A Game of Thrones By George R.R. Martin

Book Details

Author: George R.R. Martin

Ages: 16+

Rating: 10/10

Number of Pages: 780

Plot: In a world where winters can last a lifetime, Lord Eddard Stark is conflicted when King Robert offers him the role of the Hand. Following a supposed accident, Stark's son is left gravely injured and all evidence points to the family of the King's wife, the Lannisters. Split between the north and the south, the Stark family must root out the treachery in the King's court to protect their King and each other. To make matters worse, in the Free Cities the heirs of the executed Dragon King have grown and are creating their own forces to claim their old throne. The struggle for the Iron Throne has begun. In a tale of war, treachery and magic, Martin creates a fantasy world that is truly unlike any other. Through his use of multiple narrators, Martin explores the deadly nature of a war between noble families for one throne.

Review: I have been wanting to start this series for some time now due to the pages and pages of positive reviews online and the wildly popular television series. It was not until I received the box set of the books for Christmas that I truly considered starting to read the series. As most of you will already be aware, I am a huge fan of fantasy fiction and so I was expecting to like the series. However, I don't think I could have imagined how much I would come to love the story and its characters.

I knew very little about the whole premise of the series, as I had steered clear of extensive reviews and the television series, and I am glad that I did. I have always felt that going into a new series knowing very little makes the premise more enjoyable and forming opinions of the individual characters more likely. The story, itself, is beautifully crafted. Martin manages to successfully have multiple stories running alongside each other due to his effective use of multiple narrators from the perspectives of both 'good' and 'bad' characters. Not only this, but Martin manages to create narrative voices that are all very different from each other, something that not all modern day authors can portray effectively. I feel that by using not 1 but 8 different narrative voices the reader truly gets an understanding of the differing characters whilst building these themes of treachery and betrayal.

I also loved how Martin didn't overuse the typical magical fantasy ideas that many other fantasy writers focus on. Instead, Martin subtly weaves in ideas of dragons into the story without steering away from the key themes, like betrayal and treachery. I think this is one of the main reasons why this book, and probably the whole series, is so popular. Instead of focusing on a genre, that is often associated with children or young adults, Martin creates a fictitious world that has a greater focus on, what some may describe as, more adult themes, whilst incorporating magical ideas and concepts like dragons.

If there was one criticism that I would make about the first book, however, it is the unnecessary use of sex in scenes that really don't need it. There were a few moments in the book where I was left thinking 'did that really add anything to the plot?' This was more apparent in the battle scenes when I felt not enough information was given about the battle itself. Some may also argue that Martin uses too many narrative voices. Towards the middle, I found that some of the narrative voices began to blur, especially during Catelyn Stark's chapters.

Despite this, I feel that this is by far one of the best fantasy books I have read due to its choice of narration and its focus on themes like treachery. Martin has created a fantasy world that is truly unlike any other and I am not surprised that so many have fallen in love with the story and its many different characters. I would recommend this to anyone that loves fantasy or just more adult fiction in general but I would say that this is probably not the series for you if you struggle with continually changing narrative perspectives. I can't wait to read the rest of the series and start the television series to see how the characters and plot develop.

Have you read 'A Game of Thrones'? Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below!