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4.51 AVERAGE
4.51 AVERAGE
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It occurs to me that before the TV series was widely viewed and profitable, the producers, upon reading a particularly difficult-to-film scene, probably said to themselves "Yeeaah... we're just gonna skip this part."
http://paperbackprincess96.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/game-of-thrones-by-george-rr-martin.html
A Game Of Thrones was a very good read, and well written. I particularly liked Tyrion, Ayra, Ned, Jon, Bran, and Robb, and felt that Martin did a great job with their "voices." Each chapter had a distinctive edge, perfectly paired with the character of focus. I felt that it lagged a bit in the middle, but was well done over all. I will eventually get to the remaining books in the series, but not right away. Think LOTR written by Dan Brown.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After spending years of occasionally reading reviews of this book on amazon or goodreads and forever remaining sceptical, and after watching the first episode of the TV series and finding it somewhat oversexualised, I eventually gave the kindle sample a try. And I was positively surprised.
I agree with the critics that a) the story line is nothing new and b) some of the more intriguing characters - Tyrion Lannister, his brother Jaime and their 'Hound' - have not been given much room. However, this is an ongoing series, so I daresay there's enough room in the following books. I already reserved volume 2 in the local library. The story, while the typical political scheming, is well thought through and surprising in its twists and turns.
The strength of the book lies in its wealth of characters and its psychological finesse. There is no black or white as in most fantasy publications. One chapter you may despise a character, the next, in a different situation, you grudgingly admit that they showed themselves from a better side. Some characters remain obscure for a long time. Trained as the good fantasy reader that you are, you try to determine whether they are nice or evil, on the right or on the wrong side, only to realise that perhaps there is no such thing as the right side and said character might be quite clever to pick allies depending on the occasion. I have to say, Tyrion Lannister is thus a rather interesting - and on top entertaining - figure.
George R. R. Martin manages to combine two different perspectives in fantasy: the macro-perspective of epic battle fantasy (e.g. The Malazan book of the fallen or The Black Brotherhood) that I often find lacking in believable, detailed characterisation and the character-driven books à la Kingkiller Chronicles. While the author introduces multiple perspectives, each of these is given room enough so that the reader can connect with the person through whose eyes they look. That might be risky when he adopts the views of 7 years old boys or arrogant, oblivious teen girls, but for me it worked surprisingly well. It also allowed a bit of a reprieve when events were getting too 'uncomfortable'. When one character committed some folly, another a few thousand miles away could still fare better and raise the (in other words my) overall morale.
I rarely award 5 stars. There is a lot in this first volume that is merely hinted at, looming as the big threats in the background. The author has yet to use the full potential of his world. Sometimes it's better to leave a lot of room for the reader's own imagination; that Martin has done quite cunningly. I hope the following volumes keep the promises of the first.
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Re-read 2019 (Audiobook)
I enjoyed the book, but not the narrator. He's a good narrator but not a good actor. In a book with a diverse cast in which two thirds of said cast are young or female (or both), it was very grating to only hear old men. With the same speech pattern.
I agree with the critics that a) the story line is nothing new and b) some of the more intriguing characters - Tyrion Lannister, his brother Jaime and their 'Hound' - have not been given much room. However, this is an ongoing series, so I daresay there's enough room in the following books. I already reserved volume 2 in the local library. The story, while the typical political scheming, is well thought through and surprising in its twists and turns.
The strength of the book lies in its wealth of characters and its psychological finesse. There is no black or white as in most fantasy publications. One chapter you may despise a character, the next, in a different situation, you grudgingly admit that they showed themselves from a better side. Some characters remain obscure for a long time. Trained as the good fantasy reader that you are, you try to determine whether they are nice or evil, on the right or on the wrong side, only to realise that perhaps there is no such thing as the right side and said character might be quite clever to pick allies depending on the occasion. I have to say, Tyrion Lannister is thus a rather interesting - and on top entertaining - figure.
George R. R. Martin manages to combine two different perspectives in fantasy: the macro-perspective of epic battle fantasy (e.g. The Malazan book of the fallen or The Black Brotherhood) that I often find lacking in believable, detailed characterisation and the character-driven books à la Kingkiller Chronicles. While the author introduces multiple perspectives, each of these is given room enough so that the reader can connect with the person through whose eyes they look. That might be risky when he adopts the views of 7 years old boys or arrogant, oblivious teen girls, but for me it worked surprisingly well. It also allowed a bit of a reprieve when events were getting too 'uncomfortable'. When one character committed some folly, another a few thousand miles away could still fare better and raise the (in other words my) overall morale.
I rarely award 5 stars. There is a lot in this first volume that is merely hinted at, looming as the big threats in the background. The author has yet to use the full potential of his world. Sometimes it's better to leave a lot of room for the reader's own imagination; that Martin has done quite cunningly. I hope the following volumes keep the promises of the first.
