first game of thrones book review

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin book review

I reviewed A Game of Thrones back in 2021 quite early on after I started this blog – since then I’ve done a reread and decided I want to give it another crack. I wrote my review based on memories of about two years after I’d read the book. This updated review is based on a reread I finished literally days ago.

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A Game of Thrones is the first book in the epic A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin – if you’ve not heard of it then I imagine you’ve been living under a rock. The book series has been turned into arguably the biggest television series ever made – pioneering the way of not only fantasy TV series but large-budget fantasy TV series.

A Game of Thrones introduces us to the land of Westeros and its families, cultures and political goings-on. It introduces us to the Lannisters, the Starks and the Targaryens and other families throughout Westeros.

Plot – 4.5/5

You can’t really describe what happens in A Game of Thrones as it’s so long that many things happen. Essentially everything starts off quite calm, controlled and peaceful, however, a large secret comes to light and things start to spiral out of control. Old friends become enemies and the peace is eventually broken, causing the land of Westeros to become as unbalanced as it has been for decades.

On top of this, there are whisperings of dark creatures and beings not seen for hundreds of years being seen by travellers, suggesting other things are at unrest beyond “the wall” too. it’s all very interesting and exciting to read. It’s a storyline with lots of twists and turns where Martin isn’t afraid to kill of the characters you like or keep those you dislike alive.

George R.R. Martin does an incredible job of throwing us around to different characters involved in different plot points but making us feel at the same time that they’re all connected. Despite being a book that focuses on different points of view, you feel like you’re following one continent move at the same time.

Characters – 5/5

When I first read A Game of Thrones , I had no perspective as to what makes well-written characters or not. George R.R. Martin has carved some truly fantastic characters in this book. He could have taken the easy fantasy option of having “a chosen one” and the main villain but instead, he’s developed families, genuine relationships, flawed heroes and detestable characters. There’ll be characters in this book who you can’t help but have respect for and others for who you spend your time hoping to meet an unfortunate end.

Tyrion is probably my favourite character – as he is many. He’s smart, witty, and sometimes rude but has a very strict moral compass. Tyrion is a dwarf and his life has seen his lack of height make him feel that he must make up for it with a sharp mind. There’s an argument here that because he’s the smartest, this makes him make some of the best and wisest decisions.

What I love about many of the characters is that nearly all of their actions are steeped in reason. Joffrey for example makes cruel and awful decisions because he is young, naive and has no idea how to rule. He believes ruling by force is the best way as it seems the easiest way to get people to obey you. However, I can see in the future how this might fail him.

There are copious amounts of other characters I’m looking forward to seeing the rise and fall of too. Yes, I’ve watched a couple of series of the TV series, but I’m still excited to read about them all as I imagine the books portray them differently. In fact, I know this to be even more true in the latter books.

Summary – 5/5

A Game of Thrones is the best opening book to a fantasy series you’ll find. It has become a sensation for a reason – the TV series is brilliant, yes. But the first book is probably better. You get such a great feeling of grandeur but also a really personal feeling from some of the characters. One moment you’re learning of great wars, deep histories and long legacies and the next you’re sitting by a campfire as Tyrion Lannister tells Jon Snow why he reads so many books. It’s an epic in every sense of the word and is, without a doubt, an absolute must for any fantasy fan and even those who don’t think fantasy is their bag.

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I found the first 3 books in a “little neighborhood library” on the sidewalk yesterday, so I figured “why not” and grabbed them. So far I have read the prologue from the first book, in which there are 3 characters: Gared (in his 50s, 40 years of which serving in the Night’s Watch), Will (caught poaching and drafted 4 years prior to the Night’s Watch), and Ser Waymar Royce, 18 years old lordling heir and commander of this latest ranging in pursuit of some wildlings who are leading them further and further north. Will had just returned from tracking the wildlings 2 miles from their present location, seen they were all dead, and returned to the group. Gared figured they had died from the cold (he himself lost both ears and some fingers and toes from some previous exposure), but Royce asks Will about the Wall; Will says it had been “weeping” meaning it wasn’t possibly cold enough to kill the wildlings. So Royce demands they go to see, remarks that Gared had been “unmanned” by fear of the dark for his insistence on building a fire, and Gared barely holds himself back from murdering Royce then and there. Then Royce and Will go to see the dead wildlings, only now there are none left, just one weapon (a valuable war ax) and Royce instructs Will to climb up a tree to see what he can. Meanwhile some ghostly foe comes and approaches Royce with some kind of magic sword. Will sees more ghosts coming but fears to shout a warning since he is sure to die. Royce and the ghost have a duel, Royce gets hit by the ghostly sword and it cuts him through his mail armor, he charges and hits the ghost sword with all his might, but his own steel sword shatters into a zillion pieces. All the ghosts advance and chop him up and then they all disappear somewhere. Will eventually climbs down and recovers Royce’s broken hilt for evidence, but before he can leave Royce rises up and is towering over him, and strangles him dead, too.

I have a few issues with this first scene, which are: why is Royce ignoring his more experienced companion’s better advice, and why are his companions daft enough to let Royce out-reason them about the cold, and how can Will climb up a tree and none of the ghosts can see him up there, and how can Royce shatter a steel broadsword at all, he must have superhuman strength to possibly do that, and why does he come back to life and strangle Will out?

I’m reading this story and already I’m appalled at how sloppily it is written and how uninteresting it is. I think I’m like Gared, I have half a mind to throw these books out and find something better.

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A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and...

A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1

About the Book

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.

Here is the first volume in George R. R. Martin’s magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords . As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R. R. Martin’s stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.

A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1 by George R. R. Martin

Publication Date: March 22, 2011
Genres: Fantasy , Fiction
Paperback: 720 pages
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN-10: 0553386794
ISBN-13: 9780553386790

ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN

A GAME OF THRONES

From the a song of ice and fire series , vol. 1.

by George R.R. Martin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 12, 1996

After a long silence ( Portraits of his Children , stories, 1987), the author of the cult novel The Armageddon Rag (1983) returns with the first of a fantasy series entitled, insipidly enough, A Song of Ice and Fire. In the Seven Kingdoms, where the unpredictable seasons may last decades, three powerful families allied themselves in order to smash the ruling Targaryens and depose their Mad King, Aerys II. Robert Baratheon claimed the throne and took to wife Tywin Lannister's daughter, Cersei; Ned Stark returned north to gloomy Winterfell with its massive, ancient Wall farther to the north that keeps wildings and unspeakable creatures from invading. Some years later, Robert, now drunk and grossly fat, asks Ned to come south and help him govern; reluctantly, since he mistrusts the treacherous Lannisters, Ned complies. Honorable Ned soon finds himself caught up in a whirl of plots, espionage, whispers, and double-dealing and learns to his horror that the royal heir, Joffrey, isn't Robert's son at all but, rather, the product of an incestuous union between the Queen and her brother Jaime—who murdered the Mad King and earned the infamous nickname Kingslayer. Ned attempts to bargain with Cersei and steels himself to tell Robert—but too late. Swiftly the Lannisters murder the King, consign Ned to a dungeon, and prepare to seize the throne, opposed only by the remaining Starks and Baratheons. On the mainland, meanwhile, the brutal and stupid Viserys Targaryen sells his sister Dany to a barbarian horse-warrior in return for a promise of armies to help him reconquer the Seven Kingdoms. A vast, rich saga, with splendid characters and an intricate plot flawlessly articulated against a backdrop of real depth and texture. Still, after 672 dense pages, were you expecting a satisfying resolution? You won't get it: Be prepared for a lengthy series with an indefinitely deferred conclusion.

Pub Date: Aug. 12, 1996

ISBN: 0-553-10354-7

Page Count: 672

Publisher: Spectra/Bantam

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1996

FANTASY | EPIC FANTASY

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THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA

by TJ Klune ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020

A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.

A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.

Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune ( The Art of Breathing , 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.

Pub Date: March 17, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Tor

Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | FANTASY

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by TJ Klune

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THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE

by Samantha Shannon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 2019

A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please.

After 1,000 years of peace, whispers that “the Nameless One will return” ignite the spark that sets the world order aflame.

No, the Nameless One is not a new nickname for Voldemort. Here, evil takes the shape of fire-breathing dragons—beasts that feed off chaos and imbalance—set on destroying humankind. The leader of these creatures, the Nameless One, has been trapped in the Abyss for ages after having been severely wounded by the sword Ascalon wielded by Galian Berethnet. These events brought about the current order: Virtudom, the kingdom set up by Berethnet, is a pious society that considers all dragons evil. In the East, dragons are worshiped as gods—but not the fire-breathing type. These dragons channel the power of water and are said to be born of stars. They forge a connection with humans by taking riders. In the South, an entirely different way of thinking exists. There, a society of female mages called the Priory worships the Mother. They don’t believe that the Berethnet line, continued by generations of queens, is the sacred key to keeping the Nameless One at bay. This means he could return—and soon. “Do you not see? It is a cycle.” The one thing uniting all corners of the world is fear. Representatives of each belief system—Queen Sabran the Ninth of Virtudom, hopeful dragon rider Tané of the East, and Ead Duryan, mage of the Priory from the South—are linked by the common goal of keeping the Nameless One trapped at any cost. This world of female warriors and leaders feels natural, and while there is a “chosen one” aspect to the tale, it’s far from the main point. Shannon’s depth of imagination and worldbuilding are impressive, as this 800-pager is filled not only with legend, but also with satisfying twists that turn legend on its head. Shannon isn’t new to this game of complex storytelling. Her Bone Season novels ( The Song Rising , 2017, etc.) navigate a multilayered society of clairvoyants. Here, Shannon chooses a more traditional view of magic, where light fights against dark, earth against sky, and fire against water. Through these classic pairings, an entirely fresh and addicting tale is born. Shannon may favor detailed explication over keeping a steady pace, but the epic converging of plotlines at the end is enough to forgive.

Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-63557-029-8

Page Count: 848

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | FANTASY | EPIC FANTASY

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by Samantha Shannon

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A Game of Thrones: Book Review

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

Most people are fans of the Game of Thrones show (not including the last season) but the books by George R.R. Martin is where the adventure all started. Keep reading to learn about the epic fantasy world of A Game of Thrones.

A Game of Thrones Summary

After Jon Arryn’s death, King Robert Baratheon approaches Eddard “Ned Stark,” the “King of the North” to become the next “Hand of the King.” After discussing it with his family, Ned decides to take the position. But tragedy befalls Bran Stark when he is pushed out the window of a tower after seeing Queen Cersei Lannister having sex with her twin brother Jaime Lannister.

Bran does not remember what happened before he falls and cannot use his legs anymore. Ned travels to the capital city of Westeros, King’s Landing with his daughters Arya and Sansa. When they arrive in King’s Landing, Ned learns that Jon Arryan’s death was not an “accident.

After learning how bad it has gotten in King’s Landing, Ned uses all his power to try to fix the problems at hand. The King is irresponsible and Queen Cersei is plotting something. Can Ned hold the kingdom together or will it tear his friendship and his family apart?

As many of you know, the books are long and has a lot of characters. There is always a lot going on. So much that Martin strongly believed his books would never be made into a tv show before HBO came along and changed that narrative.

I saw the show first and then decided to read the books. When I learned how good the books were, I knew I had to read them all. If you love the show, then you should read the books because there is so much that doesn’t make the show. And as you may or may not know, the tv show went a different direction near the end.

The one bad part about the A Song of Ice and Fire series is that is it still ongoing. Martin is still finishing up the last two novels in the series and who knows how long that will take. It has been a decade since the last novel has been released. Otherwise, the series is great!

I strongly recommend this book if you love fantasy books. Not many books have this much detail and are still a great read. It has redefined the fantasy genre and rightfully so!

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Im watching the show now and im loving it. I will probably read the books after i finish the show…

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Thank you for the like… hey Ahaqir I bet I have a zombie book you have yet to read1?!?! (right now I do still have it in my possession in case you have not and are interested) its called zombie island and you should be able to find a review in a search on my Multiscreen blog. Here’s the direct link https://multiscreenmotivision.wordpress.com/2018/05/04/zombieisland/

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A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) Mass Market Paperback – March 22, 2011

Book 1 of 5 A Song of Ice and Fire
Print length 864 pages
Language English
Publisher Bantam
Publication date March 22, 2011
Dimensions 4.19 x 1.36 x 6.85 inches
ISBN-10 9780553593716
ISBN-13 978-0553593716
Lexile measure 830L
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ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0553593714
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bantam; Media tie-in edition (March 22, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 864 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780553593716
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0553593716
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 830L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.19 x 1.36 x 6.85 inches
#801 in TV, Movie & Game Tie-In Fiction
#2,355 in Sword & Sorcery Fantasy (Books)
#5,715 in Epic Fantasy (Books)

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About the author, george r. r. martin.

George R.R. Martin is the globally bestselling author of many fine novels, including A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons, which together make up the series A Song of Ice and Fire, on which HBO based the world’s most-watched television series, Game of Thrones. Other works set in or about Westeros include The World of Ice and Fire, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. His science fiction novella Nightflyers has also been adapted as a television series; and he is the creator of the shared-world Wild Cards universe, working with the finest writers in the genre. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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A Game Of Thrones by George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 1)

As warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must ... and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty. The old gods have no power in the south, Stark's family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, a vengeance mad boy has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities beyong the sea. Heir of the mad Dragon King deposed by Robert, he claims the Iron Throne.

Ever since my entry into the heady and wonderful peaks of fantasy literature following the release of the Fellowship of the Ring movie in 2001, I have been hard pressed to find an author greater than the inimitable J.R.R. Tolkien. Robin Hobb’s ‘Realm of the Elderlings’ story tops it in terms of pure enjoyment for me, and Terry Pratchett writes with such skill he too edges out Tolkien. But both authors have fallen short of the sheer scope that Tolkien envisioned and, successfully, created.

Since then, I have only come across two authors who have come close to envisioning and successfully carrying out their literary creations to match Tolkien; Steven Erikson and George R. R. Martin.

Martin’s epic fantasy series, ‘A Song of Ice and Fire,’ has managed to – in both scope and creativity, not to mention simple writing ability – capture and recreate the story that started in Martin’s head. Some authors try, and fail miserably. Some capture and recreate perfectly, but the author’s scope is minimal.

For Martin though, in scope, creativity, and writing ability, A Song of Ice and Fire is everything you want in an epic fantasy tale.

The first book, ‘A Game of Thrones,’ was first released in 1996, and since then another three books have been released, with the fifth hopefully to be released this year (2009). Set in a world very akin to our own medieval history, specifically the English War of the Roses, A Game of Thrones introduces us to one of the greatest (and largest) character lists around.

The story is told from eight perspectives. Each perspective is held within a chapter which, when the characters move away from each other, allows the author to continually leave minor cliff-hangers at the end of each chapter.

While six of the characters from this first book are from the same family, the perspective is shifted around in preceding books. Death is commonplace, almost to the point of horror, but conducted in such a way that it, sadly, reminds us of our own bloody histories. Martin does not shy away from the death, rape and plunder that would have been norm for the setting and in doing so provides a much more complete story.

Mindless destruction is often the cause for character splits and confrontations, and by the end of the book characters you assumed you would be attached too for some time are left headless, gutless or simply gone.

Throughout the entire series Martin focuses almost primarily upon one continent. However there is one character, Daenerys Targaryen, who has been forced to flee to a separate continent as a young girl. At first I remember feeling disorientated and a little slighted at seemingly being provided this perspective which seemed nothing short of pointless. However as I have continued to read, she has become one of my favourite characters.

‘A Game of Thrones’ is without a doubt one of the most involved and simultaneously enjoyable books I have ever read. Dense to the point of labour, but captivating well past my bed time, Martin knows exactly where to draw the line between lots of information and tedious boredom.

If you like Tolkien, or if you like the idea of an epic fantasy series, then you must pick up ‘A Game of Thrones’ as soon as possible. Martin’s ability to create a world both entertaining and disastrously realistic is nothing short of mind numbingly brilliant. Joshua S Hill

The novel, A Game of Thrones, begins with an encounter with supernatural beings; this may give a false impression as to what will come. As the story begins to unfold, the theme moves strongly into the area of political intrigue and this forthcoming war that will happen as a result. The fantasy element, while always there plays only a minor role in the majority of the rest of the book.

A Game of Thrones in not your usual fare, it is hard-hitting and bad things do happen to the good people. Two families take centre stage in a battle for the Throne; the Starks and the Lannisters. The Stark family live in the cold hard North, Winterfell is the seat of their domain. We are, using chapters headlined with the family names, introduced to the Stark family. Once we have familiarised ourselves with the Stark’s, King Robert and his family visit them at Winterfell. King Robert is married to a Lannister, Queen Cersei. The King’s main reason for visiting is to offer Eddard Stark the honour of becoming his Hand (most trusted advisor). Eddard unhappily accepts and he must move to King’s Landing in the South.

Eddard Stark’s young son Bran is injured during the King’s visit, whilst this is originally thought to be an accident that occurred when he was climbing it becomes apparent that the Lannisters played a part in this tragedy.

In an interesting sub-plot Jon Snow, Eddard’s bastard son, joins the “Black” or the “Night’s Watch”, a company of men who’s role is to guard a huge wall of ice in the far North. He is accompanied there by Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf. Although they do not become friends they end up with a grudging respect for each other. Once Jon has pledged himself to the “Black” he must forsake friends, family, marriage and children and his whole life will be spent in the protection of Land.

With Eddard now in place as the King’s Hand, tensions rise between himself and the Lannisters. Then, suddenly one day, the King is killed hunting wild boar and Eddard and the Lannister are drawn into a battle for the throne.

Finally, at the end, the fantasy element once again returns and we are left looking forward to the second instalment.

This is a very good novel, full of twists and turns. It leaves you wanting more and move on to A Clash of Kings. Floresiensis

"Colossal, staggering ... one of the greats" SFX

"Fantasy literature has never shied away from grandeur, but the sheer mind-boggling scope of this epic has sent other fantasy writers away shaking their heads ... It's ambition: to construct the Twelve Caesars of fantasy fiction, with characters so venemous they could eat the Borgais." Guardian

10/10 An epic, action packed starter from George R. R. Martin.

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Reviews by Floresiensis and Joshua S Hill

101 positive reader review(s) for A Game Of Thrones

243 positive reader review(s) in total for the A Song of Ice and Fire series

George RR Martin biography

Natkrit from UK

This movie is very interesting in it's setting and story line. Character development are so smooth they make you attached to the story. I recommend this series to everyone but keep in mind that it is quite dark.

Game of thrones from Kazakhstan

This is the best book I've ever read. It's gripping. It feels like you are in another world. I recommend it.

Eric from America

This is a great book. I enjoy the brutal realism of the characters and the world that Martin has built.

McIntosh from USA

How are they considering Game of Thrones high fantasy? It seems like the perfect example for low fantasy to me. Most of the show revolves around politics and wars, and magic isn't a normal part of everyday life.

Brecken from USA

There are no books I love more than the A Song of Ice and Fire. Honestly, it deserves so much better than a 9.5 (based on books I've seen with higher ratings that don't measure up nearly as high as ASOIAF). I almost exclusively read fantasy and these books are as good as lord of the rings, in a different way (a very different way). The best thing is they are all about character. In fantasy, characterization is often put to the side so that cool battles and fun magic can be explored more. There are only two characters in the entire series that I know are the bad guys, and the author even has me feeling bad for them at some points. Every character feels real, and there are moments where I have hated every one of them, and moments where I have loved them. They all develop over time in ways that you can barely notice until it hits you that, wow, that character isn't evil anymore. There are a million plot lines, and each one is very real. No one cheats, no one can "just do the magic thing" to get out of a situation. Actions have consequences. Our favorite characters die, and the bad ones get to live. It is extremely well written, fast paced in some places and slow in others. The books have a depth that make you want to read the series over and over again so you can find out just what is going on with the characters, and catch all of the hints and symbolism the author puts in there. I will never look at fantasy the same again, this series has changed my world view.

Kath from England

Takes a while to read and some parts are slow but the storyline is amazing and I highly recommend.

I loved AGOT. An absolute masterpiece. I could not put it down even if I had wanted to.

Sundar from Lal

This book, and the other books published of the series, are as impressive and amazing piece of literature. The characters in the story are superb. I read these book and absolutely had to recommend them to every book buddy.

Rebekah from New Zealand

This thick, material crammed book is written so brilliantly that it is impossible for one to get bored whilst reading. I enjoy the fact that everyone is somehow connected in the story, no matter how far away they all seem from each other. What additionally made this novel awesome was that at each end of chapters, GRRM would leave a cliff-hangar, forcing you to read on till it's 3:34 on a school morning. I would rate this book 11/10 is I could.

Ewan from Scotland

This book was the first book I finished on my own and not being forced (English in school). This book is so good that it made me, someone who would never even try a book. Get into reading, you know it's good.

Alice from England

I will give it just over half stars, purely because I think that the concept is brilliant, and the series begins very strongly, with the first book in particular being excellent. However, sadly, what could have been an explosive series slowly dissolved into an anti climax with absolutely nothing happening. Book one, and most of book two are very good, book three has some interesting parts, although admittantly it begins to loose structure, book four however, I struggled with despite flying through the preceding books and I gave up on book five. It seems that the interesting characters that Martin established in the first book have either been killed off or their storylines have dried out and have subsequently been replaced with much less interesting characters and storylines. All in all, the disappointment factor when reflecting upon what this story could have been is perhaps the worst thing about it. It could have been great, and it has its moments, but when you look at the potential that Martin had to begin with, which slowly dissolves into nothing, it's just such a shame that he couldn't carry it out and that's the worst thing about the series, the dreadful waste of potential. Still, I wouldn't say avoid it completely, just be aware that this story will probably not play out the way you had hoped and you may well find yourself as disappointed as I was.

Alex from Greece

I absolutely loved it, the whole idea, the writting style... but damn I have to admit that the fourth book was bloody boring. I do not get why everyone disses that "Dance with Dragons" (fifth) book though. I found it quite interesting.

Maria from US

"Six" as a rating is deceptive. I gave 10 to the first three books, and single stars to the last two books, and 6-7 is what I got. Sadly, the last two books take all the momentum of the first three, and flush it down the toilet. I wish they didn't. I'm waiting for book six, and hoping that Martin gets his act together, but at this point the story is so bloated that it's unlikely to happen. If anyone wants an excellent series that moves like a well-oiled machine from start to finish, try Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy.

Wayne from US

Awesome book, enticing read. Love the series and people complaining how it's poorly written... Seriously?This is really a great series, not a single one of you could even come close to matching Martin's writing.

