with and endless supply of elves and wizards and hobbits and the like, but gives us real human characters which the readers can understand and relate to. The charcters each have their on complex desires and goals and this breings them each into to conflict with each other in ways too numerous to describe in anything less than the 800 pages of this book. "A Game of Thrones" is a rare treat for the bold fantasy reader but the timid need not apply. AGOT is dark, bloody, and intense, and at its enormous length (all the the more enormous when you consider Martin's entire tale will encompass six volumes) with every page full of complex plots and schemes, reading AGOT is quite a task. But Martin's prose is easy to read and full of imagery, making AGOT a true joy to read. The story is told from eight points of view. Most of the POV characters are members of House Stark. Lord Eddard Stark has been summoned to take the post of "the King's Hand" making him second only to the king. But Eddards conflict with King Robert's scheming wife soon place him and his family in danger as other forces plot to increase their own power and positions, it looks as if war is coming. This all unfolds as winter (a season which last for years) is approaching, the last remaining heirs of the former king plot to return from their exile across the narrow sea, and mysterious forces from beyond the wall that defines the seven kingdom northern border begin moving south toward the lands of Lord Eddard. "A Game of Thrones" is an amazing start. If the other five books can do half as well, "A Song of Ice and Fire" will rival "The Lord of the Rings" as the ultimate fantasy epic.
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Summary: Never a dull moment
Review: This book is awesome! When you read it, you have to have that whole day free, because once you pick it up, you're not going to put it back down. Each chapter is from the point of view of a different character, so you're always left hanging when a chapter ends. It has less magic in it than most fantasy books, but all that means is that a character can't just wave his hands and win a war. With so many different points of view, the two (or more) characters you end up rooting for might even be each others' enemies!
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Summary: Highest of High Fantasy
Review: This book and it's follow-on (Clash Of Kings) is a must-read for fans of fantasy. In the tradition of The Once and Future King here is a tale of knights and ladies, kings and dwarfs, evil and good which will entrance you from the first chapter on. Martin plots the story (and each chapter is written) from the point of view of many of the important protagonists of the story giving you insight into each of them and a more human view of characters whose actions might seem horrible without understanding their motivations. And you will understand and feel for many of the characters. Before the end of the first half of the book, I guarantee you will be so bound up in the fate of the Starks and the Lannisters that you will rush out to get the second book and eagerly await the third (which is due soon). Get it; you won't regret it.
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Summary: Games Should Be Fun
Review: This is a remarkably boring book I found unable to finish although I plowed through 405 pages. Far too many characters ignore what is obvious to everyone around them. Far too many people wander off in an obviously dangerous place to, gasp, get caught! Far too many adults are simply stupid. Zero stars for one of 3 books I could not bear to read any more.
Rating:
Summary: You've GOT to be kidding!
Review: ALthough the style is magnificant, and the words well chosen and strung together, the story itself is a big disappointment. True, you have no idea what is going to happen throughout the book,but that is not because the plot contains many twists and turns -- rather it is because there are so many characters and each chapter does not contain much memorable action such that the book itself is choppy and not as interesting as the concept actually is. If the concept of this book interests you, you would be better off reading the actual accounts of English history. I was very disappointed by this book, the plot was quite blaze and the "fantasy" portion of this book was nonexistent.
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