-----
Re-read 2019 (Audiobook)
I enjoyed the book, but not the narrator. He's a good narrator but not a good actor. In a book with a diverse cast in which two thirds of said cast are young or female (or both), it was very grating to only hear old men. With the same speech pattern.
The basic premise of this book is easy to see a mile off: We have an honorable man and his honorable family, and you just know something really bad is going to happen to them. Because, in literature, honor always becomes a trial.
But the way Martin goes about telling this story is ingenious. It is a true epic fantasy, in scope and in style. Anyone who has caught wind of the TV show knows there are about a trillion characters, and it is even more populous in the book. Side characters are men, women, rich, poor, gay, straight, undetermined. Educated, uneducated, multiple ethnicities and belief paths. Martin creates a whole rich world, and this is where most writers fall short.
And when you turn to the main characters, you find rich development on the scale of Tolkein. People learn, grow, change. They fall in and out of love, discover both good and bad sides of their own souls, and struggle to adapt as the world around them falls apart.
I won't go into the details of the book's plot, as most people have seen the show or know details from listening to friends. I will simply say that the story is even more compelling in Martin's own words.
I also wanted to address a few stereotypes about Martin's books:
1. He always writes about soft penises -- Made popular by South Park's musical number, this is actually untrue as far as I can tell. If there is any one thing Martin comes back to it's either breasts or cats. I have counted eight mentions of some random cat around the palace in this book, and he can't really mention a virile woman without mentioning her breasts. But, to be fair, most people love breasts and/or cats, so they're decent things to linger on.
2. He writes too much detail. He spends pages on the stuff! This might have just been my ex-boyfriend's opinion, but it's wrong. Bearing in mind that this is an epic series in a very traditional sense of the word, Martin uses just enough description to build the world his characters are living (and dying) in. Even if I had not seen the show, I would have been able to see the world vividly in my mind and that is a good thing! But not once was I bored by the descriptions or drawn out of the story by them.
3. He uses too much exposition and just tells you everything. He never "shows"! I literally cannot even with this claim. Martin is definitely a shower, not a teller, and it shows in the sheer amount of dialogue his characters engage in. And it's not the "infodump" dialogue many people use. No, it's character-building, world-setting kind of dialougue.
I strongly recommend everyone who loves fantasy to read this book. It's worth the weight in your bag or the strain on your arms from holding the thing up. See for yourself the world Martin conjures up, the people he sets about to move it, and the often heart-wrenching pain they go through to set their world to rights.
But the way Martin goes about telling this story is ingenious. It is a true epic fantasy, in scope and in style. Anyone who has caught wind of the TV show knows there are about a trillion characters, and it is even more populous in the book. Side characters are men, women, rich, poor, gay, straight, undetermined. Educated, uneducated, multiple ethnicities and belief paths. Martin creates a whole rich world, and this is where most writers fall short.
And when you turn to the main characters, you find rich development on the scale of Tolkein. People learn, grow, change. They fall in and out of love, discover both good and bad sides of their own souls, and struggle to adapt as the world around them falls apart.
I won't go into the details of the book's plot, as most people have seen the show or know details from listening to friends. I will simply say that the story is even more compelling in Martin's own words.
I also wanted to address a few stereotypes about Martin's books:
1. He always writes about soft penises -- Made popular by South Park's musical number, this is actually untrue as far as I can tell. If there is any one thing Martin comes back to it's either breasts or cats. I have counted eight mentions of some random cat around the palace in this book, and he can't really mention a virile woman without mentioning her breasts. But, to be fair, most people love breasts and/or cats, so they're decent things to linger on.
2. He writes too much detail. He spends pages on the stuff! This might have just been my ex-boyfriend's opinion, but it's wrong. Bearing in mind that this is an epic series in a very traditional sense of the word, Martin uses just enough description to build the world his characters are living (and dying) in. Even if I had not seen the show, I would have been able to see the world vividly in my mind and that is a good thing! But not once was I bored by the descriptions or drawn out of the story by them.
3. He uses too much exposition and just tells you everything. He never "shows"! I literally cannot even with this claim. Martin is definitely a shower, not a teller, and it shows in the sheer amount of dialogue his characters engage in. And it's not the "infodump" dialogue many people use. No, it's character-building, world-setting kind of dialougue.
I strongly recommend everyone who loves fantasy to read this book. It's worth the weight in your bag or the strain on your arms from holding the thing up. See for yourself the world Martin conjures up, the people he sets about to move it, and the often heart-wrenching pain they go through to set their world to rights.
I wanted to like this book, since everyone raves about it (and the TV show). I didn't make it past the point where Bran is pushed out a window - to me, the constant feeling of children being in peril is too much.
Oh, wow. I mean, I know the TV series, so I knew what was going to happen and I was pretty certain about giving this four stars about three quarters through, but the last hundred pages or so definitely swept me away to five stars. Amazing how well it works in regards to dramaturgy, I'd love to pick up the next one right now and continue on. Also really amazed at the writing style. I suppose I didn't expect it to be so...literary. A fantastic read through and through.