Jayne from United States

For a while, I've been trying to figure out how I feel about these books (I've read all 5). They're a deviation from the traditional fantasy storyline (hero that overcomes all vs. true evil) and I can appreciate and respect Mr. Martin's boldness. I do think he does it well, the story is well written and always keeps you guessing. I didn't have a problem with the multiple characters and their separate chapters (I made it through the Wheel of Time series and loved it), but I did have a problem with caring what happens. I like that Mr. Martin has no qualms about killing off whatever character needed to die and the revolving complexity of the plot is really interesting. But honestly, what I think he lost between the multiple characters and their impermanence was making me care about the character. I think he shows their negative sides much more than any goodness in them and in not knowing how long they're going to be around, I found myself avoiding getting too emotionally involved in their stories to the point that I just don't really care what happens to them anymore. I also agree with another reviewer here in that somewhere the overall plot gets lost. Also I'm just confused about the role of the whole "winter is coming" idea - I would like to see that come to more prominence because I could see that forcing everyone to set aside their differences and their petty politics to fight a common foe - and it's seemed like that since the very first chapter. Overall, I say kudos to Mr. Martin for daring to break the traditional fantasy conventions and hopefully opening a whole new realm of possibilities for other writers but I hope that after this series, he learns from his mistakes and writes a much better one. I give it 6 stars for boldness, creativity, interesting characters and good writing.

Felix from America

An absoloutely brilliant novel. In my opinion, A Game of Thrones is one of the greatest fantasy novels ever written by one of the best authors ever. George RR Martin is able to capture emotions and build suspense and leaves you wanting more. A truly great novel.

Jake from Australia

To all the haters, you're entitled to your opinion. I like to recall the story of how the producers of the TV show read a part of the first book and were immediately overwhelmed, impressed, taken by the imagery, the ambience, the sense of place and the characters. So, at least 2 people in the world were touched by the book. Now that's 2 more than a lot of other writers.

Anthony from UK

To those who say the writing isn't good, I challenge you to write at Martin's level. You'd fail. The different pespectives add depth to the story but I understand that some people might have trouble understanding.

d'Argantel from Japan

Since so far I read but Game of Thrones, the first book to the series. I wish to note that in no mean I judge the series alltogether. G.R.R. Martin have created an interesting world with lots of likeable charachters, epic story and unique in a sense playing with reader... The problem I have is that it's boring. No, not the story, however overdone and simple, but the narrative. Never have I reade such flat descriptions and emotionless dialouge, not to mention forced expositions... Honestly , the idea of charachter perspective told story with each chapter being presented from pov of different one involved in an event is nice, the execution is less than impressive. If not for the HBO show I would have hard time getting into the presented world. Another thing are all the Deus Ex Machina literaly forcing the plot to continue the intended way. [spoiler] Honestly no one thought that it is odd that before Joffrey there was no other Baratheon of blond hair?[/spoiler] To be honest I am almost sure the whole book series was written from the very first page to be made into a movie or, as it came to be, tv series. HBO patches some holes, adds here, takes away there and makes the story overall better and of course... Puts life into the charachters and dialogue! I hope the other books of the series are better because so far my jaw hurts from yawning.

Gordon from Oklahoma, USA

A Game of Thrones, and the rest of the Fire and Ice series, are the finest stories I have read in many years, and I am a prolific reader who enjoys many different categories of literature. After having read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as the Hobbit a few years ago while the Peter Jackson movies were being progressively released, I am of the opinion that "A Game of Thrones" and the entire Fire and Ice series to this point are several steps above anything Tolkien ever wrote. An added bonus is the result of HBO is doing a great job of bringing the Fire and Ice books to the homes of people who would never consider picking up a 1000 page novel. Anybody who bothers to read each of the books from both writers can count themselves lucky to be able to enjoy such well written literature. For those who have seen the HBO series and enjoyed it so far, you should read A Game of Thrones and decide for yourself if the written material is superior to the theatrical release. I would also put this series above the Harry Potter books and movies.

Emily from England

Read it because of the series on television and am not ashamed. It does include adult scenes, which I thought fitted the atmosphere of the novel and I am a teenager, so it is understandable I would find them more awkward... I didn't. You can't complain about not understanding the novel if you don't read all of it, including the 'boring' parts. All the Tolkien lovers need to broaden their horizons. GRRM isn't trying to be Tolkien, he's an epic writer on his own with his own style.

Kah from Brazil

This is modernity, I guess. The way of narrating a story has certainly changed. Things are about discourse and action, now. "Less plot" and "more character". This is a great epic which is providing nice adaptations. Of course, the plot is very long and, because of this, its quality oscilates sometimes. I myself didn't like the fourth book (the first three books were an amazing experience) and the fifth has been little playful. But this is not about comparing G.R.R.M to Tolkien or Lewis. This is about accepting what this generation is producing and understand it withouth making anacronisms.

Thomas from England

I would like to point out that the book being reviewed is Game Of Thrones, not the whole series, A Song Of Ice And Fire, which many people seem to be forgetting...

Eric Showatt from Australia

People seem to think the reason why the opinion about this series is so divided because the way the author kills off the character and the amount of angst, miseries this series content. While this may seem like a plausible reason, the real reason is actually far more simple. Game of Thrones sucks. Period. Now I'm not here to troll or bash the author - I'm here to review this series honestly. There is no doubt in my mind that GRRM is one of the most prolific writer of our time. His world building ability is on par with Tolkien, and the character he has created are very realistic and interesting. One can almost read Game of throne like an alternative history if we forget all the magical element within the story. The political motivation of each character are very well defined and the consequences for failure in this series are heavy - you are lucky if you managed to die a clean death, as is the case with Ned Stark. He died, sure, but there are many character who ended up wishing they were dead but couldn't quite manage it because their tormentors prevent them from doing so. There is beauty in this book. Beauty in the finality of death and the cruelty of living. However... I would like to ask every reviewer and every reader of Game of Thrones, what is the actual plot of this series? Lots of things happen, sure. You get loads and loads of characters. Each of them have their own arc. Some gets killed off, some don't, but are any of them truly relevant? Just consider this for a second and you will see what an appalling story the series is - it's not actually a story. It's many story woven into one book, like a game that contains several character sheet and no main plot whatsoever. Things unfold, but it's just things that happens. If I were to describe what this story is about, I would simply say "It's a book about a bunch of things that happened in a land called Westeros", and that's pretty much what the series has become by the end of the third book. Now I will go on to say that the first book is simply breath taking. There is actually a plot, and the characters pov are consistent and - most importantly - relevant. You get the honorable idiot Ned Stark who is trying to figure out why Jon Arryn was killed, while his wife and kids are trying to figure out who pushed Bran off the balcony. The two conspiracies tied together, because what Bran witnessed was the key to Ned Stark's hunt for the reason why Jon Arryn is killed and why he is becoming involved in the first place. The subplot with Dany? That's just the icing on the cake, like something that you can either read or ignore completely. The tradition continues on to the second book, after Ned stark's tragedy, the land is divided and the war happens. We see the brutal aftermath, we see the people fighting for the Iron Throne. While the plot began to dwindle after the first book, the characters are presented with one goal - that is to fight for the Iron Throne, with a subplot of getting their loved ones back to safety. However, after the third book everything went downhill. The war is more or less resolved. The winner and losers are already evident. Major character are killed off, new ones are introduced but none of them are coherent anymore. Everything literally becomes "just shit that happens", and the entire series has become a wait for "something to happen". And that's why the series has become such a disappointment in so many eyes. If anyone has to ball to say GRRM can't write for a damn, they have no business in writing or creative industry in general. However, if anyone says reading A Song of Ice and Fire is becoming increasingly pointless, then you have my sympathy. I've no doubt that things are going to change now that Dany and Tyrion is coming back to the mainland to reclaim their home, but as it stands today, Game of Thrones is a massive disappointment that has a strong beginning but poorly executed plot throughout the middle.

Manpreet from India

This book is full of all the emotions and elements; this book is a journey full of violence, treachery, loyalty honesty, love, families, romance, conspiracies, back stabbing and much more. Read the complete review of the book - GAME OF THRONES on my blog - http://manpreetkaur93.blogspot.in/2013/03/book-review-game-of-thrones.html

Maja from Croatia

I studied literature and know that some of the best books ever written did not develop stories, characters and endings the way the audience wants or deserves. It's not a matter of a compromise. However, these days, for the fact of globalisation we as readers want to think that the book, the author and the reader are one big factory. I prefer waiting for each book sequence in suspense, even if it does not satisfy my expectations. JRRM's Song of Ice and Fire in my opinion is simply amazing, and it's definitively not easy to read. It's like an expanding storm that swirls the characters and plots in concentric circles. Consumes time for sure, and if you think it's too long - you should read shorter books. If you think it's overly descriptive - you're missing the beauty of visualisation of every spot and object and character, when you should be grateful to JRRM for letting you see what he is seeing. It's not a one-read-book and will show you something new every time you reread.

Hans from Belgium

I enjoyed reading it. And i will finish it. This is mainly because i believe the story has enormous potential to end , and i quote the great academic J Clarkson , on ' a bombshell'. But i do have to critisize a bit. The book is frustratingly long. To long. 5 books would have sufficed. At this point i'm acctually just hoping jrrm doesnt screw up the ending his readerers/fans deserve.

Jonathan from United States

This is a great and wonderful read, from start to finish it keeps you guessing and gets you involved with each and every character, so much so that you find yourself falling in love with each one of them, even the not so nice ones, and if you see a bad rating it's simply because that person did not get it or understand the plot.

Anon from Sydney, Australia

It's not that the author is trying to say that good people die, it's just that a lot of people really don't get what goes on. It's the most cunning and luckiest that survive. The characters do tend to change quickly from time to time, which would level my rating down a bit, and some of the characters I love to hate. It is unpredictable and the last two books have been a droll, again lowering my rating. Overall, it's a great fantasy book, and better in quality than a lot of other fantasy novels. The lore is immersive and detailed, though some parts unecessary. The book may have started out as Lancaster vs York (as in War of the Roses, which is what the books are based on) but now it's turned into a massive fight for dominance over land and power, with no one exactly safe and leaving a lot of hype. Do hope Martin picks up in the next book and hurries it up a bit. And I don't get why people say the good guys always lose... most of the characters are grey and do what they believe is right. The good guys occasionally triumph. For the people saying that they want to argue why it's not good, wish there was a comment section.

Jon from UK

Captain Frogbert, you a clearly a moron who is obsessed with LOTR. I really don't even know where to start with how wrong you are on every point you made in your review of this book. If you are really that upset with this book you should just go read LOTR another eleventy twelve times and leave the rest of us alone.

Anon from Anon

OMG I have just finished the blooming lot of them and I have to exactly the same confusion, I am utterly exasperated that barely a plot line has been concluded... The whole thing after the quite good Clash of Kings has become an utter nonsense, time I will never get back.

Sean from Australia

It's ok. He's not a particularly good writer, in terms of characterisation (some of the pov writing of the younger characters is execrable) and the book is pointlessly long. I have severe difficulty in accepting that any reader who gave this book 10 stars has seriously thought at all about the possibility that a 15 year old could successfully lead a hardened army into battle without a viceroy pulling he tactical strings or that a 4 year old would be capable of being the master of a a wild wolf... Ok it's fantasy, but that doesn't mean it has to be total b.s. If it wasn't for Tyrion the book would stink quite badly. Convolution is no substitute for good writing, by the way. Good for fantasy writing but it ain't great... Watch the series instead, still contains a teeth- gratingnumber of 'yes, my liege' type conversations, but again, Tyrion saves the day.

Guy from England

I am outraged at the position of this series on the top 100 list. This should be at least second (the Malazan Book Of The Fallen is also AWSOME). Out of the many, many books that I have read these are my favourite: the many interwoven storylines are well thoughtout and presented. The books set a new level of fantasy, portraying a brutal, gritty and mature story with many hundreds of realistic characters. There are no good vs evil here, no super powered imortal heroes. Martin is a master writer, he leaves you laughing and weeping and it is extremly easy to loose yourselve in his world. Once I got the first book (purchased on a whim) I was hooked and had read the whole series on the inside of a month. READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

John from John

Incredible. Simply incredible. Best high fantasy series I have ever read.

Andy from uk

the most engrossing read i just couldnt put it down. the first and third books are by far the best in the series up to this point in fact i read the third book in a fortnight. it does however contain an enourmous amount of characters and book four and five do meander somwhat however they are worth reading if not just for the character of ramsey bolton who is perhaps the most despicable creation ever to polute prose. overall a satisfying read and i just hope GRRM finishes the series before time catches up with him

John from Australia

Possibly one of the best series I've read in a while, every chapter is a cliff hanger.

Fateh from Canada

"Words are wind" go read the book to see for yourself how amazing it is!

Uday from Canada

I think most of the readers giving negative remarks just either can't take the complexity of the story or are the kind of people that have to have everybody live and have a corny happy ending. I mean one of the great things that GRRM has done with this series is how he makes you really love the characters-yes even Cersei- and how he isn't afraid of actually killing off those characters. That alone makes the story so much more interesting and suspenseful, because you never know when any character might die. Also, as for those of you saying that you don't see the importance of characters like Jon, Dany and Sansa you just haven't read far enough into the series. They're chapters become very interesting and you can really relate to them. The first three books have to be the best. The characters are rich, writing style superb, more of the fantasy and magic further on in the series and way the chapters are split really make you see things on a much larger scale and make you appreciate the effort of all that detail even more. Another thing, it takes lots of superb writing and imagination to not just use the "magic" part of fantasy to solve all of the conflicts, and than you can appreciate characters like Tyrion who use their intellect a lot more. If you liked the Wheel of Time I feel you will like the Song of Ice and Fire series just as much or more.

Jake from United States

Personally, I find people who really criticize this series only look at things on the surface (it's too long, too many characters, too graphic, poor characters, etc.). They don't look at things deeper, try and see why things are the way they are, and just think of this great series as a pointless kill fest. In reality, a lot of the space is meant to build tension and expand on things, the characters are much deeper than people give them credit for, and if you can't follow along then there is nothing I can do for you. Also, why would anyone say Martin's writing is bad? I think his prose is excellent and really develops emotion, atmosphere, and setting.

Wes from Australia

First off - this series isn't for everyone. It introduces a lot of characters, so if you struggle with that you won't like it. Second, no one is safe. For this, I love the series. But for many people who need to have their heroes survive - you will hate this. Third, the writing is long - but beautifully written, and I think some people will miss a lot of the intricacies and don't quite get the writing style. This series breaks a lot of convention, but if you can handle that and have the patience you will love it! If you struggle with multiple characters, need a safe happy warm ending and like a more traditional style this series isn't for you, and frankly that is where a lot of these negative comments are coming from. Also many of the negative reviews abandoned the series early on, and in my opinion the second volume of Storm of Swords is where it gets amazing. One reviewer felt characters got killed off and the story arcs ended there - to that, I say they aren't getting the bigger picture, but I won't say specifics as not to reveal any spoilers. Bear in mind it will be years before the next book, so if you don't want to wait that long (and possibly many years after that for the final book) then you might want to avoid the series. Otherwise, great read.

Jon from England

Overall, a very good series. The first three books are excellent (the third truly brilliant, 10/10 if considered in it's own right, in my opinion). The last two not so good, but still a reasonable read (I'm hoping that Martin will pick up his game again for the next books). It's been levelled here that he's not the best writer in the world and that's probably fair, but then neither was Tolkien (and he was an Oxford don) and I'm unlikely to read Erikson or Jordan for their literary value either, if it comes to it. He tells a good story and, whilst they're not as atypical as some reviews might like to suggest, he creates characters that you actually care about. This is evidenced here by the number of peole moaning about how he's killed off their favourite characters - it wouldn't upset you if you didn't like them. One thing that I particularly like about the series is the sparing use of magic. It's always been an annoyance in fantasy that when faced with a difficult situation, the writer could (quite literally) wave a magic wand at it. It also increases the impact on the reader when there actually is magic. As a result, this isn't a series for fans of more overtly magical fantasy. There aren't wizards, elves, goblins and orcs pouring out of the woodwork here. I think that due to the size of the series, there are now a lot of plot strands for Martin to hold together. This means that, firstly, it's tough to follow some times and secondly, it's tough for Martin to write. As a result, it takes him a while to get each installment written, so you need patience and a good memory. Finally, there's a lot of sex and violence. Really, who cares? Get over it.

Bob from England

This is a fantastic book but too little action and its quite slow to start.

Ivan from Canada

Wow, these books are incredible. Best books I've ever read. Do not listen to the trolls calling it poorly written. The number of different story lines and character incentives is incredible.. Probably too much for some readers to understand and they get lost with the amount of characters. Do yourself a favour and get these books!!!!!

Brett from Canada

Not sure if half the people are elitest or the other half are fanboys but I found the book very engrossing, funny and angering at times although I hate that he killed off my 3 favorite characters.

Maurice from Cayman Islands

Anyone not loving this series must be seriously dull or retarded. I have an IQ of 147, making me a genius and have read just about all the great fantasy series. This series yields to none.

Alex from Italy

The best book I ever read, just finished the third book and I can't get enough of it!

Andy from Ottawa, Canada

When I read these books (and I did read 1-5) there was not one moment where I was not totally into it. Once you get to know the characters, the books get better and better all the time... never mind the sex and the battles (for all you action thrillers who need "Actions" all the time). After book 1-3 there are no requirements for big battles scenes at least until the characters are deemed ready to do so. Its fantasy, its action, its drama, its horror, its all I need all at once. George R.R. Martin did a great achievement so far writing this most excellent story and I'm sure the next two books will be as good as the first five. - Cersei is sooooo cunning!

Veronique from Canada

The best book I have ever read!

Plato from Timbuktu

Nice writing style, excellent plot, amazing world. I love how Martin weaves together seemingly unconnected plotlines and shows us so many perspectives, giving us a much more sophisticated understanding of the story. The world Martin created is awesomely huge and complicated, although the endless introductions of new characters can be hard to get into. Also, the not-deaths get pretty annoying after a while. Other than this, I have no criticism for the series, and am eagerly awaiting the release of the 6th book.

JW from Canada

The best series of books ever written, IMHO. Martin is the Shakespeare of our time.

Nat from India

Well I had heard a lot about this book online and saw that it had got great reviews from everyone, moreover the HBO series of AGOT was also there so I finally decided to read this one.The book is um something very unique and good in its own way. It's gritty and mature more to the extent than I had anticipated, the plot is laid out brilliantly. The storyline and characters are good though it seems that Martin according to me didn't satisfactorily end it. The tortures through which the characters are put through and it seems that Martin's focus on keeping things like this makes me wonder that there won't be a great ending to this thing and things would cross to such an extent that it wouldn't matter at all. One more thing is that it's surprising a bit that there is absolutely next to no magic though there are some fantasy elements but for most of the times it seems like maybe a non fantasy novel. The book was with all things still great. Full of twists and surprises. Definitely a good read though maybe not for everyone.

Jani from Finland

I can't really understand many of the reviews posted here. The sex scenes I don't have a problem with. It's not like they are great, but I don't get ticked off about them either. The only complaint I agree with is the occasionally dull storyline (Arya's chapters mostly) but there are just more good chapters than bad. But the thing I really don't get is the overwhelming complaining of G.R.R. Martin killing the likeable characters. I mean come on people! SPOILERS!: The only important and likeable characters he has killed have been 1) Ned, who's from the old storyline like Robert with most of his grand deeds already done, 2) Robb, who was NOT a POV, and clearly not invested in storywise as much as his bastard brother, 3) Khal Drogo, again not a POV, 4) Oberyn Martell, appears only in like 4 chapters, not a POV, 5) Renly, not POV, his death making great room for Stannis character arc, 6) Tywin, who also was not a POV, and his death granted a great boost for Tyrion's character arc. I might be forgetting someone but not anyone special. Remember, Catelyn DOES NOT die, Bran and Rickon don't die either, not Davos, not Tyrion, not Jaime, not Daenerys, not Brienne, not Arya and it also seems that the Hound is still alive, working with his sins as are gravedigger. I am pretty sure that Jon doesn't die in book 5 either, just another Martin cliffhanger. A lot of the unlikeable characters have died. Joffrey, The Mountain, Balon Greyjoy and Theon is a spacecase. SPOILERS END. I myself found the books great, but a rating of 9 is accurate because George is occasionly stretching the storyline through cliffhangers and dull chapters.

Frank from Cork

The best fantasy series of all time in my opinion. It's a complex plot that makes you work and even re-read the books to pick up the clues, but if you do then you will be rewarded. It's not for everyone and if you want instant gratification, black and white good guys and bad guys, clean-cut dragon-slaying heroes, evil wizards, etc., or if you need to have the plot spoonfed to you, then ASoIaF is not for you. If you're the type of idiot who skips whole chapters and still expects to get something from the book, then ASoIaF is most certainly not for you. GRRM is a genius and this series is a brilliantly woven masterpiece. That said, I'm not surprised by some of the negative comments, there will always be people who prefer the likes of 50Cent to Beethoven.

Matt Cole from Vancouver BC

If writers are Gods - and they are - then George R.R. Martin is Zeus, King of Gods. Martin flawlessly weaves a tale of epic fantasy to launch, which is arguably the best fantasy series ever ( I know The Lord of The Rings and The Malazan Empire have their fans). Game of Thorns achieves not only because of a great plot, which does not stagnate, but because of the intriguing characters, both male and female, that are brought to life through Martin's skill. Tyrion, Sandor Clegane (the Hound), Cersei, Arya, and Daenerys are particularly memorable. This first installment is not heavily loaded with magic and the supernatural. Other than the appearance of a supernatural race in the opening pages and again briefly later on, and the emergence of other mythological creatures in the closing pages, Game of Thrones is devoid of magic and the supernatural. The conflict is among men and women, noble houses positioning themselves for the throne of a Kingdom. The book is laden with political intrigue, conspiracy, ambition, and hidden family secrets. Still, while the great houses maneuver for control of the throne, the reader is ever aware of a long dormant evil, that may rise to threaten the populace of the seven kingdoms. I am looking forward to getting into Clash of Kings & Storm of Swords and beyond. As per the suggestion from other reviewers that this book is too explicit, I can say I have no idea where this is coming from. I would not consider either the sex or violence in this book too explicit. Certainly Steven Erikson and R. Scott Bakker have gone farther in their series.

John from Ljubljana

I have read the first three books and they are all fantastic to read; they involve everything a great fantasy book needs. The series has an absurd amount of astonishingly realistic characters who couldn't be more different and yet at the same time they are all still the characters inhabiting this amazing fantasy world. I fell in love with the Game of Thrones almost immediately, mainly because of unexpected turns and twists, that are not so common in this genre. I highly recommend it to all fantasy fans out there.

