Winter is coming! Okay, I'll admit, I'm coming a little late to the George R.R. Martin fan club. I've been hearing about this amazing series for years on Melanie Rawn's website forums from her fans, so I've known for awhile that I should be reading this, but it wasn't until I saw the show on HBO that I really got a kick in the pants to go out and buy the series. My roommate and I discovered the first four books in a paperback set for twenty dollars around Christmas time, so we picked it up as a bit of a Christmas gift to ourselves.
This will be a two part review: Part 1, the book; Part 2, the series.
"A Game of Thrones" is a masterpiece following the story lines of many different characters of the Seven Kingdoms. The first main story line follows Eddard Stark and his family as they strive to survive in a land filled with betrayal, trickery, and other families with only their own interests at heart. A parallel story line follows Daenerys Targaryen, living a bit away from the land of the Seven Kingdoms (Stark's home country). Dany is a former princess from the Seven Kingdoms, sent to exile after her father, the King, was executed and his throne ursurped by the current ruler King Robert. Dany hopes to regain her proper place on the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms as the rightful ruler and last Targaryen.
The great thing about this novel is that every chapter is designated with a character's name, telling you which story line you're following, and since the story bounces back and forth between character perspectives in very different places, I found that really helpful. The development and details that is put into these characters has been done very carefully. They're all very intricate beings, which really wraps you up in the story. I have to say, for a 800-something page book, it's actually a rather quick read. The book devours you and you lose yourself in it. Only the best books do that. No wonder "A Game of Thrones" has become so popular!
Bad points? In this book? Not really, per say. I will only say that there were a few deaths that disappointed me and a few that I thought came a little too soon. That's also the magic behind these characters as well, that you get so attached to them all, good and bad, that you hate to let them go (as in the case of the morally good characters) or you can't wait till they get shanked (as in the morally unjust).
Overall rating: 5/5 stars! You will not regret reading this book. You'll enjoy yourself, you'll pass it on, you'll read it faster than you imagined you could. Here's my recommendation: go get your wallet, hit a bookstore, go to the library--find this book, read it, pass it on.
Happy reading! Look out for part 2 of this review within the next couple of days!
AJ
No comments:
Post a Comment