Rating: 
Summary: The medieval world is alive with an edge of fantasy.
Review: Here the atmosphere of a country deep in all the sharp cruelties and strange beauties of a medieval world is complete. Well if you always yearned to live in the middle ages, scour your armour in a barrel of sand, don your sword, lower your visor and gallop full tilt into the pages. Here is your chance M'Lady and M'lord! There is just enough other worldly elements of fantasy here to add spice but maybe not so much as many devotees of fantasy fiction usually expect. That's alright, there is a hard edge of reality here. It can be a very hard edge and at times extremely violent. This is not a fantasy for children. The harshly lit swinging lantern of narrative casts its baleful glow on the beautiful and the terrible. For a softer view of simillar worlds search elsewhere. Do not expect a swift resolution to this tale once ye begin! Aye, this day the literary march will be long! Be that as it may, the fortified and strong of heart can see the journey of stone, iron, wood and snow, stretched out through many long volumes into the dark, nebulous, horizon that unfolds just ahead......
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best
Review: Looking for that elusive book that grabs you from start to finish only to leave you begging for more? Are you tired of the same old fantasy cliches such as elves, dwarves, and evil wizards? A Game of Thrones is the kind of rich literature that any fan of character driven fiction should read. Martin's writing is very tight, fluid, and has a smart, professional quality. The setting sets itself apart from other fantasy settings by being quite realistic when compared to other fantasy novels. The world is populated by humans. There are no elves or orcs roaming the wilderness. There are no would-be adventurers slaying fanciful beasts for glory and treasure. Instead you have what reads like earth medieval history. You have Kingdoms, and Lordships; cutthroats and brigands. Characters that you love to hate and characters that you'd love to meet. Plots, intrigue, deception, and betrayal that all combine to create one of the most compelling novels I have ever read. Do yourself a favor and pick this book up. It will most likely jump-start your love of books. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: "Game of Thrones" a Winner
Review: George R.R. Martin's "Game of Thrones" brought me back to the fantasy aisle after a few years of boredom with the genre. Rather than the industry standard coming-of-age or stop-the-evil-wizard story, this novel winds through the intrigues of several noble families as they all grasp for the throne of a kingdom united only by fear of perils to the north. Martin has developed each of the several principal characters into unmistakable individuals without cheapening them with caricature. I'm a bit more than halfway through this exciting read, and I have no idea how it will turn out!
Rating:
Summary: Dark and Brooding, Exceptional
Review: I just recently finished this first book in the series and I must say that I have been waiting for a book of this quality for some time. I wade through mediocre book after mediocre book and wonder who will be the nexy author to tweak my interests. Well Mr. Martin has done it. This ranks up there with Robert Jordan, Clive Barker, and Feist's great books to name a few. It is a very dark book where you can never be sure who will live and die. The characters are intriguing and one can tell that the depth of each character will increase as the series moves along. I can't wait to read more on Arya and Bran and Jon. Lets hope that each book can excite and entertain us as the first did. Very Good Mr. Martin.
Rating:
Summary: A Game of Thrones
Review: Great! Fantastic! I got very little sleep for a week because I could not put this book down and read until 2:00a.m. every morning. I liked it so much that I had to go out and buy the next book in the series (A Clash of Kings)right away. I like to think that I have read most of the "Classic" Sci-Fi and Fantasy series, and this one ranks right up at the very top! One tip: at the end of the book is a character list that breaks out the 100's of characters by families/ fealty's. It makes it a little easier to keep track of the multiple plots/characters until you get familiar with them. I found it at the end of the first book rather than the beginning.... I hope the next one in the series is coming out soon. I can hardly wait.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific reading.
Review: Fantasy seems to have become the flavor of choice and GeorgeR.R. Martin is a most welcome recruit to the ranks of fantasyauthors. Martin has a top pedigree in the field of science fiction and his first sally into fantasy shows his caliber. A Game of Thrones is the first volume of an epic series A Song of Fire and Ice and it gets the series off to a running start as it sketches in the great families of Westeros; the Baratheons, the Starks, the Lannisters and the rest of them. This is a world where weather patterns are strangely affected, but the faiths and foibles of humankind remain the same. A sweeping saga follows, of male bonding and betrayal, of feminine wiles and wickedness, of children thrust overnight into adulthood by harsh fate. In effect, Martin is laying the groundwork for the rest of the series, like the first movement of a massive symphony. The book's strength is picturization of scenery and strong characterization. Martin's descriptions of the landscape and the creatures that occupy it is masterful, creating a sharp mental picture of life in these parts. His characters too are sharply delineated (perhaps a bit too sharply? Very little of grey, most of the characters are black or white) and one can easily imagine the crippled Imp making up in wits what he lacks in inches, Robert Baratheon's easygoing and ultimately foolish nature, Ned Stark's fundamental honorableness. Synopsizing the story is a difficult task; how does one summarize a saga? In essence, the book sets the stage for the breakup of the seven kingdoms, driven by incompetence, incest, hate and plain old fashioned jealousy. Robert is slain through treachery and the great houses begin to war among themselves. Ambition and greed combine to fracture the land with new competing kings arising to claim the throne. In the background, the common people have a hard time of it, the old dynasty's remnants begin to stir, threatening a possible return and in the far north, fell creatures out of legend return with the onset of winter to threaten the very existence of humankind. A bravura effort indeed. But Martin is careless of his readers needs in 2 major areas. First, though this is a whole new setting in a different world, Martin disdains a prologue, leaving the reader to patch together the history that preceded Robert's ascension to the throne. True there are numerous hints to enable the reader to do so but it can be pretty irritating to assemble the jigsaw. Second, Martin does not appear to like cartography. Westeros, where the story is set for the most part, is mapped perfunctorily at best with huge gaps in geography. The rest of the world (the Free Cities, the Dothraki Sea, the Asshai) are not charted at all. Given how much geography influences the story, it is quite annoying to not have a map to help the reader picture the plot better. Despite these nit-picks however, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Do not be put off by its size or complexity; the story is worth the effort of keeping track of multiple threads.