Cat Fitzpatrick from London, UK

I think a main reason why there is such a difference in opinion regarding this series is that the fantasy element is very small compared to the huge volume of story. The main strength of A Song of Ice and Fire lies in the politics of a kingdom embroiled in a civil war where there isn't just two armies battling for the throne, there are up to seven various forces struggling to lay claim to either part or the whole of Westeros. There are very good characters that come through - Tyrion Lannister for one is really interesting, and I really like the deviousness of Petyr Baelish - but as you go through the books the volume of characters increases, which can swamp the story in parts, and characters can vanish for quite a long time whilst the others are worked through. The story can be quite slow and repetitive, and not enough time is spent to really build all of the main characters as well as they could be. Sex is also overused with everybody at it like rabbits or raping their way up and down the length of Westeros. However, some great set pieces are developed such as the use of wildfire in a river battle, and if you like epic stories this is richly detailed if maybe too over ambitious as to the amount of stuff crammed in. It's worth a read, but takes a lot of investment of time to get to the good bits.

James from Philadelphia

This is one of my favorite series of all time. Being able to understand so many different characters' perspectives on the books' events makes the series an extremely interesting read. Books 1-3 are absolutely brilliant. 4 and 5 are a little less so, but I partly chalk that up to the fact that you only see half the POV characters in each. I am eagerly awaiting the final two installments and I hope they can live up to the promise that the series has shown up till now.

J�rn from Hagalid

Amzing is an understatement.

Erik from Ohio

The first three books are great. They held my attention throughout with lots of different things happening in the same time period due to the variety of characters. I like the setup of writing chapters about certain characters, and it's even more exciting when one character's fate brings them alongside another main character in the same chapter. I wish GRRM would have kept the Starks intact with their direwolves completing the immensely strong family, but it's not all happy endings in life either.

Modesto from New York

This is a great adult fantasy series. This story is not for everyone. Especially for people who like sexy elves and tough dwarfs... Not for those who seek instant gratification. This is fantasy, a whole new fantasy, an adult fantasy. I love how people are mad that certain characters are killed off but yet they bash the book, if you were not hooked and attached to the character you wouldn't care someone got knocked off. So that is what GRRM does, he hooks you right in, (**SPOILER**) I see a lot of complaints over Ned's death, Ned is in the book maybe a handful of chapters, HAHA. (**End of Spoiler**) Sure there is a lot of fill in but that makes the world he created bigger, brighter, darker, dangerous, sexier and more alive than most reads out there today. This story is fantasy, thriller, exotic and poetic, you can argue it's real, if Westeros existed and Dothraki... That is how people would have lived, killed and ventured. It would be A Song of Ice and Fire!

George from Toronto

This story is the best ever written in any genre, period. The first book is a wonder, the second is as good, and the third is best in the series. I agree, the fourth and fifth aren't my favourites. But they're still above-average. I can't wait to see how the story concludes -- Martin is planning a total of 7 books. I read some of the negative reviews. The ones who are negative put right in their review that they skipped chapters. What? Martin is a genius story teller, he didn't write 1,000 pages for his health. It was for a purpose. If you skip a chapter, how on earth can you complain if the rest of the story stops making sense? The man is a God. I read Erikson, Tolkien, Rothfuss, Hemmingway, and also crap like the Hunger Games. Martin's story is #1 by a significant margin.

Claire from Cardiff

Finished reading 'Game of Thrones' last night. Now I am just falling out of bed to get to my nearest bookshop for 'A Clash of Kings'. Yup. It's that GOOD! Haven't been able to put it down...

Kaleb from Colorado

After having just finished reading the first book in the series. Anyone who says it is boring or not well written has odd to questionable taste. This book is easy to read and I found my self engrossed in the plot and totally lost in the world the author created. Martin leaves it no secret that characters make the story. I don't see how people can be so quick to criticize. I have only read the 1st book, but I would say Martin is the equivalent of Hemmingway when it comes to the Fantasy genre. I was lost at times due to the amount of characters, but between watching the show and reading the novel, it wasn't that bad. The book definitely is better than the series. The HBO writers tried to make it adaptable to their style shows. There are gay references, an over emphasis on sex, and it strays from the dialogue of the book where I thought it would be better to just be faithful to the book. Overall an amazing read and I'm looking forward to the 2nd book.

Alex from Alaska

This is a different kind of fantasy book. This is my favorite of the 5 books out so far in the series. I like it because it lays such a powerful groundwork. (Spoiler alert). I thought the prologue with the Others was an introduction to a world of magic and wizardry. Much the opposite. Eddard Stark goes south, I thought to right the wrongs of the kingdom. No, he dies. I felt like Sansa in the book - I grew up reading 'fantasy' novels where good wins and good and evil are clear and heroes did great more than human things. But Martin is not interested in that kind of story - he is telling history the way it happens - to individuals involved in the muck. I was drawn to the book for its fantasy roots, but in truth this is a book for anyone interested in political thrillers or history buffs. It's like reading the diaries of many historical figures, and putting the history together that way, as a historian does it. I don't think it's accurate to refer to Martin as the American Tolkien. Few characters in Tolkien's world are interested in being human. They are superbly good or superbly bad. I prefer to compare him to Victor Hugo, specifically to Les Miserables, which goes into great detail in order to explain a moment in a characters life. The book doesn't tell you the moment is important, because it has BECOME important. Such is the ability of Martin to cause us to care about his characters. Must-read.

John from New York

Do not listen to the low rated reviews. Anyone who claims that "nothing is happening" or that the characters "lack depth" are probably not capable of picking up on how much is actually happening in the book.

Ben from California

I can't see why people are so divisive in their reviews of this book... I almost listened to the negative comments, and I'm glad I didn't! It is extremely entertaining for those who like to actually read, and I suggest any fan of the fantasy genre to pick it up immediately. You'll find yourself rooting for characters you wouldn't think to -Tyrion Lannister is perhaps the best anti-hero I've ever read. READ IT!

Michael Patrick from Niceville, Florida

Great series. I'm on the second book and like them so far. Many of these reviews have said that as you progress the writing gets weaker, but so far I see no cause or effect of that. Bottom line great series similar to Tolkien but easier to understand and not so boring.

Joel from Australia

These comments seem to be either at the bottom or the top of the scale. It's quite confusing, really. I'm currently on the second book and loving it, the main flaw I have is that I find Bran's character and his chapters are boring, but that's subjective. Aside from that, I recommend these books if you aren't afraid of some adult themes.

Simao from Vila Nova de Cacela

Excellent book, a must read, Tyrion lannister is simply incredible, lots of twists. Incredibly written.

Anders from Norway

An excellent book! If you like action fantasy you should deffinitly read this book.

Chris from Middlesbrough

Excellent book, loved the structure of it. the series was a little dissapointing (only minor things such as Tyrion's war efforts not being the same as in the book, and possibly a general low 'first series' budget). I'm just instantly thrown into the fictional world that GRRM created and wish that I'd lived in times like that myself!.. Brilliant

Jessica from Belgium

Nearly finishing book 2 - A Clash of Kings - of the ICE & FIRE Series, this is indeed an incredible way of writing , capturing times that we will never know. Because of the multiple character roles, you get different perspectives of the storyline and the plots combined. Reads a lot more fluent then Lord of the rings ever did. Highly recommendable author. This is what fantasy really needs to be .. I won't be surprised if these were filmed by James Cameron or Steven Spielberg one day.

Mike from Pittsburgh

I just don't understand how some reviewers are giving this series less than nine stars and are calling the writing middle school level. Martin's prose is leagues above any modern fantasy writer and is better then Tolkien in my opinion. I have read some good modern fantasy, namely Erikson and Sanderson, and none of them even come close to matching the character depth and plot development that Martin weaves. Hands down, this is the greatest fantasy series of all time.

Gary from Vancouver, BC

This book will always have a special place in my heart for it's heavily inspiring story-line. George R.R. Martin has the vigorous spirit to lift this tale of the altered Europe (via medieval period), with plenty of appealing characters which seem astute as they are tantalizing. The fact that it doesn't follow a typical mono myth had me interested, because many high fantasy that I have read, had done so. Overall this book had a few faults (What book doesn't?) though it was an enriching tale.

Kyle from Kentucky

HMMMMMM.... lets imagine for a second, you're stuck in a time period where there are no cell phones, security cameras or even police around to keep the naughty kids from coming out to play. What do you think would happen? Probably wouldn't be pretty, but we now chose to forget that our morals of today weren't the morales of ancestors. They didn't have welfare or the Salvation Army, if you were hungry or freezing you would probably have to do some pretty bad things to better your situation. And if you've bashed a man's head in for a chunk of bread some of the other things that GRRM writes about probably wouldn't seem to bad. I think he does an excellent job capturing the morale dilemmas of the time period. If you think murder, rape and incest weren't common in that time period then you're extremely naive! Great book though, do read.

Connor from America

I find it funny how the shallow reader claims this book is all about good versus evil when it's really about how people are neither good or evil but GRRM is a great writer and one I will gladly keep following.

Zuzurlo from Italy

Stunning! That's what this serie is! I couldn't even sleep because I had to read more and more. It's the best around for whoever is not afraid of a little adult content. The only downside is that it's 2 books and many years short of the end.

Tony from UK

My god how is this series not in the top ten! George RR Martin is the American Tolkien. A Song of Ice and Fire is top notch adult fantasy and there is a good reason why these books are best sellers. The current rating here is not a good advertisement for the website. I voted 10/10 to try and bump it up a bit.

Aaron from Australia

An engaging and thrilling start to a fanastic series, Game of Thrones is fantasy filled with political intrigue, double crosses, betrayals and shocking reversals. The characters of Game of Thrones are the stand out feature, with deep personailites, it's difficult to identify who the real heroes and villains are (and after five books I still don't know). Oddly these reader reviewers have been hijacked by puritans who feel compelled to descibe the books as dull AND obscene. Allow me to retort: what a load of bollocks. While sex and violence are elements of the book, they're never used gratuitously. Anyone who claims the books are pruile or offensive, or that they felt ill reading them, obviously hasn't read many novels above a Harry Potter reading level. There's more explicit content in the 117 bible verses that make Song of Songs of Solomon.

Rod from West Country

I saw the HBO mini series, and thought that the book is usually better, I will read it. I am so pleased I did! Absorbing, Super Epic, no one is safe, not the heroes, not the villains. There is magic but malevolant........ Downside only five books...

William from London

I think that this is a good read, however, having read four of the books now, I am struggling to carry on. Firstly Martin seems to take an age to write his books, and secondly, it just to seems to me to be unbelievable how many of the main protagonists and characters are all killed off or changed dramatically in such a short period of time. So, a good read, but don't get too close to any of the characters, as by the end of a novel, it is likely something you don't want to happen to them... has.

Rob from UK

Epic is an understatement.

Kyle from Indiana

I've only just started this series and I plan to finish it. It's the best thing my eyes have ever seen, hands down!

Paul from Glasgow

Steep learning curve at the start as Martin introduces a plethora of new characters in rapid succession; still found myself sucked in completely and ended up reading the whole series.

Shell from Winchester

Brilliant series - can't wait for film series.

Ryan from Wisconsin

A Game of Thrones definitely deserves to be rated up with Lord of the Rings. Has some of the most interesting and in-depth characters of any fantasy book.

JP from Finland

I have read first three books of this series so far and enjoyed it very much. GRRM is not a superb writer in all meanings of that but he definitely knows how to write hard as rock fantasy series.

John from Leeds

A Song of Ice and Fire is pretty much the last word in medieval fantasy. Martin's work is in a league of its own, head and shoulders above the next comparable work in terms of plotting, characterisation, world building and quality of writing. Other authors may as well abandon the medieval milieu and explore new avenues in fantasy, as there is little left to say on the matter that this series does not say better.

Mathias from Gothenburg

Simply the best fantasy epic ever written. Nuff said.

Tim from Perth-Andover

Someone said Eragon was better than this. .. .. .. ...after I stopped laughing, I decided to write this review. Martin's books are some of the best fantasy being written today. The time it takes for them to come out should not judged as part of their quality. Are they simple commercial fare? No. Emphatically no. These are books for intelligent people who like to read. They deserve to be higher on the list.

PP from The Hague

One of the best fantasy series so far... however I understand why it is not on the top of the list: the series is not complete and me and probably many others will wonder whether or not the series will ever be complete. The story lines are becoming more and more complex and interwoven in every next book GRR writes. But still, like a Leonardo's David without the head...

Anthony from Cardiff

I had to correct my review. Just finished the 4 books and I am totally ashamed of my last comments. Its simply that the more you read the rewards will come. I am 37 and have been listening to audio books for a year now, since I have lost my sight. Talented writers like this keep blind people in the world sane. I am gutted I have to wait for the next book - Mr Martin please hurry up!

Eric from Quebec

In my opinion, one of the best series, probably my favorite. In most series, it is easy to expect what will come next. This is one series where everyone has an opinion, and a different one (if you debate with other readers). Not everyone agrees who they think will be the "main" character in the end, if any. I really love to see how, from every character's perspective, their perception of Right and Wrong changes. It makes you think about what we do in our lives, that we consider "right", that from another perspective would be viewed as "wrong". Overall, this story makes me think, surprises me and captivates me, which are the foremost reasons I use what time I have to read =)

William from California

First off George R. R. Martin has got to be the SLOWEST author in history. With only 4 of the 7 planned books released, don't plan on finishing this series for at least a decade. The book itself is not bad. The prose is good and the plot is fairly intricate. However what I find the drawback of this series is the, I guess you would call it realism, or pessimism maybe. The good guys don't always win in this, in fact, they usually lose. I am going to finish the series because it is fairly well written and I am curious about the ending. But I doubt I will ever want to reread it like I have with many other series. Just my 2cents.

Dustin from Washington

Amazing piece of literature, the character development and the story telling is superb. I read these book and absolutely had to recommend them to everybody I knew. Several of my co-workers started reading the books and they all love them as well. There IS a reason for all the hype behind this series.

Tom from Qc

Really, GRRM is not a writer, he is a god! A Song of Ice and Fire is way better than the Lord of the Rings! I have almost finished the last published book so far. A Song for Lya is very good too, GRRM is not only good for fantasy, he is a great SF writer too!PS - sorry for my bad English, I'm a French Canadian.

Lester from Manchester

This is amazing. The entire series is amazing. Buy these amazing books!

Darren from Wilkinson

This book is much better than Lord of the Rings. It really is that simple. LOTR was overly descriptive and had far too many silly songs and dances. Tyrion Lannister is one of the best characters in fiction. Buy the whole series - you won't be disappointed.

Chris from Netherlands

This book, and all of the series, got me reading till 3.00am. Martin uses Point of View characters to reveal bits of his plot in such a maner that you're always hoping to find out more. I for one couldn't wait to read the next chapter of my favorite characters. Beware, as the review says, bad things will happen to the characters you like most. Hate it or love it, every page you turn could mean the end, it's thrilling and exciting in every way...

Steve from Burton

This book, and the other books published of the series, are as absorbing and intriging as any I've read. Could replace Tolkien at the top of your bookshelf.

Russell from Cardiff

I think you've rated this book to low, it at least deserves to be on a par with Ursula Le Guin's books. Don't get me wrong, the Earthsea books are great and among my favourites but this is quality fantasy and needs to be seen as such.

9.2 /10 from 102 reviews

All George RR Martin Reviews

A Song of Ice and Fire (A Song of Ice and Fire)
Fire and Blood (A Song of Ice and Fire Companion)
A Game Of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 1)
A Clash Of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 2)
A Storm of Swords 1: Steel and Snow (A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 3)
A Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold (A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 3)
A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 4)
A Dance With Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 5)
The Armageddon Rag
Tuf Voyaging
A Game of Thrones: Graphic Novel Volume 3
Dangerous Women
The Ice Dragon
Inside Straight (Wild Cards)

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A Game of Thrones

By george r. r. martin.

From an intricately well-streamlined story to realistically-depicted characters, great detail in settings, excellent description of events, and well-crafted dialogues, ‘A Game of Thrones’ is undoubtedly one of the best stories in the fantasy genre.

Article written by Joshua Ehiosun

C2 certified writer.

As of April 2019, A Song of Ice and Fire has sold 90 million copies worldwide. It exists in more than 45 languages. George R. R. Martin’s epic tale of family, war, history, dragons , and blood has become an inspiration to upcoming writers and an undeniable source of entertainment to readers.

‘ A Game of Thrones ’ became popular because of its story. Its intense attention to detail in an extensive universe made it easy to follow the characters on their journey of identity, honor, and sacrifice.

George R. R. Martin introduces the reader to an abstract concept, the White Walkers. The introduction of the monsters in the prologue creates a feeling of intensity and looming danger. The story begins, and Martin puts the reader on a pedestal where they watch as the primary characters try to overcome their problems.

The first character to face a problem is Ned Stark. As the lord of Winterfell , he receives a letter that puts him in a dilemma. He learns the king, Robert Baratheon , is coming to visit and learns of the death of his dear friend, Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King . Ned’s dilemma grows as Robert asks him to become the new Hand of the King . Though he realizes the gravity of the position offered to him, he agrees to become the Hand of the King, a decision that changes his life forever.

The story’s introduction of more than one conflict into Ned’s life hooks readers as they want to know what happens next. When Ned follows Robert to King’s Landing , he discovers that the world of politics does not respect honor. However, he decides not to adapt; this leads to his death.

When Ned dies, the reader enters an uncomfortable position where they realize that Martin’s universe has no pity for its heroes and does not follow the logic of moral values.

The story of ‘ A Game of Thrones ‘ puts other primary characters in dilemmas they do not wriggle out of easily. Jon Snow joined the Night’s Watch to become a warrior with an identity. However, he realizes that his oath has put him in a position where he can not help any of his family. The dilemma forces him to abandon everyone he once loved.

Daenerys, on the other hand, was a young girl of 13 thrown into the world of pain, tears, and suffering. At the young age of 13, her brother gifts her like a piece of jewelry, and even though she rises above the first hurdle, her life comes crashing down as everything she loves, her husband, her unborn child, and the people she feels attached to leave her. She becomes a shadow of happiness and realizes that the world does not revolve around kindness.

Sansa, a lovely and elegant girl, believed that the world is a place where knights fought dragons and defeated the bad guys. However, she realizes that the world is cruel and dark and it does not care for lords, knights, and even kings. Tyrion, the dwarf son of Tywin Lannister , gets placed in a dilemma that puts his head on the line. However, the story shows how he craftily wriggles out of the dangerous situation. It also intentionally shatters the dream of its characters and forces them to admit to reality.

The intentional gradual introduction of dilemmas into the characters’ lives makes the story realistic in a way that makes the reader reflect on the rules of morality, honor, and love. The reader gets forced to change their perception regarding fantasy as the story makes them admit the reality of the consequences of actions and choices made by characters.

‘A Game of Thrones’ uses an extensive list of characters to propel its story forward. The use of limited prescience according to the characters’ perceptions makes the story transcend as the characters grow. It puts its characters in dilemmas that make them choose between morality and survival; this adds an overwhelming sense of realism to the consequences of the actions taken by the characters.

For primary characters like Ned, Bran, Sansa, Arya, Jon, Daenerys, Tyrion, and Catelyn, the presence of conflict forces them to change their perception of the world. Ned was an honorable man who believed in family and friendship. However, he learns that honor sends a man to an untimely grave when he does not adapt to a society of corruption.

Bran’s accident forces him to realize he will never be a knight , no matter how hard he tries. He faces reality and has to start thinking about how the loss of his legs will affect his future. Sansa, a naïve girl who believes in elegance, comes to grips with reality after watching her father lose his head. Jon, a bastard son, realizes that his insatiable desire to get his identity cut him off from his family.

Jon learns that because he decided to join the Night’s Watch, he can no longer help his brother in the war against the Lannisters. Daenerys had to admit that the world never cared for her. After losing everything in the blink of an eye, she faces the harsh truth that life throws darts of reality and forces one to reevaluate themselves.

Another crucial aspect of characterization in the story is the value of minor characters. ‘A Game of Thrones’ features over 50 valuable minor characters. The intricate design of each minor character adds depth to the overall story as the characters help propel the story while assisting the primary characters through motivation and antagonization. Minor characters like Mirri Maz Duur , Syrio Forel , Bronn , and Sandor Clegane impact the primary characters’ lives as their actions change their perception of life.

‘A Game of Thrones’ uses excellently crafted dialogues to push its plot forward and give its reader a better understanding of Martin’s fantasy world. The use of dialogue to describe characters, explain concepts of morality, and narrate the history and how it affected the present world of Westeros makes it a pillar of the story. With each dialogue, Martin emulates the voice and being of the characters when they converse with others by showing their faults, aspirations, and thoughts on morality, fairness, and justice.

Martin’s unique vocabulary makes the dialogue resonate with an anciently historical tone; this makes the novel addictive as the readers get dragged into the conversations between characters and choose if each interaction has real-world value. When Tyrion meets Jon Snow, he gives him a piece of advice that stems from his experience with life. Tyrion tells Jon that a dwarf has little value in the world. He makes Jon realize that reality treats everyone differently and is never fair.

Writing Style and Conclusion

‘A Game of Thrones’ employs a limited third-person perspective to lure the reader into its world. George R. R. Martin’s use of limited prescience adds the element of uncertainty to the story as the reader gets put through a roller-coaster of events that goes against the heroes and favors the antagonists. Though it sometimes helps the protagonists, they get forced to experience the overwhelming burden of failure, regret, and pain.

In its conclusion, ‘A Game of Thrones’ ends on a cliffhanger. The story’s conclusion makes it one of the best novel endings ever because it makes the protagonists reevaluate their stance on morality and sets a tone of anticipation for the next story.

Is A Game of Thrones a good story?

‘A Game of Thrones’ is an incredible story. The characters are realistic, and the dialogues are intricately influential on the plot. The presence of consequences with caliber makes it an intriguing read as it puts one on a rollercoaster of emotions and action.

Is A Game of Thrones better than Foundation ?

While ‘A Game of Thrones’ tells a story of knights, kings, and dragons, ‘Foundation’ tells a story of a race to save humanity from collapse. The former uses many characters to propel its story, while the latter uses fewer characters.

What are the similarities between GOT and the novel?

Game of Thrones is closely similar to the novel. Its plot line follows the story as many events, like Ned Stark getting beheaded and Daenerys getting three dragons occur in the show.

A Game of Thrones Review: Winter is Coming

Book Title: A Game of Thrones

Book Description: 'A Game of Thrones' by George R. R. Martin is a complex tale of power, corruption, and dragons.

