Friday, April 15, 2011

Books I Love – Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

 A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, Mass Market Paperback

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

A lot of you probably have already read this book, (as I did, ages ago) but in light of the new HBO series, I thought I’d give it a reread. It’s everything fantasy should be: a believable world, intriguing characters, and a page turning plot. It’s hefty at 700 + pages, but it reads really quickly.

A Game of Thrones is told from a lot of perspectives and there are a ton of characters to remember, some of which have the same name. It might be hard to keep the characters straight, but there is a nifty appendix in the back to help you out. I like that, while this is adult fantasy, half of the main characters are young adults/children, which gives it a YA feel, though the subject matter is definitely not YA.

This is actually the next book that we’re reading in my book club, so if you’re in the Chicago area, you should check it out.

Back next week.

11 comments:

  1. This is a fabulous book - George R. R. Martin is amazing!

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  2. GRRM is a great writer but I get a little annoyed with the super blatant hetero sexualism that's in his books. I mean...come on...a young girl being "anointed" in her private parts "down there" ...not making this up. Another woman laying on her back in the bed after she just got a good rumping and hoping that she gets pregnant and then GRRM describing how his seed feels inside her. Do women really go through this? Or is this just some fat man writing out his own hetero fantasy and all the other nerdy boys in the world are excited about it?

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  3. I think Martin has tried to idealize the "middle ages mentality", when a woman's worth was pretty much dependent on whether or not she was 1) a virgin at marriage and 2) if she could produce male offspring.

    I sort of just accepted this as part of the world that Martin created...which wouldn't be at all reaslistic in modern life. And yes, probably a bit of "hetero fantasy," for nerdy boys to get excited about. :)

    Did any one else have trouble with Martin's portrayal of sex?

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  4. Martin's series is great as long as you buy his 'Dungeons and Dragons' outlook on history, sex, medieval knights, kings, magic etc. Some parts of his books are incredible sexist and disturbing, some are great. What a pity writing the next instalment takes him so long.

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  5. It felt like a genuine portrayal of how things could seem in such a setting. I can't stand books that try to use our modern views on things. This is my favorite book by a living author, with A Wizard of Earthsea second. This was the book I patterned by book on.

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  6. I haven't read it, but I'll check it out.

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  7. Oh, dear. Virginity at marriage and able to produce male offspring? I think I would've been taken to the guillotine by now. Can you say Mary Queen of Scots or Anne Boleyn? I sure can.

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  8. My husband has read all of the Song of Ice and Fire books and RAVES about them. I gotta read them when life slows down a bit (never). He's really looking forward to the show on HBO tonight. Here's to hoping it meets his expectations:)

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  9. I loved the television premiere on HBO last night. As long as I wasn't having to sift through GRRM's prose but got all that eye-candy, it wasn't half bad...ooh and CGI and music!

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  10. I know, they aged up the boys quite a bit...and then had them take off their shirts :)

    I liked the show too, they did a great job of casting, especially the creepy kid who plays Prince Joffrey.

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  11. I haven't read the book but I am enjoying the series on TV.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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