Rating:
Summary: Great book. Bad reviewers!
Review: Okay. First my review. Excellent book. I stayed up six hours at my sister's house and missed Thanksgiving dinner with the family just so I could see how it turned out. Great story. Great plot. Great characters. Great writing. (Okay, a lot of characters are gits, and I get the feeling that if every fantasy character had just a LITTLE more common sense, stories might be a whole lot shorter. Example: Gandalf: Bilbo, will you join me on my quest? Bilbo: No. THE END!) On to my nasty comment: I'd like to say SHAME on Amazon.Com for posting a review (the Kirkus review just above all the reader reviews) which gives away not one, not two, but THREE major spoilers. Anyone who reads that review will know from the very beginning one of the mysteries which pushes forward the plot. It's like reviewing the Murders at the Rue Morgue by lambasting Poe for having had the monkey do it. Sure, it's a silly ending, but it's STILL THE DAMN SURPRISE! Anyway... good book. Buy it. Since my sister's place is in Nowheresville, Iowa, I had to duck out of dinner early so I could drive three hours to a 365-days-a-year store in Des Moines to buy the second in the series. That says a lot.
Rating:
Summary: Superb, gripping, breathtaking.
Review: This is perhaps the read I've enjoyed most of all. Mr. Martin's work is great, his prose, impeccable. The characters are superbly drawn. Nearly all the characters in this genre are framed in a bipolar axis: they are either good or evil... Mr. Martin has created the contrary effect, his characters are human, they are people that fight for their interests in the way they consider "right", they are plagued with contradictions, doubts and fears. I dont know about you, but I am tired and fed up with characters that represent only virtues and vices. The effect created by this superb, complex, intelligent and ellegant characterisation is an effect of astounding reality... after you turn off the lights and close your eyes for sleep, you can nearly expect Ned Stark, Jon Snow, Daenerys, Tyrion Lannister, Robert Baraetheron to wake you up in the morrow.The plot, despite beign similar to any other one in the genre, has the background of the ancient feud between the Yorks and Lancasters, making the novel, if possible, even more captivating and realistic. The day to day in the novel, the banalities and trivialities of every small detail, insignificant as they may seem; are punctuated and highlited by the rough vocabulary used. And I say the rough vocabulary used by the characters (not by the author that writes in a clear, direct, stylised, impecable and rich prose) for they are so HUMAN that they react as we might, regardless whether we are educated or not. This book is a definite must in any personal collection, and its sequel aswell. Mr. Martin, thank you very much for this two wonderful pieces of work, and we most fervently wish that the 3rd book will be, if not better, as enjoyable as the previous two.
Rating:
Summary: what I've been looking for
Review: Reading through some of the reviews posted about this book I was upset but at the same time in agreeance with the reviewers. I WAS initially surprised at the language and sex scenes portrayed in the novel. I hadn't encountered that in many other fantasy novels. Katharine Kerr includes some but they are more inventive and funny than offensive. Not to say that GRRM's use is offensive, however. It was refreshing almost to have an accurate portrayal of a kingdom vying for control of the throne by using some occasional swear words. We all know that those words were'nt invented for the '90s so people must have used them in GRRM's world also. As to the sex, its out there and its rampant! To not include it in one form or another in this type of story would leave out one very important key: the falibility of human kind. You can't have perfect characters set in this type of environment. the two just would not mesh.
Rating:
Summary: Game Of thrones
Review: I thought this book was absolutely fantastic. I have read fantasy novels for yesars and this is the one I ve been waiting for . Nothing happens how you expect it to, (which is the problem with most fantasy novels). There is a wealth of characters to keep you on your toes and utterly engrossed. Id recommend this to everyone who ever wondered about life adn I know Im going to fail my University degree because I just cant put it down!
|