Book Author: George R. R. Martin

Book Edition: First Edition

Book Format: Hardcover

Publisher - Organization: Bantam Books

Date published: August 1, 1996

Illustrator: Jeffrey Jones

ISBN: 978-0-553-10357-8

Number Of Pages: 694

Lasting Effect on Reader

‘ A Game of Thrones ‘ tells the story of many people on the continents of Essos and Westeros. It follows their lives’ journey as they discover the secrets of a world filled with corruption, power, and dragons.

The characters are well developed
The story is interesting
The ending is remarkable
The dialogues are intricately soothing
The novel is lengthy
It may be hard to keep track of the characters as they are many

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin Book Cover Illustrated

Game of Thrones Quiz

Summon your wit and wisdom—our ' Game of Thrones ' Trivia Quiz awaits you! Do you possess the knowledge to claim the title of Master of the Seven Kingdoms? Take the challenge now!

1) Who is Jon Snow's mother?

2) What is the sigil of House Stark?

3) Which character is known as the 'Kingslayer'?

4) Where does Daenerys hatch her dragon eggs?

5) What is the name of Arya Stark's sword?

6) What title does Tyrion Lannister hold at the beginning of the series?

7) Who is the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch at the start of the series?

8) What gift does Jon Snow give Arya Stark before leaving for the Wall?

9) Who is the first character to die by the hands of a White Walker in the series?

10) What is the official motto of House Lannister?

11) Who originally owned the Valyrian steel sword known as "Ice"?

12) What is the capital of Westeros?

13) Which character says the line, "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die"?

14) Which house is known for its allegiance to the Starks and has the motto "The North Remembers"?

15) What is the primary religion of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros?

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About Joshua Ehiosun

Joshua is an undying lover of literary works. With a keen sense of humor and passion for coining vague ideas into state-of-the-art worded content, he ensures he puts everything he's got into making his work stand out. With his expertise in writing, Joshua works to scrutinize pieces of literature.

About the Book

The Game of Thrones section of Book Analysis analyzes and explores the Game of Thrones series. The content on Book Analysis was created by Game of Thrones fans, with the aim of providing a thorough in-depth analysis and commentary to complement and provide an additional perspective to the incredible world George R.R. Martin created in his books.

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A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1): The bestselling classic epic fantasy series behind the award-winning HBO and Sky TV show and phenomenon GAME OF THRONES

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A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1): The bestselling classic epic fantasy series behind the award-winning HBO and Sky TV show and phenomenon GAME OF THRONES Paperback – 27 Mar. 2014

Book 1 of 5 A Song of Ice and Fire
Print length 912 pages
Language English
Publisher HarperVoyager
Publication date 27 Mar. 2014
Dimensions 13 x 4.6 x 19.8 cm
ISBN-10 0007548230
ISBN-13 978-0007548231
See all details

From the Publisher




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The bestselling classic epic fantasy series behind the award-winning HBO and Sky TV show and phenomenon GAME OF THRONES

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Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperVoyager; 1st edition (27 Mar. 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 912 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0007548230
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0007548231
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13 x 4.6 x 19.8 cm
176 in Paranormal & Unexplained Phenomena
431 in Political Fiction (Books)
770 in Historical Fantasy (Books)

About the author

George r. r. martin.

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The Original Reviews of George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones

Long before its tv adaptation became a global phenomenon, here's what the critics thought of the first volume in martin's a song of ice and fire series.

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When you play a game of thrones you win or you die.

“George R.R. Martin’s new novel, A Game of Thrones , is the first in an epic series about a land in which the seasons shift between periods of seemingly endless summer and seemingly endless winter. The story begins with the kingdom of Winterfell facing both external and internal dangers. Beyond her borders, the cold is returning, a dragon prince is scheming to win back his lost kingdom, and the eggs of supposedly long extinct dragons are beginning to hatch. Within Winterfell itself, war soon erupts when the king is murdered by a family grasping for unlawful power.

Many fans of sword-and-sorcery will enjoy the epic scope of this book, something of a change of pace for Martin, who has spent the last decade working for television and who has long been honored for his award-winning stories (e.g., ‘Sandkings’). Still, to my mind, this opening installment suffers from one-dimensional characters and less than memorable imagery.”

– John H. Riskind, The Washington Post , June 28, 1996

“George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones— a 694-page novel that begins a series — is in many ways a tale fit for a king. Its tapestry is satisfyingly rich and complex, weaving together dozens of characters, major and minor, in a wide spectrum of shades of hero and villain, all vivid and memorable. The settings are equally diverse and evocative. Martin writes as convincingly of tart juices oozing from an apple as of sleet on the side of a mountain, and his book is as much an adventure of the senses as it is of the mind. On the other hand, the thimble-full of living dead and the soupcon of dragons we’re served here add little to the story. Or, they may indeed be setting the groundwork for sequels—which seems clear at the end—but their presence in A Game of Thrones seems little more than frost and steam on the window.

“…this is an old story, but A Game of Thrones is so well played that, like a vibrant re-make of an old hit record, you can enjoy almost every beat of it. Indeed, Arthurian/Shakespearean clashes among great and lesser lineages, with all the opportunities they afford for exploration of such perennial themes as honor, loyalty, ambition, love in all its forms, are always welcome subjects for science fiction and fantasy. Such political and personal strìngs served as superb accompaniment to the science fiction in Dune, and they’re often heart-rending, always provocative and appealing, to behold here—though as a center-stage performance, not as background or foreground for fantasy which is barely there.

But the dragon thread has other problems. Published as a stand-alone novella in the July 2006 Asimov’s Magazine (‘Blood of the Dragon’), it follows the trials and exploits of the overthrown King’s two lineal descendants—a brother who is a claimant to the throne with no army, and his sister, whom the brother gives as a bride to a Ghenghis Khan-type character reigning with a vast army in this England’s version of Europe and Asia, in hopes of getting that army to cross the ‘narrow sea’ and reclaim the pretender`s throne. The descriptive passages are marvelous—you can smell the spice, and taste it in every cup of wine Martin renders—but the story as a whole is not special.

“These other threads show us two different daughters, a romantic and a tomboy, and how they fare in these less-and-more than chivalrous times; a bastard and a ‘true-born’ hero and another son whose legs are paralyzed but whose mind soars; another family where one son is handsome and vicious and evil yet brave, and his brother—a dwarf, my favorite character in the novel—is conniving, yet so honorable that he pays his debt of gold to a cruel, stupid jailor whom the dwarf has talked into taking a message that will free him. Yes, I liked this dwarf so much that I truly felt glad when, after months of travail, he finally finds comfort in a prostitute’s arms. The book is so good at this, so real and effective in its complex characterizations, that I would vote it an award just for that, and the dragons be damned.”

– Paul Levinson, Tangent Magazine , Fall 1996

“In a world where the approaching winter will last four decades, kings and queens, knights and renegades struggle for control of a throne. Some fight with sword and mace, others with magic and poison. Beyond the Wall to the north, meanwhile, the Others are preparing their army of the dead to march south as the warmth of summer drains from the land. After more than a decade devoted primarily to TV and screen work, Martin makes a triumphant return to high fantasy with this extraordinarily rich new novel, the first of a trilogy. Although conventional in form, the book stands out from similar work by Eddings, Brooks and others by virtue of its superbly developed characters, accomplished prose and sheer bloody-mindedness. Although the romance of chivalry is central to the culture of the Seven Kingdoms, and tournaments, derring-do and handsome knights abound, these trappings merely give cover to dangerous men and women who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. When Lord Stark of Winterfell, an honest man, comes south to act as the King’s chief councilor, no amount of heroism or good intentions can keep the realm under control. It is fascinating to watch Martin’s characters mature and grow, particularly Stark’s children, who stand at the center of the book. Martin’s trophy case is already stuffed with major prizes, including Hugos, Nebulas, Locus Awards and a Bram Stoker. He’s probably going to have to add another shelf, at least.”

– Publishers Weekly , July 29, 1996

“After a long silence, the author of the cult The Armageddon Rag (1983) returns with the first of a fantasy series entitled, insipidly enough, A Song of Ice and Fire . In the Seven Kingdoms, where the unpredictable seasons may last decades, three powerful families allied themselves in order to smash the ruling Targaryens and depose their Mad King, Aerys II. Robert Baratheon claimed the throne and took to wife Tywin Lannister’s daughter, Cersei; Ned Stark returned north to gloomy Winterfell with its massive, ancient Wall farther to the north that keeps wildings and unspeakable creatures from invading. Some years later, Robert, now drunk and grossly fat, asks Ned to come south and help him govern; reluctantly, since he mistrusts the treacherous Lannisters, Ned complies. Honorable Ned soon finds himself caught up in a whirl of plots, espionage, whispers, and double-dealing and learns to his horror that the royal heir, Joffrey, isn’t Robert’s son at all but, rather, the product of an incestuous union between the Queen and her brother Jaime—who murdered the Mad King and earned the infamous nickname Kingslayer. Ned attempts to bargain with Cersei and steels himself to tell Robert—but too late. Swiftly the Lannisters murder the King, consign Ned to a dungeon, and prepare to seize the throne, opposed only by the remaining Starks and Baratheons. On the mainland, meanwhile, the brutal and stupid Viserys Targaryen sells his sister Dany to a barbarian horse-warrior in return for a promise of armies to help him reconquer the Seven Kingdoms. A vast, rich saga, with splendid characters and an intricate plot flawlessly articulated against a backdrop of real depth and texture. Still, after 672 dense pages, were you expecting a satisfying resolution? You won’t get it: Be prepared for a lengthy series with an indefinitely deferred conclusion.”

– Kirkus , July 1, 1996

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Book Review

A game of thrones — “a song of ice and fire” series.

George R.R. Martin

Readability Age Range

Bantam Spectra, a division of Bantam Books, owned by Random House
Locus Award, Best Fantasy Novel, 1997

Year Published

This book has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine . It is the first book in “A Song of Ice and Fire” series.

Plot Summary

Just outside the kingdom of Winterfell, Ser Waymar Royce, Will and Gared, three members of the Night’s Watch, investigate some mysterious deaths. Will previously found a camp full of dead bodies, but the bodies have now vanished. Royce is attacked and killed by supernatural beings called the Others, but he rises from the dead to kill Will. Gared flees.

Bran Stark is a young boy who watches his father, Lord Eddard Stark, execute Gared for abandoning his post as a member of the Night’s Watch. After the execution, Eddard’s two older sons, Robb and Jon, discover a gigantic dead direwolf and her six living cubs. The children adopt the pups as their own. Back at the Stark castle, Eddard’s wife, Catelyn, tells him that his friend Jon Arryn has been killed. The King, Robert Baratheon, is riding to Winterfell with all his knights and retainers to speak with Eddard about the problem.

In the far-off city of Pentos, Viserys Targaryen is making arrangements to regain power. Viserys is the son of the Targaryen king, who was deposed by Robert Baratheon 15 years earlier. He plans to marry off his 13-year-old sister, Daenerys, to Khal Drogo, a powerful warlord.

In Winterfell, Eddard welcomes Robert Baratheon. Robert and Eddard visit the grave of Eddard’s sister Lyanna, the woman Robert loved and wanted to marry. Robert makes it clear that he is unhappy with his wife, Queen Cersei Lannister. Robert offers Eddard the chance to take Jon Arryn’s place as the Hand of the King, his chief adviser and war commander. Robert also says that he wishes to betroth his son, the crown prince Joffrey, to Eddard’s young daughter Sansa. That night, Catelyn Stark receives a message that says Cersei Lannister ordered the murder of Jon Arryn, the previous Hand of the King.

Seven-year-old Bran is exploring an abandoned part of the Starks’ castle when he hears a man and woman talking. Bran peers through a window and sees Cersei Lannister and her twin brother, Jaime, having sex. When they discover Bran watching, Jaime throws him out of a high window. Bran’s back and legs are broken by the fall, and his parents fear that if he ever wakes up from his coma, he will be crippled for life.

Daenerys Targaryen marries Khal Drogo in the city of Pentos. She cannot speak his language, but they still come to an understanding and consummate their marriage.

Jon Snow, Eddard Stark’s illegitimate son, and Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf brother of Jaime and Cersei, ride with a group of men to the northern Wall of Winterfell. Jon is going to join the Night’s Watch, a ragtag group of men who are exiled to the Wall to defend Winterfell against unknown threats. Eddard and his two daughters, Sansa and Arya, leave with King Robert for King’s Landing.

Lady Catelyn remains at home to nurse Bran. She is still tending Bran when an assassin comes to murder the boy. She fights the assassin, and Bran’s direwolf kills the man. Catelyn decides that she must travel to King’s Landing to meet Eddard and warn him about the plots against his family. When she arrives in King’s Landing, her childhood friend called Littlefinger tells her that the knife the assassin used to attack Bran actually belongs to Tyrion Lannister. Meanwhile, Eddard discovers that King Robert has bankrupted the kingdom with his constant requests for tournaments and lavish feasts. Littlefinger secretly leads Eddard to Catelyn, who tells him about the attempt on Bran’s life.

Daenerys Targaryen gradually adjusts to life as Khal Drogo’s wife. Her cruel brother, Viserys, accompanies Daenerys and Drogo on the long ride back to Drogo’s country. Daenerys is finally tired of Viserys’ mistreatment of her, and when Viserys attacks her, she makes him walk behind the company of horsemen in disgrace. Toward the end of the long journey, Daenerys learns that she is pregnant.

Bran has awoken and is having a difficult recovery in Winterfell. He is paralyzed from the waist down.

At Castle Black, Jon Snow meets Samwell Tarly, an overweight teenager who cannot fight. Jon befriends Samwell and protects him from the other boys.

On the road back to Winterfell, Catelyn Stark meets Tyrion Lannister and has him arrested on the suspicion that he ordered the attempt on Bran’s life.

A courtier named Lord Varys tells Eddard Stark that Jon Arryn was poisoned after he started asking too many questions about the Lannisters. Eddard is horrified to learn that King Robert has almost no true supporters in the capital city. Almost everyone who surrounds the king is secretly loyal to the Lannisters.

Wild men in the mountains attack Catelyn and the group of men who helped her capture Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion saves Catelyn’s life in the fight, and her attitude toward him softens somewhat.

King Robert wants Eddard to agree to help murder Daenerys Targaryen so that her unborn child will not one day threaten his kingdom. Eddard refuses and resigns as the Hand of the King. Robert tells him to return to Winterfell or risk execution. A short while later, Eddard and his men are attacked by Jaime Lannister, who wounds Eddard and kills his attendants. After Eddard heals slightly, King Robert apologizes to him and reinstates him as the Hand of the King. Eddard stumbles across some uncomfortable information about King Robert’s children, and Eddard concludes that Queen Cersei’s children are illegitimate. Cersei openly admits to Eddard that her twin brother, Jaime, sired her three children. Eddard advises Cersei to take her children and leave the kingdom because he intends to tell the king about her betrayal.

Catelyn arrives at Eyrie, the home of her sister, Lysa, the widow of Jon Arryn, the first Hand of the King. She finds Lysa in a mentally unstable state. Lysa imprisons Tyrion Lannister because she believes he has played a role in her husband’s death. After Tyrion’s champion wins a trial by combat, Tyrion is set free on the dangerous open road.

Daenerys arrives in the city of Vaes Dothrak to be presented to the medicine women, the dosh khaleen . Daenerys has to eat the fresh heart of a slaughtered stallion to prove that her child will be a strong ruler. At the feast after the ceremony, her drunken brother, Viserys, holds a sword to her pregnant belly and demands that Khal Drogo give him an army. Instead, Drogo melts some gold pieces and kills Viserys by pouring the molten gold on his head.

At King’s Landing, King Robert lies dying and names Eddard as the Lord Protector of the kingdom. When the king dies, Cersei proclaims her son, Joffrey, to be king and has Eddard imprisoned. Littlefinger betrays Eddard, and it is revealed that Eddard’s daughter Sansa also betrayed him unknowingly by telling Cersei his plans.

Jon Snow and other members of the Night’s Watch discover strange bodies in the woods. The corpses have clearly been dead for a long time, but they haven’t decomposed. Jon fights against one of the undead Others who invades Castle Black.

Robb Stark and all his bannermen ride away to King’s Landing to free Eddard from the Lannisters. Robb leaves Bran in charge of Winterfell.

An attempt is made on Daenerys Targaryen’s life, and when Drogo learns that King Robert has sent assassins to kill Daenerys, he decides to take all of his warriors and invade the Seven Kingdoms.

Tyrion Lannister recruits several armies of tribesmen to support him in upcoming battles. Tyrion meets his father, Tywin, at a roadside inn and learns that the Lannister armies have been winning battles all over the land. Tyrion’s tribesmen agree to fight with the Lannisters against the Starks. Tyrion and Tywin win a battle against some of the soldiers sent by the Starks, but meanwhile, Robb Stark and Lady Catelyn win another skirmish against the Lannisters and capture Jaime Lannister.

After sustaining a severe wound in battle, Khal Drogo lies dying. A healing woman named Mirri offers to do a dark magic ritual that will save Drogo. Drogo’s men begin to fight each other, and the camp is in chaos. Daenerys is dragged into the tent where the ritual is happening, and the dark magic kills the child she is carrying. When Daenerys wakes, she learns that the dark magic has saved Drogo’s life but left him in a permanent vegetative state. She smothers her husband to end his ruined life.

In King’s Landing, Arya Stark is disguised as a beggar child, and she watches as her father, Eddard, is publically executed. Sansa is still betrothed to young King Joffrey, who abuses her and enjoys frightening her.

The Stark armies gain ground. Instead of supporting one of King Robert’s brothers as successor to the crown, many lords decide that they will only follow Robb Stark, who they wish to crown as King in the North.

Daenerys builds a funeral pyre for her husband. As his corpse burns, the three dragon eggs that she places on the pyre begin to hatch. Daenerys and her dragons instantly draw the adoration and loyalty of many people, who will one day form her army.

Christian Beliefs

Other belief systems.

The Others are supernatural creatures. They bring cold temperatures with them. When the Others kill Ser Waymar Royce, he rises from the dead and becomes a wight, an undead person.

Each ruling family has its own godswood, a place where the family may go to worship or to seek solitude. Catelyn Stark is not fond of the Stark godswood, which is a memorial to ancient nameless gods, but Eddard finds it comforting. Catelyn comes from a family who belongs to the Faith, a religion that worships a god with seven different faces. Jon Snow decides that he cannot pray to either the old or the new gods because they have not shown him any kindness. After his accident, Bran Stark takes great pleasure in being near the godswood and thinking about the old gods.

Characters pay attention to signs and omens. When the Stark children discover a dead direwolf in the snow and find that the creature was killed by a deer’s antler, people believe that the Baratheon House will destroy the Stark House, because the Starks’ symbol is a wolf and the Baratheons’ symbol is a stag.

The dosh khaleen of the Dothraki are women who function as shamans. They can supposedly foretell the future, and they predict that Daenerys’ child will be the leader who will unite the known world under one banner. Mirri the maegi performs a bloodmagic ritual that saves Drogo’s life by killing his unborn child.

Authority Roles

Eddard Stark is kind to his sons and tries to explain the concepts of justice to them. He makes his sons take responsibility for the direwolf pets they take in, and he warns them about the possible dangers of trying to domesticate wild animals. Eddard routinely asks his wife about the children, and he is involved in their upbringing. Eddard is displeased that his 3-year-old son, Rickon, is afraid of a direwolf pup, because he feels that his children should overcome their fears as soon as possible. He encourages his quarreling daughters, Sansa and Arya, to put aside their differences and love each other as sisters should. He hires an expert swordsman to teach Arya to use her small sword when he learns that his daughter has an interest in fighting. Eddard knows that Joffrey will make a bad match for Sansa, so he tries to take her away from Joffrey and promises that he will find a more worthy husband for her.

Catelyn Stark loves all her children and constantly looks out for their best interests, but she resents her husband’s illegitimate son, Jon Snow. Catelyn does not want to have Jon around her children. When her own son Bran breaks his back and legs, she tells Jon that she wishes he were the one who was injured. Catelyn stays by her comatose son Bran for days, and she fights an assassin who comes to kill him. Catelyn’s hands are cut to the bone by the assassin’s dagger, but she manages to save her son’s life. When Catelyn’s oldest son, Robb, begins to command other men when the war starts, she takes special care to treat him like a grown man in front of his soldiers.

Jon Snow becomes a leader of the young men in the Night’s Watch. He overcomes his own tendency to bully boys who are less skilled at swordplay, and he teaches the common boys how to use their swords. When the sword instructor Ser Alliser pointlessly orders the overweight Samwell to be beaten bloody, Jon stands up to defend him. Jon takes care of Samwell and convinces the other boys to be kind to him.

Samwell Tarly’s father told him that he had to either join the Night’s Watch, or his father would kill him and make it look like an accident.

Tyrion Lannister frequently mentions how his father despises him for his dwarfism and deformity.

Catelyn’s sister, Lysa, calls her own 6-year-old son a baby, pampers him and openly discusses his delicate health and tender feelings. She still breastfeeds the boy.

King Robert Baratheon does nothing to advise or discipline his three children by Cersei, who are actually not his children at all. King Robert has many illegitimate children, and he provides for some of them but never visits them.

Profanity & Violence

Although d–n or a form of it and b–tard , as it refers to Jon Snow, are used profusely throughout the book, a few words are used a number of times, such as variations of h— , b–tch (usually used to refer to a female dog) and s— . The following words are each used a handful of times or less: tit, c–k, a–, the f-word and c–t . After his sister’s marriage, Viserys calls her a whore and a slut instead of using her name.

The Others kill Ser Waymar Royce with their swords. Royce comes back to life as a wight, with a shard of his opponent’s sword still wedged into his eye. Royce chokes Will to death.

Bran Stark is 7 years old when he attends his first public execution. Eddard Stark cuts off a man’s head with his sword. Eddard’s teenage ward kicks the decapitated head and laughs.

Eddard’s older brother Brandon was strangled to death by order of Aerys Targaryen, the previous king. A knight named Ser Ilyn is mute because King Aerys had his tongue pulled out with hot pincers.

At Daenerys’ wedding, men begin fighting, and one of them is cut so badly that his intestines spill out on the ground. Several more men die in fights that break out at the wedding.

Years ago, the infant heir to the Targaryen throne was murdered by being thrown against a wall. Eddard was horrified by the brutality, but he recalls that Robert was pleased by the death of any Targaryen.

Catelyn fights off the assassin sent to kill Bran. She grabs the man’s dagger with both hands, cutting herself deeply. She manages to bite a chunk of flesh from the man’s hand before Bran’s direwolf attacks him. Bran’s wolf rips out the assassin’s throat, which sprays Catelyn with blood.

