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A review by katykelly
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
5.0
One I never thought I'd read. Actually very readable.
This first volume is on my '100 Books You Must Read Before You Die', so I decided I'd bite the bullet now the TV series has finished and read the first book. It's been a long time since we were here, but it all came back to me.
Martin handles the multiple characters with ease. I'm glad I knew the majority of names as there are so many. Each chapter focuses on the circumstances around one particular character so we get a fair amount of story before moving on to someone else.
There are some small differences I noticed from the TV show, and was glad to pick up some extra details that gave more insight to characters and later action.
It is long, there is a lot of talking, but also plenty of action along the way. I wasn't keen on the narrator that voices all the characters, in the library audiobook I listened to. The southern characters are given Yorkshire-sounding accents, which didn't work for me, though most felt natural and didn't jar.
Sets things up well for future episodes, the world created feels quite evocative, the whole gamut of humanity is here, from innocent to manipulative, brave to without honour. I"m not sure I'll read any further, but I'm glad to have experienced Martin's writing as well as the TV show based on it.
This first volume is on my '100 Books You Must Read Before You Die', so I decided I'd bite the bullet now the TV series has finished and read the first book. It's been a long time since we were here, but it all came back to me.
Martin handles the multiple characters with ease. I'm glad I knew the majority of names as there are so many. Each chapter focuses on the circumstances around one particular character so we get a fair amount of story before moving on to someone else.
There are some small differences I noticed from the TV show, and was glad to pick up some extra details that gave more insight to characters and later action.
It is long, there is a lot of talking, but also plenty of action along the way. I wasn't keen on the narrator that voices all the characters, in the library audiobook I listened to. The southern characters are given Yorkshire-sounding accents, which didn't work for me, though most felt natural and didn't jar.
Sets things up well for future episodes, the world created feels quite evocative, the whole gamut of humanity is here, from innocent to manipulative, brave to without honour. I"m not sure I'll read any further, but I'm glad to have experienced Martin's writing as well as the TV show based on it.