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

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

First of all, this is the longest f*cking book that I have ever read. Was it good? I think so. Was it too long? I’d say so. What would I cut out? How the h*ll should I know? That’s for the producers at HBO to decide! That’s why they make the big bucks, hunny.

Thoroughly entertaining and well paced. For its genre, it succeeds on every level. There is political intrigue and deceit and betrayal and dragons and forbidden love and magic and nerdy sh*t like guys who say “methinks so, m’lord!”. It’s really firing on all cylinders.

I enjoyed it more than the show in many respects. There is an emotionality and tenderness to many scenes that is missing in the series because it’s “not exciting to see two brothers have a conversation about a big dog” or whatever. But it is exciting to me! And they should put that in there!

The thing that is tough is that these characters are literally children (aged up slightly in the show), and reading plot points about their physical relationships and sexuality was not fun. It’s not doing what it thinks it’s doing…

Overall, the goods far outweigh the bads. I mostly really enjoyed it.
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