Sandor Clegane, a knight who serves the Lannisters, hunts down a 13-year-old boy and cuts him nearly in half with his sword. Clegane kills the boy because Prince Joffrey falsely said the boy injured him. Sandor Clegane tells Sansa Stark that his horribly scarred face is the result of his older brother intentionally rubbing his face into hot coals when he was a small child. Eleven-year-old Sansa watches men die while jousting in a tournament.

Old Nan says that the Others let their dead servants eat the bodies of children. Many men suffer bloody deaths during fights.

When Bran Stark defies the men who want to rob him, an outlaw woman suggests that her companions cut off Bran’s genitals and stuff them in his mouth.

As part of an old Dothraki ritual, Daenerys has to eat the bloody heart of a freshly slaughtered stallion to prove that the child she carries will be a strong ruler. Later that night, Drogo kills Viserys by pouring molten gold on top of his head. Daenerys has the medicine woman Mirri burned alive.

Arya Stark runs her sword through a stable boy when he tries to harm her. Joffrey orders his knights to hit Sansa in the face many times. He enjoys showing off her father’s head mounted on a spike.

Sexual Content

Bran has heard rumors about women who live outside the Wall. Some supposedly have sex with the Others in order to have magical, half-human children.

Jon Snow is Eddard Stark’s illegitimate son. Snow is the surname of all illegitimate children in Winterfell. Eddard says that he dishonored himself and his wife by fathering a child outside of marriage.

Viserys Targaryen sexually appraises his 13-year-old sister, Daenerys, to judge how he may benefit from arranging a marriage for her. Viserys strokes and pinches his sister’s clothed breasts. Daenerys has always assumed that she would marry her brother because the Targaryens have always married their siblings to keep their bloodlines pure. Viserys tells his sister that he would gladly let a whole army of men rape her if he could regain his throne by doing so. After her marriage, Viserys grabs his sister’s breast hard enough to cause her pain.

Viserys believes that the Dothraki people practice homosexuality and bestiality. King Robert talks about how the women in his city have very little modesty in the summer and how he enjoys watching them swim naked in the river beneath the castle. King Robert’s insatiable lusts are well-known and frequently discussed, and a major plot point hinges on Jon Arryn’s investigation of Robert’s many illegitimate children.

In one scene, Catelyn and Eddard begin a discussion immediately after having sex. Catelyn hopes that their relations will produce another child. While in their chambers, Catelyn receives a message that shocks her so much that she stands and walks around naked in front of the messenger, old Maester Luwin. Catelyn reassures her husband that this is not problematic because Luwin delivered all her children and has seen her body before.

Seven-year-old Bran witnesses the twins Cersei and Jamie Lannister committing incest. Cersei later admits to Eddard that she and Jaime have been lovers since they were children. Cersei says that King Robert did impregnate her once, but she had an abortion, and since that time she has avoided intercourse with the king.

At Daenerys’ wedding, Daenerys watches people engaging in the Dothraki custom of having group sex in public. Daenerys and Drogo’s consummation of their vows is not described, but they do engage in explicit foreplay. In the early days of their marriage, Drogo will only have sex with Daenerys if she is facing away from him. Daenerys is grateful for this position because it means that he cannot watch her cry. After a few weeks of this, Daenerys asks for marital advice from a former prostitute. After Daenerys learns a few new techniques and positions, she and Drogo both enjoy sex more than they had previously. Later on, Drogo has sex with his wife in public.

Rhaegar Targaryen repeatedly raped Eddard’s sister Lyanna before her death. Littlefinger owns a brothel and hides Catelyn Stark inside it, so the Lannisters do not discover her. The scantily dressed employees of the brothel flirt with their clients.

Several of the teenage boys who work for the Night’s Watch were sent to the cold, remote outpost as punishment for being rapists. They are known by their past crimes and called “the rapers.”

Prostitutes are the subject of many off-color jokes from various characters. Tyrion talks to Catelyn Stark in a sexual manner and makes comments about her body in order to shock her. Tyrion later jokes that he would like to die peacefully in his old age while receiving oral sex. Tyrion has sex with a camp follower named Shae.

The scene is not intended to be sexual, but Catelyn’s sister, Lysa, openly breastfeeds her 6-year-old son.

In Vaes Dothrak, women dance while dressed only in garlands of flowers. Drogo vows to let his men rape the women of the Seven Kingdoms.

Tyrion Lannister tells the story of how he lost his virginity when he was 13 to a peasant girl who was only a year older. He secretly married the girl, but then his brother revealed that he had arranged the entire relationship for Tyrion. The girl was a prostitute, and in order to break Tyrion’s attachment to the girl, his father had her brought to the Lannister castle and made Tyrion watch as she had sex with every man in the castle guard.

Characters discuss giants mating with mortals and say that it is easier for giant women to mate with human men, because when giant men have intercourse with human women, they split them open.

When the Dothraki begin to attack other people groups, Daenerys learns that they intend to sell all the boys and girls they capture. The children will be sent to brothels, where extra money will be paid for the boys. Daenerys hears a girl being raped and stops the Dothraki warriors from continuing to hurt her. Daenerys continues to save every woman she finds being raped and takes the women into custody as her slaves. Daenerys asks her husband to stop his soldiers from any further rape and encourages him to have his men make wives of the conquered women.

Discussion Topics

Additional comments.

Alcohol: Characters drink wine and other types of alcohol. At age 14, Jon Snow is glad that no one is paying attention to him at a feast, because it means that he can drink as much alcohol as he wants.

Drugs: Dying and injured characters are given poppy juice to ease their pain.

Media tie-in: HBO launched a television series based on this book series. It debuted in the spring of 2011.

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REVIEW: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Book Reviews
July 6, 2022
1,915 views
By John Mauro

Last Updated on February 12, 2024

Life is full of insignificant events, small perturbations that are rarely of any consequence. But occasionally the conditions are right for a small perturbation to escalate into something that alters the entire world, leaving a permanent mark on history. Whether it’s the start of a World War or the beginning of a global pandemic, the impact of a single, seemingly insignificant event can grow to outsize proportions, pushing the world out of its delicate balance.

A cover for A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

The impact of A Game of Thrones on the world of fantasy cannot be overstated. Its publication in 1996 brought about an irreversible step change in fantasy literature, which for decades had been following the blueprint laid out by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings .

Since its release in the 1950s, The Lord of the Rings had become the single most influential work of fantasy ever written, spawning countless imitations, none of which could reach the same level of impact achieved by Tolkien. Tolkien’s cultural influence stretched far beyond the world of literature, encompassing cinema (Peter Jackson), music (Led Zeppelin), and any number of role-playing games, including both tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons and video games such as the Final Fantasy series.

Tolkien combined expansive, detailed worldbuilding with an epic good-vs-evil struggle of biblical proportions. Although Frodo struggles mightily against the corrupting power of the One Ring, there is never any doubt that he is on the side of good, a Christ figure who is willing to sacrifice himself to save others. Only two notable characters in The Lord of the Rings exhibit discernable gray morality. The most obvious of these is Gollum/Sméagol, but his gray morality is just a superposition of two dichotomous personas, one of which is good (Sméagol) and the other evil (Gollum). The other character, of course, is Boromir, who is fundamentally good but ultimately seduced by the Ring, becoming the Judas Iscariot figure of the Fellowship.

In A Game of Thrones , George R.R. Martin embraced Tolkienesque worldbuilding while taking an antithetical approach to character morality. Both Middle-earth and Westeros feel authentic because they are so fully realized, complete with their own history and culture, giving the reader a fully immersive experience where they can suspend their own reality while diving into a richly detailed new world.

The main difference comes in the gritty approach that Martin has taken toward character morality, making A Game of Thrones one of the first true grimdark fantasies. Whereas Middle-earth is a world of black and white, Martin uses a full palette of gray to paint his cast of characters. If Tolkien has written an allegory for the epic battle of Christ vs Satan, then George R.R. Martin is more interested in the sneering Pontius Pilate, questioning the meaning of truth itself.

In presenting a grittier, more realistic approach to fantasy, A Game of Thrones became part of a larger cultural movement that emerged in the 1990s. For example, at around the same time, grunge bands such as Soundgarden and Alice in Chains came to prominence, bringing an unapologetic rawness and honesty to a music scene that, in the preceding decade, had been hiding behind a façade of synthetic sounds, big hair, and heavy makeup.

More than a quarter century later, A Game of Thrones has rightfully become one of the most respected and influential works of fantasy. A Song of Ice and Fire has sold close to 100 million books worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling series of all time.

Rereading A Game of Thrones , it’s easy to see why. George R.R. Martin is an outstanding writer. Given the complexity of the world and the plot, this book could have easily become unreadable in less capable hands. But Martin does a wonderful job introducing us to the characters and worldbuilding in a natural and accessible fashion. A Game of Thrones is never a chore, and the pacing is remarkably consistent throughout the book.

Although A Game of Thrones is fantasy, the magical elements are of secondary importance, at least in this first volume of A Song of Ice and Fire. Instead, A Game of Thrones is driven by its wonderful cast of characters. George R.R. Martin has crafted some of the finest characters in all of fantasy, including the inimitable Tyrion Lannister, whose astute political skills are coupled with a keen wit and a genuine kindness toward the less fortunate.

One of the interesting choices made by George R.R. Martin is that, out of the eight point-of-view characters in A Game of Thrones , five are children. Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen are both 14 years old at the beginning of A Song of Ice and Fire. Among the Stark children, Sansa is 11, Arya is 9, and Bran is 7. Beyond these point-of-view characters, Robb Stark is 14 and Joffrey Baratheon is 12. This may be surprising for fans of the HBO series , since all the actors portraying these characters were significantly older than the characters themselves. Considering their young age, the terrible situations experienced by these children in A Game of Thrones become all the more harrowing. I particularly admire the way Daenerys overcomes unspeakably terrible abuse to grow into the strong, self-assured leader that she becomes.

We are living the legacy of A Game of Thrones now, with its indelible impact on both grimdark fantasy and epic fantasy in general. One prominent example is The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, which is clearly influenced by the narrative structure, expansive worldbuilding, and character-driven plot of A Game of Thrones . Both are full of political intrigue and focus on sparring factions of a fractured society who are fighting each other when they should be focused on a more sinister enemy posing an existential threat to their civilization.

Does this remind you of anyplace else? Although A Game of Thrones emerged in the 1990s, I would argue that it is even more relevant today in our own time wracked by political extremism and a breakdown of global order, where irrational nationalism trumps our ability to confront the serious existential threats facing our society.

A Game of Thrones is one of the finest and most influential books ever published, and its impact only continues to grow. If you have somehow put off reading A Game of Thrones , please put aside whatever reservations you may have and just dive in. You won’t be disappointed.

Read A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

John Mauro lives in a world of glass amongst the hills of central Pennsylvania. When not indulging in his passion for literature or enjoying time with family, John is training the next generation of materials scientists at Penn State University, where he teaches glass science and materials kinetics. John also loves cooking international cuisine and kayaking the beautiful Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.

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A Game of Thrones

A Game of Thrones

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Media Type	Print ( & &
Pages	694 (US Hardback) 672 (UK Hardcover) 835 (US Paperback) 804 (UK Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0553103547 (US Hardback) ISBN 0002245841 (UK Hardback) ISBN 0553573403 (US Paperback) ISBN 000647988X (UK Paperback)
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A Game of Thrones is the first of seven planned novels in A Song of Ice and Fire , an epic fantasy series by American author George R. R. Martin . It was first published on 6 August 1996 . The novel was nominated for the 1998 Nebula Award and the 1997 World Fantasy Award , [1] and won the 1997 Locus Award . [2] The novella Blood of the Dragon , comprising the Daenerys Targaryen chapters from the novel, won the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Novella.

1 Plot introduction
2.1 In the Seven Kingdoms
2.2 On the Wall
2.3 In the East
3 Viewpoint Characters
4 Allusions/references to other works
5 Literary significance & criticism
6 Awards and nominations
7 Derived works
8.1 Foreign language editions
9 References

Plot introduction

A Game of Thrones is set in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros , a land reminiscent of Medieval Europe . In Westeros the seasons last for years, sometimes decades, at a time.

Fifteen years prior to the novel, the Seven Kingdoms were torn apart by a civil war , known alternately as "Robert's Rebellion" and the "War of the Usurper." Prince Rhaegar Targaryen kidnapped Lyanna Stark , arousing the ire of her family and of her betrothed, Lord Robert Baratheon (the war's titular rebel). The Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen , had Lyanna's father and eldest brother executed when they demanded her safe return. Her second brother, Eddard , joined his boyhood friend Robert Baratheon and Jon Arryn , with whom they had been fostered as children, in declaring war against the ruling Targaryen dynasty , securing the allegiances of House Tully and House Arryn through a network of dynastic marriages (Lord Eddard to Catelyn Tully and Lord Arryn to Lysa Tully ). The powerful House Tyrell continued to support the King, but House Lannister and House Martell both stalled due to insults against their houses by the Targaryens. The civil war climaxed with the Battle of the Trident , when Prince Rhaegar was killed in battle by Robert Baratheon. The Lannisters finally agreed to support King Aerys, but then brutally turned against him, sacking the capital at King's Landing . Jaime Lannister of the Kingsguard betrayed and murdered King Aerys and House Lannister swore loyalty to Robert Baratheon. The Tyrells and remaining royalists surrendered and Robert Baratheon was declared King of the Seven Kingdoms. Unfortunately, during the war, Lyanna Stark had died, apparently of illness shortly after her brother captured the fortress where she'd been held captive; Robert Baratheon instead married Cersei Lannister to cement the alliance with her House. Despite Robert's victory, the Mad King's younger son Viserys and only daughter Daenerys were taken to safety across the sea by loyal retainers. After the war House Martell chose a path of isolation, since Prince Doran 's sister Elia Martell (Prince Rhaegar's wife) and her young children had been killed by knights sworn to House Lannister during the storming of the capital.

Six years later, King Robert proved his resolve by defeating a rebellion by Lord Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands . Balon's two eldest sons were killed and his youngest son, Theon , was given to the care of Eddard Stark as a ward.

Plot summary

A Game of Thrones follows three principal storylines as they develop in tandem with one another. The most storylines begin in the year 298 AC (After Conquest), whilst the prologue takes place in 297 AC . The story continues for many months, until 299 AC .

In the Seven Kingdoms

Eddard Stark , Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North , performs the execution of a man of the Night's Watch who has betrayed his vows and fled from the Wall . His sons Robb and Bran , his bastard son Jon Snow , and his ward Theon Greyjoy all attend. After the beheading, Robb finds a dead direwolf (the sigil of House Stark ), killed by the antlers of a stag (the sigil of House Baratheon ), which had given birth to five pups before it died. Robb and his brothers ask to keep them and Eddard consents, on the condition that the children themselves take care of them, rather than leaving the matter to the servants of House Stark. There are five pups, one for each of Eddard's trueborn children: Robb names his Grey Wind and Bran names his Summer , whilst Eddard's daughters Sansa and Arya name theirs Lady and Nymeria respectively. Eddard's youngest, three-year-old Rickon , names his Shaggydog . Unexpectedly, Jon finds a sixth pup lying separately nearby: an albino runt with white fur and red eyes. Jon claims this one, Ghost , for himself.

King Robert I Baratheon arrives at Winterfell with his court and many retainers, including his wife, Queen Cersei of House Lannister , and his children: Joffrey , Myrcella and Tommen . The queen's twin brother, Ser Jaime Lannister of the Kingsguard , and their younger brother Tyrion , the Imp (so named for his dwarfism ), also accompany the group. Robert asks Eddard to become the new Hand of the King after the death of the previous office holder, Lord Jon Arryn . Eddard agrees and travels south with his daughters Sansa and Arya, leaving Catelyn, Robb, Bran (now in a coma after a grievous fall from a window) and Rickon at home. Jon Snow elects to travel north to the Wall to join the Night's Watch and is joined by Tyrion, who is eager to see the fabled construction for himself.

Catelyn Stark learns from her sister Lysa Arryn (widow of the late Lord Jon Arryn) that the Lannisters had Jon Arryn murdered. After Eddard leaves for the south, an attempt is made on Bran's life, thwarted only by the direwolf Summer. Catelyn realizes that Bran must have seen something and been pushed from the window deliberately, and that the would-be murderers are trying to cover their tracks. She travels by sea to King's Landing and learns from her childhood friend Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish that the dagger used in the assassination attempt was last seen in the hands of Tyrion Lannister. Traveling north again, Catelyn and her retainers encounter Tyrion by chance in an inn (as he returns south from the Wall) and take him captive to the Eyrie , where Lady Lysa places him on trial. Unfortunately, Tyrion chooses trial by combat and his champion, a sellsword named Bronn , wins freedom for him.

In the capital of King's Landing , Eddard investigates Jon's death and learns that Jon Arryn and King Robert's brother, Lord Stannis Baratheon , had discovered that Robert's three children are actually the products of an incestuous liaison between Queen Cersei and her twin brother, Jaime. Spurning the advice of Robert's youngest brother, Renly , to take Cersei into custody, Eddard instead offers mercy, telling Cersei to flee. King Robert dies of a mishap whilst hunting in the kingswood and Cersei's eldest son Joffrey is proclaimed king before Eddard can pass the crown to Stannis, Robert's true heir. When Eddard moves against Cersei, he is betrayed by Littlefinger. Eddard reluctantly agrees to sign a false confession of treason in return for Sansa and Arya's lives and the chance to go into exile on the Wall. Instead, Joffrey has Eddard brutally executed. Whilst Sansa is retained in custody, Arya manages to escape with the help of her fencing instructor, Syrio Forel , and Yoren , a recruiting agent for the Night's Watch .

A civil war, later dubbed the War of the Five Kings , erupts. Robb Stark leads an army of northmen into the riverlands to support Lord Hoster Tully , whose forces had come under attack by Lord Tywin Lannister after Catelyn took Tyrion prisoner. Riverrun , the Tully stronghold, is besieged by an army under Jaime Lannister, whilst Lord Tywin holds a large army south of the Trident to prevent Robb's advance. Unexpectedly, Robb wins the support of House Frey by agreeing to a dynastic marriage. This allows him to detach his cavalry and cross the Green Fork whilst his infantry carries on to the Trident under Lord Roose Bolton , one of Robb's bannermen. Tywin, joined by the liberated Tyrion (who has won the support of the mountain clans of the Vale ) defeats the Stark foot along the Green Fork before learning that Robb has outmaneuvered him. Shortly afterwards Robb's forces surprise and capture Jaime Lannister before smashing the Lannister army at the Whispering Wood north of Riverrun. Tywin falls back on the strong castle of Harrenhal and orders Tyrion to go to King's Landing and counsel King Joffrey I, acting as Hand in his stead.

Lord Renly Baratheon flees south from King's Landing to Highgarden , stronghold of the powerful House Tyrell , and there is declared king by acclamation, becoming the second of the war's five kings. Robb Stark becomes the third, when he is proclaimed the King in the North by the Stark and Tully bannermen present at Riverrun.

On the Wall

In the lands beyond the Wall , three men of the Night's Watch stumble across the massacred bodies of wildlings . Ser Waymar Royce is confronted by several creatures of ice, the fabled ' Others ' of legend. He fights one, but is killed. The second man, Will , investigates Waymar's corpse only for it to come to life and strangle him. The third, Gared , is so terrified of what he sees that he flees south to the Wall and then beyond. He is the deserter executed by Eddard Stark in the first chapter of the book.

Jon Snow chooses to join the Night's Watch when his father departs for King's Landing and travels north with his uncle Benjen Stark , the First Ranger of the Watch. At the Wall Jon finds that the Watch is beset with problems. A new King-Beyond-the-Wall has arisen in the far northern lands to rally the wildlings to his banner. This man, Mance Rayder , was once a brother of the Watch before fleeing to join the wildlings. Jon also learns that the Watch is grievously under strength, mustering barely a thousand men to cover the three hundred miles of the Wall, and its manpower is now made up of murderers and criminals who chose the Wall over execution or imprisonment. Some time after Jon's arrival, Benjen vanishes whilst on a ranging beyond the Wall.

Jon and many of the other younger men are remorselessly bullied by the master-at-arms, Alliser Thorne , but Jon concocts a plan for them to stand up to him. Jon wins the friendship of Samwell Tarly , a craven but intelligent boy from the Reach , and also that of Maester Aemon . Jon is startled to learn that Aemon is a member of House Targaryen , the grand-uncle of the now-deposed Mad King Aerys II Targaryen , and the oldest man alive in Westeros.

The Lord Commander of the Night's Watch , Jeor Mormont , is attacked by a corpse which suddenly comes back to life. Jon burns the wight , saving Mormont's life. Shaken, Mormont resolves to lead the Watch beyond the Wall in strength to test Mance Rayder's strength. Although news of his father's death and brother's war causes Jon to doubt his calling, he decides his place is with the Watch.

In the East

In the Free City of Pentos , Magister Illyrio Mopatis and the exiled Prince Viserys Targaryen conspire to marry Viserys's thirteen-year-old sister Daenerys to Khal Drogo of the Dothraki . Drogo commands a horde of forty thousand mounted warriors whom Viserys plans to use to reclaim his homeland from the usurper Robert I Baratheon . Among the wedding gifts are three petrified dragon eggs from Illyrio. Unexpectedly, Daenerys and Drogo find love as they journey east into the vast grasslands of the Dothraki sea , and Daenerys becomes pregnant with a son, to be named Rhaego after her dead brother. Ser Jorah Mormont , son of Lord Commander Mormont and a knight exiled from Westeros for dealing in slaves, joins Viserys's entourage as an adviser on the current state of the Seven Kingdoms .

Viserys becomes angry about how long he must wait before Drogo decides to invade Westeros and, in a drunken rage, insults Drogo grievously. Drogo decides to crown him on the spot — with molten gold. Daenerys picks up her brother's quest to reclaim the Iron Throne , but Drogo is just as obstinate with the moon of his life as he was with the Beggar King . The tables turn when a Westerosi assassin, in the pay of King Robert, nearly kills her and their unborn child; a furious Drogo agrees to invade Westeros. However, during a raid on the peaceful Lhazareen to fund their invasion, Drogo takes a wound fighting a rival khal . Daenerys loses both Drogo and her unborn son to the machinations of a Lhazareen witch , and has the witch burned in Drogo's funeral pyre. Daenerys had previously felt the eggs and found them warm to her touch, but not to others'. Before she had placed them in a small fire and thought that the flames made something in the eggs alive. While the witch was being burned she placed the eggs in the blazing fire. Incredibly, the eggs hatch, and Daenerys Targaryen, the Stormborn, becomes mother to the first three dragons seen in the world for one hundred and sixty years.

Viewpoint Characters

All of the novels in the series use a system for the books where by each chapter concentrates on one character in a third person limited point of view . Thus, the chapter list for each book would read something like: "Bran", "Eddard", "Catelyn", "Eddard", "Tyrion", "Catelyn" etc, with the story flipping back and forth between the main characters.

The tale of A Game of Thrones is told through the eyes of eight POV characters and a one-off prologue POV.

Prologue: Will , a man of the Night's Watch .
Lord Eddard Stark , Lord of Winterfell , Warden of the North , and Hand of the King .
Lady Catelyn Stark , of House Tully , wife of Eddard Stark.
Sansa Stark , eldest daughter of Eddard and Catelyn Stark.
Arya Stark , youngest daughter of Eddard and Catelyn Stark.
Bran Stark , middle of three sons of Eddard and Catelyn Stark.
Jon Snow , bastard son of Eddard Stark.
Tyrion Lannister , a dwarf, son of Lord Tywin Lannister and Queen Cersei 's brother.
Daenerys Targaryen , Stormborn, the Princess of Dragonstone and heiress to the Targaryen throne through her older brother Viserys .

Allusions/references to other works

One of Martin's earliest attempts at writing a fantasy story was 'Dark Gods of Kor-Yuban', which was never published. The two heroes of the short story are the exiled 'Prince R'hllor of Raugg' and his boisterous, swaggering companion 'Argilac the Arrogant'. In an abandoned sequel Argilac teams up with Barron, the Bloody Blade of the Dothrak Empire, to slay the winged demons who killed Barron's grandfather Barristan the Bold. Most of these names reoccur in A Game of Thrones : R'hllor is the red god worshiped in the east (although not specifically named until A Clash of Kings ); Argilac the Arrogant was the last Storm King thrown down by the Targaryens; the Dothrak Empire became the Dothraki horse-riders of the eastern plains; and Barristan the Bold was recast as Ser Barristan Selmy of the Kingsguard. Martin covers the origin of these characters and names in his essay 'The Heirs of Turtle Castle' in Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective .

Literary significance & criticism

Wagner, T. M.. "SF Reviews.Net" . http://www.sfreviews.net/gameofthrones.html .
Seidman, James. "SF Site" . http://www.sfsite.com/09a/game16.htm .
Silver, Steven H.. "SFF World" . http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/martin.html .

Awards and nominations

Locus Award – Best Novel (Fantasy) (Won) – (1997)
World Fantasy Award – Best Novel (Nominated) – (1997)
Hugo Award – Best Novella for Blood of the Dragon (Won) – (1997)
Nebula Award – Best Novel (Nominated) – (1997)
Ignotus Award – Best Novel (Foreign) (Won) – (2003)

Derived works

The novel lends its name to several spin-off items based on it, including the television adaptation Game of Thrones , a trading card game , a board game , and a roleplaying game .

Released editions

US Hardcover 1996

Bantam Hardcover 2002 (US)

Voyager Paperback 1998 (UK)

Bantam Paperback 2011 (US)

BOOKED EVERY NIGHT

Why sleep when you can read, book review: a game of thrones.

Author : George RR Martin

My Rating : 4.5 stars

Goodreads . Book Depository .

The first of an epic series, A Game of Thrones is a worldwide sensation for a reason. Full of well thought out plot arcs, amazing characters and somewhat realistic political intrigue, this book will keep you guessing from beginning to the end, and leave you breathless with the possibilities.

Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.

As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must … and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.

The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne.

My Thoughts :

I first read A Game of Thrones a couple of years ago and really loved it. I never managed to get past chapter one of A Clash of Kings (Book 2) but after binge-watching all of the Game of Thrones TV show (not even kidding, I watched 7 seasons in a month – do not recommend) I decided to pick up the series again and have a read. The result? I loved it even more.

This book is so well thought out, so well plotted and so meticulously written. Every single word on the page is important and vital for the story. You know how in some books certain things don’t matter, a throwaway comment is a throwaway comment? Yeah, there is none of that in GoT. Everything is important.

You have four great houses introduced in this book: The Starks, the Lannisters, the Baratheon’s and the Targaryens. All of these have a variety of main characters and other houses in alliance which can make for a confusing storyline at times but ultimately hooks you in as you don’t know what to expect. There is a very fragile peace held between three of these houses, and when events happen to upset this, the Game of Thrones becomes ever more apparent.

This book has about eight different character perspectives you read from. Thankfully in this book, each of the character perspectives is interesting and vital to the story and I really hope it stays that way. You get to read from female perspectives (yay for female characters) and you get to read from male. You get children’s perspectives and adult perspectives. It’s a really well thought out structure and you can really see this big picture of the world filling out as you go through the story.

The plot is mammoth. It’s a huge book, over 800 pages, so it takes a while to finish but you don’t really notice. You’re so enveloped in the story it doesn’t matter. You’re entering into a world that has been in a tentative peace for about 10 years, but which still remembers the wars of the past as though they were yesterday. The King constantly mentions it, and other characters remember what they were doing at the time of the war. Words like Kingslayer are kicked around, petulant children are put in positions of power, and all the while people are dying and you don’t know who will be next.

I love all the different settings, I love the writing and I like knowing things just a chapter before another character finds out. Everyone (excepting Eddard Stark) is morally grey and morally grey characters make for some of the best reading. My favourite characters are Sansa and Daenerys but honestly, it changes so much.

This series is worth the hype – but fair warning: you’re in for a long slog. Each book is over 800 pages, the plots are intense and go into a lot more depth than the TV show. However, it is truly fantasy writing at it’s finest.

Recommended for : high fantasy lovers. This book is on par with Lord of the Rings, so if you love books about politics, war and lots of different characters then you’ll love this!

Quotes (Spoiler Free) :

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”

“There must always be a Stark in Winterfell.”

“He had found over the years that silence sometimes yielded more than questions.”

“Swift as a deer. Quiet as a shadow. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Quick as a snake. Calm as still water. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Strong as a bear. Fierce as a wolverine. Fear cuts deeper than swords. The man who fears losing has already lost. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Fear cuts deeper than swords.”

“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.”

Buy it here .

Have you read the A Song of Ice and Fire series? What do you think of it? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time,

Book Review: A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin

by odesk.jatin | May 12, 2012 | Reviews | 8 comments

Rating: Center Centaur

Book Review: A Game of Thrones , by George R.R. Martin

I realize I am really late to this party (the book came out in the 1990s), but I usually am with everything reading related—there’s just so much to read, and so little time to keep up, and school set me back on my fantasy reading quite a bit. But I wanted to read it, so I finally did. And I enjoyed this book very much by the end. It was actually pretty tough to decide what rating to give it, because for many parts of it, especially in the first half, I was really annoyed and fully anticipated I wouldn’t be able to finish it (I thought I was going to have my first Caw-Caw Crow review), but the end was fantastic, and would have been worthy of an Epic Dragon rating had there not been some of the things that, at least for me, work against the over-all experience.

On the whole, and despite giving it a middle-grade, I would recommend this book to people who, like me, didn’t get to it right away and have been hearing about it a lot. I especially recommend it if you are one of those people who heard about the HBO show and want to watch it, but who, like me, don’t want to watch it until you’ve read the books, or at least a few of them. So, that said, onto the particulars of my book review of George R. R. Martin’s very cool story, A Game of Thrones (link to the Facebook page for it, that has other links for the series, etc.) .

One of the things I like the most, nay, loved the most, about this book is the descriptive places where Martin paints a setting with absolutely masterful craftsmanship. I am insanely envious of his spectacular vocabulary when it comes to the devices, parts, pieces, architectural structure, bits of armor, boat terminology, fabrics and so much more related the medieval setting he describes. The language is natural, works well, and really adds a layer of credibility to the book that many authors don’t have. He just comes off as very smart and well-read. He reminds me of Cormac McCarthy a little bit in that way.

But it’s not just vocabulary and description, it’s the delightful way he weaves together a setting to include the people, the activity, the physical setting, the noise and general ambience. It’s truly wonderful writing when he gets it just right. Here’s a little example:

The Mud Gate was open, and a squad of City Watchmen stood under the portcullis in their golden cloaks, leaning on spears. When a column of riders appeared from the west, the guardsmen sprang into action, shouting commands and moving the carts and foot traffic aside to let the knight enter with his escort. (Martin 234)

There’s a lot happening there besides just a knight entering the city. We see what color the city watch wears, we know what weapons they are carrying, but we also are given to understand that they are generally relaxed and not feeling any particular urgency since they are leaning on the spears rather than standing bolt upright or even just “standing with spears” or something else that would have told us nothing beyond the who and what. We also get the sense of the business of the city by the fact they have to move carts and foot traffic aside, which shows the actions they take, but also sets the scenery by putting those particular items there to begin. It’s really effective writing in that way. I love it when Martin does that, and he does it a lot. In places, it’s a clinic in good writing on that front.

However, these very same things that I really liked about the book are also sometimes over the top. There are many places, many, where he seems to go on and on and on about this bit of food and that flavor of something else, or the scroll work on this guy’s armor or that doorway. I am not a skimmer when I read, because I read not just for story but to learn about writing and how writers do what they do. I consider George R.R. Martin someone worthy of study because, as a writer, clearly I can learn a lot from him. However, because I don’t skim, I found myself frequently thinking, “Come on, get on with it all ready. Who gives a crap what vintage of wine it is or that it came from the high hills of such-and-such, the fruit born of the something or other vine some distant summer back when the high lord so-and-so had his first baby and shot the White Stag of Whatever and blah etc., blah.” This kind of thing counts as Chekhov’s Gun to me.

I know some people like that super-detail, and I do to, to an extent. In places, I really loved how he did it. The same goes for the long history lessons that get stuffed in here and there. Some were very cool, others tedious. I am sure there is a purpose farther down the road in the series for the tedious-seeming ones, so I won’t harp on that longer. I am more than happy to concede that I don’t know all that he has in mind for the stuff I read but doesn’t apply to anything in the first book significantly. I’ll even concede I probably missed connections along the way. However, I will also point out that an author can only expect a reader to retain so much of that sort of detail, and beyond that point, the rest is basically wasted because there won’t be a payoff for the reader. They simply can’t hold on to it all, so despite having read it some seven hundred or a thousand pages ago, there will be no “ah ha” moment when it finally plays out. It’s just lost in the sea of words.

So, that’s my main beef with the story. Too much detail that breaks the rule of Chekhov’s Gun.

My second primary criticism with it is the seeming obsession the story has with whores and sexualizing little girls. In an early chapter in particular, somewhere around page eighty-nine, there is a scene that is so completely impossible to believe, that not only did it shatter the fictional dream, it nearly made me put the book down and be done with it. I actually did put it down and read another book before I came back to A Game of Thrones .

Now before I go on, I would like to point out, I am not a prude. I have no problem with fictionalized sex, rape, incest and even violence to children if that’s what needs to happen for the story to be honest to itself. I expect the very fact I say that will offend a few people, which only proves my point that I am not a prude at all. However, I do require as a reader that the scene feel true to life, an honest depiction of a reality, even a fictional reality as is being created in a novel. But I don’t think that’s what’s happening in places in A Game of Thrones .

(SPOILER ALERT: The next paragraph has a bit of a spoiler in regards to that early chapter I’m talking about, so if you want to skip over that, jump down to the next big paragraph below, where I wrote “Spoiler Part Over Now.”)

The problem I have with the particular scene is that it is unreasonable. The girl, Daenerys Targaryen, is thirteen years old, her parents have died, she’s in a foreign land amongst strangers, and her older brother who is cruel to her and pinches her nipples all the time, sells her to a much older man of a different race that she’s never met, who looks different than anyone this thirteen-year-old has ever seen, and who takes her as a child bride. They go to a wedding ceremony where she sits, betrayed/sold by her only living relative, terrified and watching this barbaric seeming ritual that includes public fornication by pretty much everyone as they dance around the party humping each other, which traumatizes the girl since she has never witnessed that sort of thing, obviously, and then comes fighting in which she sees people killed and hacked open (twelve of them as I recall), and all done right in front of her, to her horror as it is another thing she has never witnessed before. So she sits mortified through all of this, absolutely dumbstruck with terror, after which she is given some bride gifts, including horse, which she does like, but then has to ride out into the cold night where she is stripped naked by this complete stranger of a much-older man and then made to stand shivering with cold as he fondles her for a very long period of time and then, miraculously, when he finally decides to use a finger to, test the waters as it were, she is suddenly—well, let’s just say that suddenly she is just horny as hell and can’t wait for him to do her (Martin 90).

I realize I have never been a thirteen-year-old girl, so I could be way off here, but, I’m sorry, I just don’t buy that scene being believable in any way.

Spoiler Part Over Now.

Now I realize that is only one scene, but that particular character gets a narrative treatment that was distractingly creepy throughout the story, and to me it seemed unnecessary. Additionally, the seemingly random sexuality pops up a few in a few other places as well. It kind of reminds me of some HBO and Showtime series where they stick naked people in the weirdest places, and have people banging randomly despite there being no real advancement of plot by it. I probably would have ignored that as an issue had it not been so pronounced with the Daenerys Targaryen character up front.

Beyond that, there are whores everywhere in this story. It’s like, literally everywhere. I’m perfectly fine with a patriarchal fictional world, and I’m fine with the fact there are only a few female characters with any admirable qualities. It’s fiction, roll with it. But the men in the story are all endlessly consumed with whores. I understand it’s supposed to be a rough-and-tumble world, but I’m not sure why so many big, powerful, super-wealthy noblemen have to stoop to whores as often as they seem to do. Surely there are enough serving girls and farm girls to attenuate at least some of that, not to mention all the sisters, daughters, widows, etc. of the aristocracy and merchant classes. Surely there would be more of those around to satisfy all these knights and other levels of the elite to a degree that would mitigate the nearly constant presence of whores or talk of whores. Not saying those guys wouldn’t go get some hot dirty-whore action periodically, at least some of them surely would, I’m just saying, the abundance was conspicuous to me at times.

My last bit of nit picking is about the dialogue where, in places, it came off as affected or weak. In some spots, it was fabulous, and yet, in others, it was so completely awkward I couldn’t believe the same person wrote it. For example, and this will tie in nicely to my last point, he’s got one character making a simile in dialogue that says something was going to be “uglier than a whore’s ass” (Martin 219). First off, there’s that whore thing again. Secondly, since when are whore’s asses so uniformly ugly that they became the symbol of all things ugly, the paragon of grotesqueness, and the icon of hideousness in all its anticipated forms? Are whore’s asses misshapen with such ubiquitous constancy that we came to the point where they define the adjective? I think not. Frankly, whores can be ugly, certainly, and the lifestyle might easily work upon one’s comeliness over time, but I would think that there are at least as many whores with spectacular asses as there are whore’s with nasty, sore-ridden, ugly ones. To me, having a nice ass seems like almost a necessity of the trade for some grades of whoredom. So, yeah, stuff like that.

(And I realize this may seem like an over-the-top critique of that particular bit, but I’m trying to have a bit of fun, and, well, I blame that sort of thing on the book’s editors. I will be the first to admit I’m sure my books have dumb stuff in them too, stuff that gets by you when you write and can’t even see it anymore after going through the manuscript a zillion times. But George R.R. Martin is published by Bantam, a part of Random House, a HUGE publisher. He’s not an indie like me, so surely he’s got people going through his manuscripts, professional people, who are helping him catch stuff like that. So, because of that, I don’t feel bad having a bit of fun to make a larger point, and it’s also why I rate the book a Center Centaur as well. I’m always going to rate harder on traditionally published writers because they get a lot more help and their books cost a lot more and, therefore, I don’t feel it is unfair to expect more from the finished product.)

So, I’m sure by now you’re thinking I didn’t like this book. But I did. I like it a lot, except where those things I just mentioned make it feel very long. It’s fabulous in many ways, and in many places the descriptions are not too long and are simply wonderful. I stopped and read several of them carefully, in awe of the precision and beauty of the prose. The descriptive stuff is usually very good. Just as more often than not, the dialogue is exceptional, too. In fact, my favorite character in the book is Tyrion Lannister, and it’s because of the fantastic dialogue. He’s got so many good lines, like, really, really good lines, that I often laughed aloud and reread the passage several times just to enjoy the fine writing that did that to me. There are other characters that are very strong too, Lord Eddard Stark for one. A wonderful character, and even the character of Sansa is very well done. It would be easy for a lesser writer to butcher the job that Martin has done with her, or at least what I think he is doing with her. It would be easy to make her too weak or too strong, and he’s walking that line very well.

The strongest part of this book, and the reason I totally recommend this book despite what I have said about the parts I didn’t care for, is the plot. This story is just good. Period. George R.R. Martin has got, at least with this first book, a fantastic plot underway. Weaving a storyline is definitely a strong suit for Martin, both on the chapter level (many of his chapters end leaving you with chills or tears) and for the whole A Game of Thrones novel.

This novel works as a standalone story even though it’s part of a longer series. Granted it barely stands alone, and I imagine he got some criticism for “loose ends” from people when this one first came out (I know the feeling… hey, you can only write sequels so fast), but it works by itself if you want to try his style of writing out. If you read it, and don’t move on, you will not feel like you wasted your time. It’s good; the plot is awesome; the depth and grandeur of the telling is fantastic for the most part; and the ending is magnificent. I got to that last page and was like, “Dammit, now I have to read the next book.” And I will.

Works Cited

Martin, George R.R. A Game of Thrones . New York: Bantam. 1996.

Senelick, Laurence. “General Introduction.” Anton Chekhov’s Selected Plays . Trans. and ed. Laurence Senelick. New York: Norton, 2005. Xxvii-xl.

Well into the second season of the HBO series, Game of Thrones, I can tell you that the show is incredibly well done and detailed. The relationship between Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo was handled much more delicately – and didn’t quite take on the same sort of urgency as the way it was originally written. She learned over time to love him and how to live with him.

Interesting review. I’m a little different in that I’m waiting to finish the series before I read the books. If I love the books, I’ll be disappointed with the series. If I love the series, I’ll be chomping at the bit to read the books – which are almost always better.

You’re right the books are almost always better, so, you have a good strategy. And, well, as far as Daenerys, they’d have to handle it more delicately or the show would have been protested by the hyper-sensitive, PC automatons out there whose goal in life is to force everyone into compliance, etc. I am looking forward to the series though. We watched Battlestar Galactica from start to finish over the course of about six months, … LOVED it. Same with Star Trek the Next Generation, Rome, the Sopranos, and a bunch of others. I love having a whole complete season. We’re close to Firefly, but we cant’ get the first one for some reason.

Even *I* loved Firefly! And I have a tendency to do the same – watch an entire season – sometimes we’ll do it over a weekend (yeah, we have no life…lol).

I miss Rome. Rome was awesome!

Fear not, the series will be worth the wait, promise.

We shall see. 🙂

Hey John, nice review. Now that I look at it from your point of view, you’re pretty much spot on with what you say about Daenerys. Without giving away the other books, safe to say she gets built up as this big savour/heroine, but I just can’t like her because she comes across as a little soulless. In fact, as the series goes on I like her less and less.

Regarding the whoring, I’m sure it was more talk than action when I read it. Having watched most of the first part of the HBO series there seemed to be a lot more bed scenes that I remember, but then I did read the first four in the space of a year (quick for me) and I can barely remember where each book ends and the next begins. However, I think the old saying is true here, ‘sex sells’. I never realised just how huge the erotica market was until I started self-publishing. It seems like every other author I come across writes some form of smut, whereas I always thought it was a real niche market.

Agree with what you say about plot in this book, though. And it just gets better and better as the series goes on.

It’s funny you mention that erotica thing. Just yesterday I was at the store with my wife, and she was looking through the meat section and I happened to notice the grocery store book section was right there, so I just wandered over to see what was selling at the market these days. All “romance.” Literally every single one. There wasn’t a fantasy, sci-fi, mystery or thriller there.

I wonder what sort of commentary that makes about our society (if any at all). Are we all sexually repressed? Are we all over sexualized? Are we all exactly as we’ve always been and the readily available media sources make manifesting that nature easier and easier (and profitable for those willing to capitalize)?

I keep telling myself I’m going to try to make myself read 50 Shades of Gray just to see what all the noise is about, but the last time I did that was for the first Twilight book and, bleh, that was pretty miserable reading for me. The whole time I just couldn’t figure out what a 100 year old vampire who never sleeps so has nothing to do but read and become more and more sophisticated and cultured, would see in a surly, moping little teenager. She wasn’t even a super-hotty or a slut. She smelled like bacon to him. (sigh). Nice premise for a whole series of books. lol

Haha, I could never read Twilight. I saw the first movie and it was interesting up to the point where they realised the weird kids were vampires and it went downhill from there. I can’t imagine how it could stretch into four (or however many) movies. Needless to say, the wife loved it.

Personally, there’s very little I would rather read less than erotica. It just seems to be this cheap, nasty form of literature which people can read and pretend they’re not so base as to lower themselves to watching or reading regular porn. I just don’t see the point. I think “no artistic merit” is the phrase that comes to mind, but perhaps I’m wrong. After all no one buys my book (except you, cheers!) whereas all these erotica authors are selling bucketloads.

Well, I’m with you on the not wanting to read it part, but I can’t really bag on it too much because my story has a dragon in it, and, well, there are those who would immediately lump it into the garbage category based solely on that, heh. I imagine if a really good writer spent time making deep interesting characters and putting them in interesting situations, erotica, like Sci-fi and fantasy, might be made into something artistic. I have a hard time seeing how, but that doesn’t mean the right person couldn’t come along and do it.

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How good are the Game of Thrones books?

First of all I am not a big fan of the show I find it to be a weird crossover between Spartacus and Lord of the Rings. I feel the plot advancement is a bit rushed too, at least in the first seasons since sometimes conflicts would be solved very drastically, with killings, using some-sort of device or magic or just following someone's advice all of the sudden.

I also felt that it is not very clear how magical is the universe sometimes they resort to it, sometimes they don't and your left wondering why and sometimes it solves everything.

However, I am fan of the medieval set-ups and fantasy in general, and I do recognise that the representation of those times with flawed and power hungry Lords is actually a much more accurate representation of the era.

So I would appreciate an honest review of the books, I believe they have the ingredients for me to enjoy them, but the show kinda killed it for me. Plus it is very hard to find a legitimate review, since the people I know either love them or just don't care about that type of setting

My thanks in advance.

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House of the dragon season 2, episode 1 review: a mostly strong return for game of thrones' prequel.

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House Of The Dragon: 21 Easter Eggs, Key Details, & Foreshadowing Hints In Season 2, Episode 1

House of the dragon timeline confirmed & explained, vermithor setup in house of the dragon season 2, episode 2 explained.

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1, "A Son for a Son."

House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1 is a pretty good way to kick off the Game of Thrones prequel's sophomore year.
It does a good job of laying the groundwork for the Dance of the Dragons, with some extremely impressive performances.
Some parts, however, such as Blood and Cheese, were rather disappointing.

After almost two years, House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1 is finally here, and it’s mostly worth the wait. Picking things up just days after House of the Dragon season 1’s ending , the season 2 premiere is about dealing with the fallout from Lucerys Velaryon’s death, getting various pieces back in place, and properly beginning the Targaryen civil war. Although I felt there were a couple of missteps, it’s a solid return and a promising sign of things to come.

House of the Dragon

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House Of The Dragon Season 2, Episode 1 Does Good Work Setting Up The Civil War

The dance of the dragons can now properly begin.

Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) and Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) in House of the Dragon season 2

For much of its runtime, House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1 operates in similar fashion to many a Game of Thrones season premiere . It’s about the slow build, setting up the board for the chess game to begin, and it largely does a good job of that. The pace could be a little frustrating to some viewers after so much set up for the Dance of the Dragons already, but patience and caution are embedded into the story as some urge it and others demand swifter action.

I particularly liked Aemond Targaryen and Criston Cole planning out the war and what locations to target, which felt like getting into the kind of detail George R.R. Martin loves.

That helps the premiere, because we do get some enjoyable scenes of strategy and battle tactics. I particularly liked Aemond Targaryen and Criston Cole planning out the war and what locations to target, which felt like getting into the kind of detail George R.R. Martin loves. The same is true for the brief scene with the smallfolk, too, which I hope it can find more room for amid the warring of the nobles. It makes the world feel so much deeper and more lived in, with a better sense of the consequences of the actions we’re witnessing.

Rhaenyra, Cregan, and Viserys' statue in House of the Dragon, with Robb Stark and Daenerys' dragons in Game of Thrones

House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1 contains several small details & Easter eggs that set up future events and connect to Game of Thrones.

Emma D'Arcy Is Heartbreakingly Good As Rhaenyra In House Of The Dragon's Season 2 Premiere

Most of the cast is good, but d'arcy is the early standout.

Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra with dirt on her cheeks in House of the Dragon season 2 teaser

House of the Dragon ’s cast is impressive across the board, but there’s one clear star in “A Son for a Son,” and that’s Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra. They did excellent work in season 1, of course, but take it to another level in the season 2 premiere. Rhaenyra’s grief is palpable, her pain so clearly etched into every fiber of D’Arcy’s performance , even as the Queen tries to keep it together, that you feel it through the screen.

Rhaenyra has to balance being a mother-in-mourning with trying to rule, juggle vengeance with logic, and it results in a powerful performance from D’Arcy.

Rhaenyra has to balance being a mother-in-mourning with trying to rule, juggle vengeance with logic, and it results in a powerful performance from D’Arcy. That it's so often silent, their face saying more than words could, just makes it even more impressive, and means when Rhaenyra does really have a statement to make - such as "I want Aemond Targaryen" - it lands perfectly.

Things are a little more mixed with the rest of the cast. Olivia Cooke brings a lot of nuance to Alicent Hightower, which is much-needed given her surprising relationship with Criston Cole and her own role in starting the civil war. Matt Smith as Daemon and Ewan Mitchell as Aemond remain two devilishly magnetic sides of the same coin , though neither quite shines here like they did in season 1. And Tom Glynn-Carney as Aegon makes a leap too.

House of the dragon game of thrones timeline

House of the Dragon is set before Game of Thrones, but time jumps left some confused about how long it will cover. Here's the HotD timeline explained.

However, the large cast means some are underserved. In particular, Corlys (Steve Toussaint), Rhaenys (Eve Best), and Baela (Bethany Antonia) are three of the show’s coolest characters, but found wanting in terms of screen time. That’s not a balance that can be perfected in just one episode, but is hopefully something it can find going through the season.

The Return To Wintefell & The Wall Was Nice, But Too Brief

More of cregan stark & jacaerys velaryon's story would've been great.

I was excited for the return to Winterfell and the appearance of Cregan Stark in House of the Dragon season 2 , but came away from the premiere feeling a bit short-changed. That’s not to say I was expecting Cregan to be a main character, but I think there was room for more than the 3–4 minutes of screen time he gets, which would’ve better fleshed out his character and shown more of Jacaerys too. The latter would be important, as he should be taking on a more prominent role this year with the war beginning.

None of it is bad, but it was all a little bit Starks-by-numbers, without anything unique to it.

Sadly, we don’t really get much of a sense of Cregan and Jace’s relationship. None of it is bad , but it was all a little bit Starks-by-numbers, without anything unique to it. I think showing scenes of the pair, say, hunting and drinking at Winterfell, could have helped it stand out, given it more room to breathe, and allowed for that greater character development.

Blood & Cheese Lacked The Expected Impact Compared To The Book

The show's version was toned down, and worse off for it.

House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1’s ending sees Blood and Cheese kill Prince Jaehaerys , a moment that’s long been… well, anticipated doesn’t quite feel right given what happened, but certainly talked about a lot by book readers. It could and should have been one of the biggest moments of the entire show, at any rate, but unfortunately it felt rather underwhelming to me.

House of the Dragon toned down the horror and intensity, but the result is a lack of emotional impact.

The problems are partly rooted in adaptation choices. In the book, Helaena has three children and is forced to choose between her two sons, all while pleading for Blood and Cheese to kill her instead. House of the Dragon toned down the horror and intensity , but the result is a lack of emotional impact.

House Of The Dragon Season 2 Release Schedule

Episode 1	June 16
Episode 2	June 23
Episode 3	June 30
Episode 4	July 7
Episode 5	July 14
Episode 6	July 21
Episode 7	July 28
Episode 8	August 4

That’s also true because they’ve made Helaena into such a mysterious character. Phia Saban’s performance is good, but by design feels too removed. This should’ve been a visceral, unforgettable scene, and while what happens is harrowing and will have a major impact on the future of the show, it ended the otherwise pretty solid premiere on a bit of a disappointing note.

New episodes of House of the Dragon season 2 release on Sundays at 9pm ET on HBO and Max.

Taking place about 172 years before the events of Game of Thrones , House of the Dragon tells the tale of the rise of the Targaryens, the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria. The popular HBO spinoff show first starred Milly Alcock and Emily Carey as Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower before they were replaced by Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, who play the older versions of the characters. Also starring in the series is Matt Smith (Prince Daemon Targaryen) and Paddy Considine as Rhaenyra’s father, King Viserys Targaryen.

Emma D'Arcy delivers a powerful performance as Rhaenyra Targaryen
The premiere does a good job of setting up the war to come
There's interesting, nuanced character work with the likes of Alicent Hightower, Daemon Targaryen, and Aemond Targaryen
Blood and Cheese is disappointing, lacking the emotional impact the scene should have had
Cregan Stark's role and the return to Winterfell was too brief, and could have had more character development

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‘house of the dragon’ season 2, episode 2 recap and review: ‘i love you brother’.

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Erryk and Arryk

Following the formula set up in last week’s Season 2 premiere of House Of The Dragon, the series gives us another episode of mostly politicking and setup punctuated at the very end with extreme violence. This scene, however, was a lot more fun than last week’s traumatizing child-murder. That’s not to say the scene was pleasant, but I’d rather watch two knights fighting than that grisly Blood and Cheese scene any day.

Spoilers follow.

We’ll start at the end this week, since it’s certainly the moment everyone will be talking about after the episode airs on HBO and Max. Arryk (Luke Tittensor) and Erryk (Elliot Tittensor) Cargyll’s fight to the death worked shockingly well, largely thanks to the excellent—nay, perfect—casting of these two knights, twins in real life and on the show.

House of the Dragon

The Cargyll’s were each sworn Kingsguard knights to the previous ruler, King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) but when the Hightowers pulled their little coup at the end of last season, the two brothers each chose different queens to support. Erryk, disillusioned with Aegon’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) frequent trips to brothels and illicit fights where impoverished children fight for the amusement of others, tries to convince his brother, Arryk, to support Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) but he’s unyielding. He swore an oath and is unwilling to break it, no matter the prince’s “proclivities.”

(Quick note: I would be annoyed with Mom and Dad Cargyll for naming their sons in the most confusing fashion imaginable, but I’m going to just pin this one on George R.R. Martin who had a lot of fun with names in his book Fire and Blood, including a whole lineage of Tullys with names like Grover, Oscar and Elmo).

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House Of The Dragon

Disenchanted with Aegon, Erryk fled King’s Landing and traveled to Dragonstone, pledging his allegiance to Rhaenyra and becoming one of her Queensguard. Erryk remained behind, though in tonight’s episode he probably should have realized that whether or not he can support Aegon, remaining under the iron fist of the petty Lord Commander, Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) is a bad idea. Cole, angry that the young prince Jaehaerys was murdered under his watch, seeks someone to blame and when he notices that Arryk’s white cloak is muddy—he was guarding the Queen Dowager, Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) on their grief parade through the city—he decides that Arryk will bear the brunt of his ire.

Read my review of Episode 1 here :

Not only does Cole order the knight to go tend to his cloak before eating, he devises a mission for him on the spot: He’s to make his way to Dragonstone, infiltrating the fortress by pretending to be his twin brother, and there slaughter Rhaenyra. Arryk balks at this—he is a knight, not an assassin—but Cole won’t bend, and sends him on the suicide mission without consulting Aegon or the Hand of the King, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans).

When Arryk arrives, he’s almost called out by the White Worm, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) as she passes, having just been in the castle with his brother and the Queen. I kept waiting for her to sound the alarm, but she never does, unless we’re meant to understand that she does offscreen, which is why help shows up in time.

Arryk makes his way to Rhaenyra’s bedchambers, where he relieves the knight on duty and then enters her room, drawing his sword as he approaches. Just then, Erryk bursts into the room as well and the two fight in one of the best combat scenes this show has offered up yet. What makes it so great is the fact that pretty quickly the two men, who look almost identical, are almost impossible to tell apart. Those of us watching certainly can’t tell, but neither can the onlookers who rush to the fray in order to help Rhaenyra. The heat of battle, the armor, the ferocity of the fight, all make their similarities—which perhaps we could see past in a moment of calm—impossible to distinguish.

“I can’t tell which is which!” one of Rhaenyra’s Queensguard exclaims. Neither can I! It adds another level of tension to the fight. If one kills the other, is Erryk protecting Rhaenyra, or Arryk here to kill her? In the end, they kill one another, though the last man standing turns to Rhaenyra and asks her forgiveness before throwing himself on his blade. Was it Erryk begging forgiveness for ending his life, thus robbing her of one of her protectors? Or was it Arryk, in shock and grief at the death of his brother finally realizing that it wasn’t worth it. “We are one soul split into two bodies,” Arryk told Cole earlier (I’m paraphrasing). These silly oaths. As though Criston Cole would ever uphold his own.

Alicent and Helaena

Elsewhere in the episode we get the parade of grief I mentioned earlier. Otto Hightower thought it would drum up the sympathy of the smallfolk to publicly display the prince’s body in a procession that almost goes very badly. And not just sympathy, but anger at Rhaenyra for the assassination, which Otto has made very public, sending ravens far and wide to denounce the act. It’s a plan that almost works, until Aegon has all the ratcatchers hanged outside the Red Keep, despite most of them being innocent (though Cheese was also hung; we see his poor dog there, whining while it looks at his dangling corpse).

Otto is furious but he takes it too far, berating the young king until Aegon has had enough. “You were my father’s Hand, not mine,” he says. Larys Strong, the Clubfoot, is about to become even more powerful it seems. Otto leaves for Hightower, dismayed at his grandson’s (completely unsurprising) rashness. This is the bed that Otto himself made; he has only himself to blame.

In Dragonstone, Rhaenyra is furious with her uncle-husband, Daemon (Matt Smith) over the role he played in the prince’s death, though he denies telling Blood and Cheese that any son will do. Daemon is a liar, however, so we don’t know what he actually said. They argue and he leaves for Harrenhal to raise armies and prepare for war.

Addam and Alyn of Hull

Outside of the courts of power, we get several scenes with Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) and his brother Adamm (Clinton Liberty). We also see the dire straits that the blacksmith Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) finds himself in, with no money and a sickly daughter.

Hugh Hammer

At this point, we’re just getting to know these characters. The reason we’re getting to know them isn’t clear (and while I know it, having read the book, I’m not going to spoil it here. They are important characters! You’ll find out why soon enough!)

All told, this was another somewhat slow episode but that doesn’t really bother me. I’ve accepted that House of the Dragon is simply a very different beast than Game Of Thrones. We’re still in the lead-up to war, and I suspect that once we get there, and all the battles on sky and on the land break out, things will get a lot bloodier and crazier.

I think the one complaint that I share with some viewers is that I have a hard time caring much about the characters. There are very few that really make you want to root for them, like the Stark kids did, or Brienne or later-Jaime Lannister, or Tyrion or Jon Snow or Daenerys (mostly) or the Hound and so forth.. Thrones is filled with rich characters that Martin fleshed out and gave shape to in his books.

Fire & Blood’s characters are just people in a history book, and the HBO adaptation—while it does certainly give them a lot more to do and a lot more depth—doesn’t really make us fall in love with any of them. Rhaenyra and her sone Jace (Harry Collett) perhaps, and Daemon’s girls. We root for Daemon because he’s attractive and dangerous, but he’s a bad man at his core. Viserys was a good king, but a weak one. Alicent is relatable but not really likable. There isn’t much comic relief, that’s for sure! Nobody spouts bangers like “I drink and I know things.”

Still, it’s a brilliant show that I find completely absorbs me. It’s a great story even if the characters are a lot less sympathetic than the heroes were in Thrones. That was still heroic fantasy. This is more Shakespearean tragedy.

Scattered Thoughts:

The mommy issues over at Team Green are quite something. Alicent failing to comfort Aegon in his time of need. Aemond laying in the lap of an older woman at the brothel. Of course, these stem from daddy issues. Alicent tells her father, “I have sinned” and he brushes her off—after using her as a pawn her entire life. This is not a family big into hugs, though Helaena may be an exception to that rule. She’s just too out there to really connect with anybody. Otto’s coldness has infected the lot of them.
Speaking of Otto, I’ve seen online reactions about how great he was this episode and certainly Ifans was terrific, and his reactions to his grandson and the Lord Commander—“What did Criston Cole do now?”—are priceless. But again, this is all Otto’s doing. This entire war is Otto’s fault. He devised the coup when Alicent was just a girl, positioning her to seduce the king and driving the wedge between her and Rhaenyra, her close childhood friend. All of this suffering could have been avoided had the Hand of the King just backed his king and his king’s wishes.
I forgot to note that this is the second week in a row where twins have died. Last week, only one of the two Targaryen twins was murdered. This week two twins go out in a blaze of glory. If there were triplets in this show, I’d be very nervous about next week.
Finally, I’ve heard it said that Ser Criston Cole is now the most hated man in Game Of Thrones history. I cannot agree with this assessment. As vile and pathetic as the man is, he’s still far less loathsome than either Joffrey or Ramsay Bolton. That isn’t saying much about his character, but let’s not get carried away here, or let the fog of time blur our memory.

Here’s my video review of the episode :

Read my review of Episode 1 here:

See the full House Of The Dragon Season 2 release schedule below:

What did you think of this episode? Let me know on Twitter and Facebook .

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Game of Thrones Spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Reveals First Image as It Begins Production

More of the cast has been revealed..

Production on HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, has kicked off in Belfast, Ireland, and we’ve already got a good look at its star, Peter Claffey.

This first image from the series reveals little about what to expect, as it mostly shows us an early look at Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall as he towers over a crowded street. We have yet to get a look at his co-star, Dexter Sol Ansell, who will play Egg in The Hedge Knight adaptation.

Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall. Image Courtesy of HBO.

“A century before the events of ‘Game of Thrones,’” the official logline says, “two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends."

Claffey and Ansell will star alongside one another when the series eventually premieres, and today’s news also comes with a few of the other faces that will be joining them. HBO says the newly revealed cast includes Finn Bennett (True Detective Season 4, The Nevers) as Aerion Targaryen, Bertie Carvel (Dalgliesh, Doctor Foster: A Woman Scorned) as Baelor Targaryen, Tanzyn Crawford (Swift Street, Servant) as Tanselle, Daniel Ings (The Gentlemen, The Crown) as Ser Lyonel Barotheon, and Sam Spruell (Legend, Snow White and the Huntsman) as Maekar Targaryen.

Details on how A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will adapt the events of The Hedge Knight have yet to be revealed, but we haven’t been left completely in the dark. Last month, HBO confirmed that Black Mirror alum Owen Harris will direct three of the show’s six episodes . The company added today that Lessons In Chemistry’s Sarah Adina Smith will now direct the other three. Fans can also expect the show to run for around three seasons should everything go according to plan.

8 Shows to Watch if You Liked Game of Thrones

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is expected to arrive in late 2025 , so it will be a while before we see the latest Game of Thrones offshoot on our TVs. Thankfully, the world of Westeros is already at our doorsteps thanks to House of the Dragon Season 2, which premiered its first episode only two days ago.

For more, you can check out author George R.R. Martin’s thoughts about potentially writing more Dunk & Egg stories in the future .

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

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Entertainment

Winter of Content

For a crucial decade in print media’s transition to the internet, hbo’s fantasy series game of thrones was a boon in traffic… for everyone. but what happened when every publication started chasing the same thing.

By Kevin Nguyen , a features editor at The Verge, where he publishes award-winning stories about labor, business, and policing. Previously, he was a senior editor at GQ.

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If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Collage of a piece of medieval art of knights battling but their shields are different news media company logos.

In the summer of 2017, I was brought on to be the third host of a weekly Game of Thrones recap show that streamed on Facebook Live. At the time, I was an editor at GQ , and I found the assignment beneath me. I was supposed to be squirreling away at the dark art of turning shoddy copy into less shoddy copy; I never wanted to be on camera.

Also, I barely knew anything about Game of Thrones . I watched it casually, but I hadn’t read any of the books. I was allergic to “lore.” I had trouble distinguishing the show’s various bearded white guys. But my boss had tasked me with de-nerdifying the Facebook Live show after someone had derogatorily suggested that the two current hosts, Scott and Josh, don fedoras on the stream.

“Pivot to video” is a phrase now associated with any boneheaded move in media, but there was a time before it was a joke. The spring of 2016, Facebook attempted to jump-start its new livestreaming feature the only way it knew how: with money. Publications were baited with small payouts . The higher-ups at Condé Nast, the parent company that owns GQ , handed down instructions to participate, and at least at the magazine level, there was some acknowledgment that the whole thing was silly. A year later, we were still playing ball, taking the easiest pitches imaginable. Game of Thrones was one of those things that people couldn’t get enough of. It didn’t matter if our coverage was smarter or better written than what was available on the hundreds of other sites running the same thing. We were all chasing the roulette of Google Search traffic, and the most embarrassing part was that it worked. So why not try the same thing for Facebook Live?

Despite my protests — about the show’s lazy concept, my forced involvement, the entire emphasis on Facebook streaming, a thing everyone seemed to agree was stupid but unable to opt out of — I actually had a good time doing the Game of Thrones series. Scott took on more of a play-by-play role, with Josh coming in for color commentary. I’d interject unhelpfully every once in a while to mispronounce the name of a major character. Scott and Josh showed up diligently and enthusiastically, despite it not being part of their contract and not being compensated extra. I turned into a decent foil as the show’s grump, and my inability to remember any character’s name became a running gag.

A partial list of publications that wrote Game of Thrones recaps

ABC News, The Atlantic, The AV Club, Baltimore Sun, Boing Boing, The Boston Globe, Collider, Complex, Den of Geek, E! Online, Elite Daily, Entertainment Weekly, FanSided, GQ, Grantland, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, The Huffington Post, IGN, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, The Mary Sue, MTV, The New York Post, The New York Times, NPR, People, Ranker, Rolling Stone, The Ringer, Screen Rant, ScreenCrush, Slant, The Standard, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Telegraph, Time, The Times-Picayune, TV Tropes, Uproxx, USA Today, Vanity Fair, The Verge, Vulture, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Week, Wired

Each episode allegedly racked up thousands of views — not too shabby given the low production lift. In 2017, there weren’t a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the future of media. Most magazines and newspapers were sustained by advertising revenue. But in the transition to digital, that business was subsumed by the web’s two largest advertising products: Google and Facebook. They controlled the flow of distribution and therefore had a stranglehold on journalism. When they fed your publication scraps, you lapped them up; if they told you the future was video, you lapped that up, too.

For a moment in 2016, Facebook Live appeared to be working. Nearly every other major media company was chasing the same high in various forms: Canada’s National Post tried to get its reporters to eat as many slices of cheese as possible ; TechCrunch broadcast their annual $2,995-a-ticket conference; ABC News aired pre- and post-presidential debate analysis . But no one would top BuzzFeed — in both numbers and ingenuity — which had come out of the gate livestreaming a watermelon, placing rubber bands around the fruit, one by one, until it exploded .

Less than a year later, Facebook would stop paying publishers to support its livestreaming product. Then it would be revealed that the company had greatly inflated the metrics it reported . Facebook would settle that class action suit for $40 million, an amount of money that the company generates every three hours.

People have joked that the BuzzFeed watermelon is the perfect metaphor for journalism in the Facebook Live era. But in hindsight, I think the watermelon got off easy.

Each time it appeared that a publication had figured out a repeatable way to attract web traffic, everywhere else would follow suit: jockeying for the top search hit for “what time is the Super Bowl?”; aggregating viral tweets; competing to be the first to post clips from Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (before The Awl went bottoms up, John Herrman facetiously congratulated each week’s winner).

Yet, with Game of Thrones , the attention was sustained for nearly a decade — a crucial one, when a number of digital media properties emerged and the legacy print magazines saw the writing on the wall. No one knew where the industry was going, but everyone agreed Game of Thrones was a good way to garner traffic.

When I was at Condé Nast, I’d accidentally been given companywide permissions to the metrics dashboard, and I witnessed Joanna Robinson’s Game of Thrones coverage at Vanity Fair climb the charts every Sunday evening after new episodes aired. Even The New Yorker , the company’s platonic ideal of a prestige publication, was doing recaps (though still, an overwhelming amount of their page views were attributed to “satire by Andy Borowitz”).

This was happening outside of Condé as well. It felt like it was happening everywhere. Suddenly, The New York Times was doing the same thing as BuzzFeed ; The Guardian , Time , and NPR were generating identical kinds of stories as sites called FanSided , Ranker , and Den of Geek . ( The Verge ’s series was called “Game of Game of Thrones.”) Publications are differentiated by their coverage areas, identity, and voice. What happens when they all start running the same kind of pieces?

A drawing of medieval monk typing on a laptop. His editor is pointing to a scroll labeled “Content Strategy” and there is a strange creature running by.

“You end up getting a lot of sites chasing the same numbers, and at the same time, those numbers become self-reinforcing because every site is writing about Game of Thrones and everyone’s reading,” said Jared Keller, who was in The Atlantic ’s digital newsroom. “It’s the only thing there is to read, and therefore you start seeing numbers on end. It becomes a snake eating its own tail. It really does homogenize media.”

Keller started at The Atlantic as an associate editor in 2010, initially at its digital offshoot, The Atlantic Wire . At the time, the magazine was the magazine — a prestigious print publication that had existed for over 150 years; The Atlantic Wire was the website, which had been around for only one year. Keller eventually became The Atlantic ’s first social media editor, a role tailor-made for him. The job involved looking at a lot of metrics to inform the newsroom of “trends.”

Social media — Facebook primarily, but also Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon — was beginning to drive substantial numbers, only the traffic was unpredictable. What went viral often felt random and chaotic. Keller spent a great deal of energy trying to control the flow of social traffic, often by posting links to Reddit, with varying degrees of success. But for a publication with legacy trappings, Keller says, The Atlantic was very forward-thinking, more so than many of its contemporaries.

“If there was a down week and all the percentages fell in terms of week-over-week traffic, I would get questions: ‘Where did the traffic go?’” Keller recalled. “I’m 22 and I don’t know where the fuck the traffic went. I had to tell everyone to relax and try and create content that’s more conducive towards getting picked up on these social networks.”

But it didn’t take long for Keller to see the steady stream of page views coming for stories about Game of Thrones , then beginning its second season. It was like clockwork, spiking on Sundays when episodes would air.

“ Game of Thrones was the first thing where we didn’t have to do anything to see it generate traffic,” Keller said. “We just had to create the content, and then people would come to it. If you built it, they would come.” It was the first time Keller could identify a consistent social media trend and program against it. So The Atlantic did what every other website was doing: publish episode recaps. Game of Thrones aired Sunday, and follow-up content went live the next morning.

“They’re making bullets. I’m just the gun,” Keller said. He’d look at the analytics, see what was generating attention, and try to convince writers and editors to assign stories from the data. “You find a button or a lever and you just push it and pull it as much as you can.”

(One source told me: “I remember all the clueless senior editors talking about [Keller] in awed whispers like he was a wizard.”)

Despite his success as a social media editor, Keller never liked the job, even with the power he wielded. “I was not happy doing it. Honestly, it felt like the most important and simultaneously least important job in the newsroom.” He’d grown up reading narrative magazine features and always wanted to write them — not “dig harder for content in the content mines.”

Keller has since had a tumultuous career in media, though, through it, you can track the ebbs and flows of the industry. He left to become the director of social media at Bloomberg , where he was let go after his DMs shit-talking management leaked. Then he was the editor of Al Jazeera America before being laid off. (The site eventually closed in 2016.) After that he was news director at Mic.com, which, for a moment, was thought to be the voice of news for millennials. He was let go after a Gawker piece accused him of plagiarizing stories. He got tapped to be the digital director for a relaunched version of Maxim — he got laid off from there, too. Keller was at home at Task & Purpose , a trade publication geared toward military veterans, for six years, before it was bought by Recurrent Ventures, a venture equity-backed media company that buys up flailing web publications and pushes them into e-commerce .

“I fucked up a lot... I made a lot of mistakes in a lot of different jobs, and a lot of them were very public mistakes,” he said. “But I’m happy that I’ve been able to redeem myself at least a little bit in the last 10 years or so.”

He’s had eight jobs since 2010. Now, Keller is settled at Military.com, where he is a managing editor. He’s grateful that he gets to keep working in the industry.

When Kim Renfro moved to New York at age 18, her dream was “to frost cupcakes all day.” She got the chance at a venerable bakery called Buttercup Bake Shop. After she graduated from college, her new dream was to have health insurance. Renfro landed at Business Insider as a temporary office manager, setting up desks for new hires and stocking the kitchen with seltzer and soda.

Even though she wasn’t a journalist, she loved the camaraderie of the newsroom. In the office kitchen, she talked about her favorite show, Game of Thrones . A huge fan of the books as well, Renfro spent a lot of her time on Reddit. By the end of the fifth season, the TV series had outpaced the plot of the novels — that gap opening a rich vein of theories and conspiracies about characters’ identities and fates. Eventually, an editor, overhearing Renfro’s enthusiasm, asked, “Why do you know so much about this thing?”

Surprisingly, the site didn’t have anyone covering Game of Thrones , so Renfro started pitching stories about the show in her free time and was eventually moved into an entry-level culture writer position. She would be, among other things, the site’s Game of Thrones person.

By the time she was entering the recap cycle full time, in the show’s sixth season, Game of Thrones coverage was an established machine. Readers who wanted recaps already knew where they wanted to get them. To differentiate herself, Renfro positioned herself as an expert on the texts. She’d pored over George R.R. Martin’s work and was able to pick apart the ways it was reflected in the show or, more crucially, deviated from it. She offered an obsessive’s expertise — of the books, of the mythology, of the subreddits.

“I would try and make people feel smarter about the show that they loved,” she explained to me, imagining the “water-cooler conversations on Monday mornings.” (After all, this is exactly the kind of chitchat that had gotten Renfro her job.)

Unlike most TV shows, HBO chose not to provide writers with advanced screeners during the later seasons, meaning they were watching it live on Sunday nights alongside the rest of the world. But it would take Renfro’s whole weekend. Starting on Saturday, she’d prep articles, making bets based on her own deductions of where the storyline was going or, mercifully, if there were any leaked plot details. She pre-wrote as much as possible, including Google-optimized headlines.

Then, Sunday evening would roll around. “I would watch the episode live with a notebook in hand and eyes glued to the screen, messily scribbling everything in my notebook,” Renfro said. After a quick break to survey online chatter, she’d start the episode again, watching more closely this time, with captions on. And then : writing.

Drawing of a variety of scrolls with clickbaity Game of Thrones headlines.

“I would try and have at least one article published that night, if not more, if I could sleep for a few hours. It was an adrenaline rush on Sunday nights for sure,” she said, recounting the experience excitedly. “I would sleep a little bit, wake up early, get to the office, sometimes rewatch the episode again in the morning just to sort of soak it in, especially if it was a good one. And then, yeah, I would really try and write as many articles as I could between Sunday night and Tuesday evening” — the publishing “sweet spot,” according to Renfro.

That first season of her coverage, she published over 150 stories. As she continued, she kept pushing. By the end of the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones in 2019, she estimates she had published hundreds more.

According to Renfro, Business Insider was “metrics focused.” Many writers were held to traffic goals. With Game of Thrones , the page views were often in the millions. Renfro describes the internal pressure as “stressful” but admits she also thrived on it.

“There were some Sundays where I just didn’t sleep at all. I would just stay up,” she said. “I was on the West Coast, so I would stay up until my East Coast colleagues came online on Monday morning and then be like, ‘Okay, I’m handing this off. Now I’m going to go try and nap a little bit.’”

Watching the finale — famously disappointing to many fans — Renfro cried, particularly during a final montage of the Stark family. She was moved by her last glimpse of those characters, her time with them coming to an end. Then, over the next 24 hours, she put up 10 articles.

In the months that followed, Renfro felt like “a shell of a human,” one who had been taken over by “a weird burnout sort of depression.” Like many young people, too much of her self-worth was wrapped up in her job. “I had to unpack that a bit and address that and start getting my priorities in order. It was just a TV show.”

Game of Thrones concluded in May 2019. Since then, Renfro says she has been “a consistent therapy attender.”

James Hibberd spent the better part of a decade writing about Game of Thrones . By the time the show was over, he was, understandably, sick of it. “After the finale, the last thing I wanted to do was write more about Thrones ,” he said. “I’d probably written over a thousand stories about the show across my time at The Hollywood Reporter and Entertainment Weekly .”

But a literary agent approached him about the possibility of doing a book, and Hibberd decided he couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Anyone who’s spent most of their career writing on the internet dreams of publishing something that lasts. Blog posts are ephemeral; a book is permanent.

Being on contract with a publisher ended up being, in his words, the toughest assignment of his career. The book was supposed to be 300 pages; Hibberd wrote nearly 500 over the course of nine months, while working his full-time writing job at Entertainment Weekly . (“If I had more time, I would have made the book even longer,” he said.)

According to BookScan, Hibberd’s Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon: Game of Thrones and the Official Untold Story of the Epic Series has sold a little shy of 10,000 copies. While books rarely have the reach of web media, readers have loved the book: it has an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon and sports an approving blurb from George R.R. Martin himself. Kim Renfro had also written a book, The Unofficial Guide to Game of Thrones , published by Atria Books in 2019. (Also a glowing 4.6 stars.) “I knew people were going to write books about the show, and I just decided to try and be one of them, which I’m very glad that I did,” Renfro said, and similarly described it as both a massive and satisfying undertaking. For both writers, writing books — thoroughly and quickly — was the thing they’d inadvertently spent the last decade preparing for.

“Doing such a long project on my own while on a deadline made me realize something about the making of TV shows and movies that I had never internalized before: what you see onscreen is never the best a creator can do,” Hibberd said. “It’s the best they can do with the time and resources they have.”

When Renfro covered the first season of House of the Dragon — a prequel series to Game of Thrones released by HBO in 2022 — she also began podcasting, a medium that she found much healthier. (Again, therapy.) But the overall attention paid to Dragon was much smaller than it had ever been with Thrones . The hunger from readers just wasn’t the same.

Everyone I spoke to agrees there will never be another phenomenon like Game of Thrones . There are various theories why — the fracturing of monoculture, the binge model, the fact that there’s too much TV, the fact that it sucks now, TikTok — but it also means there won’t be another Game of Thrones moment for journalistic outlets.

That’s likely because, as much of a singular phenomenon as Thrones was, it was the focus of a brief era when Facebook was sending a flood of traffic to publications, and nearly every major media company sold out the things that differentiated its publications in order to take a sip. I don’t think there was any illusion about how precarious a reliance on social media would be, but it was surprising just how quickly that source evaporated. Internet platforms shifted away from distributing articles, the page view boom times ended, and still today, publications are reeling.

Photo of illuminated medieval letterforms that say “SEO”.

Earlier this year, Renfro was laid off from Business Insider as part of an 8 percent staff reduction and an even larger, bleaker trend of a shrinking media industry. Over 2,000 media jobs were shed in 2023. We might never repeat the Game of Thrones moment solely because there won’t be enough publications left.

“It feels like this bananas, bananas cultural event that I don’t think a lot of people will ever experience the same way again,” Renfro said. She was still talking about the fantasy TV show, with an equal measure of relief and nostalgia, and as I listened, I hoped it would not one day be how people spoke about journalism, too.

My amateur Game of Thrones recapping crew — Josh, Scott, and I — have long since left GQ and become good friends, a bond that could only be forged in the humiliating fires of Facebook Live. In the years since the spring of pivoting to video, I had attended each of their weddings. As we sat down for dinner at Scott’s reception, he played, as a gag, the music that scored Game of Thrones ’ notorious “Red Wedding” scene — when the Stark family is massacred and several major characters are killed off.

It was pretty funny, especially when the Nerf arrows started flying. I glanced around at the room of laughing people, many of whom were or had been writers, being “murdered” one by one. It was quite a scene, and I thought about how we might, at long last, have a more appropriate metaphor for what happened to journalism than the BuzzFeed watermelon.

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When is the next Game of Thrones book coming out?

It's titled the winds of winter and has haunted author george rr martin for over a decade..

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13 years we've been waiting for the sixth book in George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga, officially titled The Winds of Winter , but with the second Game of Thrones spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms now in production at HBO , is it simply a case of the author prioritising TV watchers over readers?

In a blog post published earlier this month , Martin announced that he'd soon be heading over to Belfast in order to "visit the set, meet the cast, and take in some jousting" while the US network grinds away on its adaptation of his novella The Hedge Knight - starring Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall and Dexter Sol Ansell as his squire Aegon V Targaryen.

This insight is just the latest example of the beloved fantasy writer travelling the globe to enjoy the fruits of his labour, and fair play to Martin for doing so, but there's no getting away from the fact that his patient readers would rather him simply sit at a desk and complete the epic series he first began writing in 1991.

When will The Winds of Winter hit shelves?

Back when fifth book A Dance with Dragons was released in 2011, Martin estimated that it would be up to four years before its sequel The Winds of Winter arrived. It subsequently took two years for him to reach the quarter-way mark in terms of pages.

End-of-year deadlines agreed between himself and his publisher zipped by during 2015 and 2016, but it was then revealed in April 2018 that his House Targaryen-centred prequel Fire & Blood (which HBO's House of the Dragon is based on) was fast-tracked, putting his work on The Winds of Winter even further behind.

Skip to various 2022 chats with talkshow host Stephen Colbert , Martin announced that around three-quarters of the book had been put to paper and that it was 400-500 pages away from completion.

By November 2023, though, he'd made practically no progress, meaning it's impossible to speculate when he'll get this next stage of the story signed, sealed and delivered.

To make matters worse (depending on how you define 'worse'), Martin recently promised more Dunk & Egg stories, when really you could argue he should be fully focussed on getting this 13-year beast off his back.

Blogging just last month, Martin wrote of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: "The show will make its debut next year... and if it does well, THE SWORN SWORD and THE MYSTERY KNIGHT will follow. By which time I hope to have finished some more Dunk & Egg stories (yes, after I finish THE WINDS OF WINTER)."

Going off this particular update, should AKOTSK prove a major hit with viewers in 2025, HBO will potentially want to scatter adaptations of Dunk & Egg adventures The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight across the following four years - allowing a two-year break between each series and ending with a 2029 finale - which would mean that he's currently aiming to turn in The Winds of Winter in the next five years.

Admissions of writing struggles in 2023 and 2020

Speaking to Bangcast last Christmastime , Martin lamented his slower output compared to the likes of author Bernard Cornwell, whose work provided the basis for Viking drama The Last Kingdom.

"I wish I could write as fast as [Cornwell] but I'm 12 years late on this damn novel and I'm struggling with it," he admitted. "I have like 1,100 pages written but I still have hundreds more pages to go. It's a big mother of a book for whatever reason. Maybe I should've started writing smaller books when I began this but it's tough. That's the main thing that dominates most of my working life."

Three years prior to that, while revealing that he'd been "visiting with Cersei, Asha, Tyrion, Ser Barristan, and Areo Hotah" on the page, Martin suggested he'd been suffering "bad days".

"But all in all I am pleased with the way things are doing," he caveated. "I do wish they would go faster, of course. Way way back in 1999, when I was deep in the writing of A STORM OF SWORDS, I was averaging about 150 pages of manuscript a month.

"I fear I shall never recapture that pace again. Looking back, I am not sure how I did it then. A fever indeed."

What juice has Martin spilled about The Winds of Winter?

In conversation with Smarter Travel a year after the publication of A Dance with Dragons, the 75-year-old suggested that The Winds of Winter would have a fierce start.

"There were a of cliffhangers at the end of A Dance with Dragons. Those will be resolved very early," he shared. "I'm going to open with the two big battles that I was building up to, the battle in the ice [between the forces of Stannis Baratheon and Roose Bolton in and around Winterfell] and the battle at Meereen — the battle of Slaver's Bay [between Daenerys Targaryen's army and the slavers of Yunkai across the Narrow Sea]."

Four years later while attending the Guadalajara International Book Fair, he paid tribute to his 20-year warning that winter was coming during a discussion surrounding the next book.

"I've been telling you for 20 years that winter was coming. Winter is the time when things die, and cold and ice and darkness fill the world, so this is not going to be the happy feel-good that people may be hoping for," teased Martin. "Some of the characters [are] in very dark places. Things get worse before they get better, so things are getting worse for a lot of people."

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A Game of Thrones
A Game of Thrones is the first novel in A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on August 1, 1996. The novel won the 1997 Locus Award and was nominated for both the 1997 Nebula Award and the 1997 World Fantasy Award.
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin book review
Summary - 5/5. A Game of Thrones is the best opening book to a fantasy series you'll find. It has become a sensation for a reason - the TV series is brilliant, yes. But the first book is probably better. You get such a great feeling of grandeur but also a really personal feeling from some of the characters.
A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1
by George R. R. Martin. Publication Date: March 22, 2011. Genres: Fantasy, Fiction. Paperback: 720 pages. Publisher: Bantam. ISBN-10: 0553386794. ISBN-13: 9780553386790. 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.
How to Read the Game of Thrones Books in Chronological Order
12. See it at Amazon. The World of Ice & Fire is a companion compendium to the ASoIaF novels. It's a great coffee table book, full of illustrations and a deep history of Martin's world dating ...
A GAME OF THRONES
After a long silence (Portraits of his Children, stories, 1987), the author of the cult novel The Armageddon Rag (1983) returns with the first of a fantasy series entitled, insipidly enough, A Song of Ice and Fire. In the Seven Kingdoms, where the unpredictable seasons may last decades, three powerful families allied themselves in order to smash the ruling Targaryens and depose their Mad King ...
A Game of Thrones: Book Review
Ned travels to the capital city of Westeros, King's Landing with his daughters Arya and Sansa. When they arrive in King's Landing, Ned learns that Jon Arryan's death was not an "accident. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. After learning how bad it has gotten in King's Landing, Ned uses all his power to try to fix the problems ...
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NOW THE ACCLAIMED HBO SERIES GAME OF THRONES —THE MASTERPIECE THAT BECAME A CULTURAL PHENOMENON Here is the first book in the landmark series that has redefined imaginative fiction and become a modern masterpiece. A GAME OF THRONES 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 ...
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book One)
A GAME OF THRONES. 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 ...
A Game of Thrones
A Game of Thrones. Here is the first book in the landmark series that has redefined imaginative fiction and become a modern masterpiece. 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 ...
A Game Of Thrones by George RR Martin book review
The first book, 'A Game of Thrones,' was first released in 1996, and since then another three books have been released, with the fifth hopefully to be released this year (2009). ... loyalty honesty, love, families, romance, conspiracies, back stabbing and much more. Read the complete review of the book - GAME OF THRONES on my blog - http ...
A Game of Thrones, Book 1, Part 1
13 audio discs (CD) (16 hr., 52 min.)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 forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective ...
A Game of Thrones Review: Winter is Coming
Game of Thrones is closely similar to the novel. Its plot line follows the story as many events, like Ned Stark getting beheaded and Daenerys getting three dragons occur in the show. Book Description: 'A Game of Thrones' by George R. R. Martin is a complex tale of power, corruption, and dragons. A Game of Thrones Review: Winter is Coming.
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Buy A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1): The bestselling classic epic fantasy series behind the award-winning HBO and Sky TV show and phenomenon GAME OF THRONES 1 by George R.R. Martin (ISBN: 9780007548231) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
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When you play a game of thrones you win or you die. "George R.R. Martin's new novel, A Game of Thrones, is the first in an epic series about a land in which the seasons shift between periods of seemingly endless summer and seemingly endless winter. The story begins with the kingdom of Winterfell facing both external and internal dangers.
A Game of Thrones
Bran Stark is a young boy who watches his father, Lord Eddard Stark, execute Gared for abandoning his post as a member of the Night's Watch. After the execution, Eddard's two older sons, Robb and Jon, discover a gigantic dead direwolf and her six living cubs. The children adopt the pups as their own.
25 Years on, a Mixed Legacy for A Game of Thrones
The rinse-repeat quality of the story isn't completely obvious by the end of this first book, now turning a quarter-century old. Fantasy nerds would be forgiven for picking up the next ...
REVIEW: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
A Game of Thrones is never a chore, and the pacing is remarkably consistent throughout the book. Although A Game of Thrones is fantasy, the magical elements are of secondary importance, at least in this first volume of A Song of Ice and Fire. Instead, A Game of Thrones is driven by its wonderful cast of characters.
A Game of Thrones
A Game of Thrones is the first of seven planned novels in A Song of Ice and Fire, an epic fantasy series by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on 6 August 1996. The novel was nominated for the 1998 Nebula Award and the 1997 World Fantasy Award,[1] and won the 1997 Locus Award.[2] The novella Blood of the Dragon, comprising the Daenerys Targaryen chapters from the novel ...
The Game Of Thrones Books By George R.R Martin: Two Ways To Read The
The first book in the series, A Game of Thrones, was published in 1996, with subsequent books released over the next two decades.. The series currently consists of five published books, with two more planned. The popularity of the series exploded with the release of the television adaptation, Game of Thrones, produced by HBO. The show premiered in 2011 and ran for eight seasons, concluding in ...
Book Review: A Game of Thrones
Title: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1). Author: George RR Martin. My Rating: 4.5 stars. Goodreads. Book Depository.. The first of an epic series, A Game of Thrones is a worldwide sensation for a reason. Full of well thought out plot arcs, amazing characters and somewhat realistic political intrigue, this book will keep you guessing from beginning to the end, and leave you ...
Book Review: A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin
This story is just good. Period. George R.R. Martin has got, at least with this first book, a fantastic plot underway. Weaving a storyline is definitely a strong suit for Martin, both on the chapter level (many of his chapters end leaving you with chills or tears) and for the whole A Game of Thrones novel.
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Review. "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin tells the tale of various clashing households and their quest to conquer control over the seven kingdoms. Set in a distant, but vaguely familiar medieval-Europe, the story bears parallels to England's "War of the Roses," while also introducing its share of unique fantasy elements.
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It's a fictional history book of Westeros that traces many decades of dramatic events in House Targaryen. It's on sale right now for $16.99, down from its usual $22. And if you're looking to ...
How good are the Game of Thrones books? : r/books
Personally, I wrestled my way through the first book and after finishing it decided it's unworthy of the praise it receives, in my opinion. It's a tedious read, with far too many plot lines and characters, the narrative is far too slow-paced and the story could have been fleshed out much better.
House Of The Dragon Season 2, Episode 1 Review: A Mostly Strong Return
The Dance Of The Dragons Can Now Properly Begin. For much of its runtime, House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1 operates in similar fashion to many a Game of Thrones season premiere. It's about the slow build, setting up the board for the chess game to begin, and it largely does a good job of that. The pace could be a little frustrating to ...
'House Of The Dragon' Season 2, Episode 2 Recap And Review ...
Credit: HBO. Following the formula set up in last week's Season 2 premiere of House Of The Dragon, the series gives us another episode of mostly politicking and setup punctuated at the very end ...
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Kim Renfro had also written a book, The Unofficial Guide to Game of Thrones, published by Atria Books in 2019. (Also a glowing 4.6 stars.) "I knew people were going to write books about the show ...
When is the next Game of Thrones book coming out?
13 years we've been waiting for the sixth book in George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga, officially titled The Winds of Winter, but with the second Game of Thrones spin-off A Knight of ...

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