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A review by lisbaur
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
2.0
SPOILERFREE REVIEW
Sooo, rating: It was really hard for me to rate this book. I wouldn't say I loved this book, but I wouldn't say I hated it either. My gut tells me I should place this somewhere between 2 or 3 stars.
My rating system is defined like this:
-3 stars: I liked it but nothing special
-2 stars: I think it just wasn't for me.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that this wasn't special (c'mon guys this is Game of Thrones), but -like I already said - I didn't really like like it either. I also would never say that this wasn't for me. I love the tv show, so you should think I wouldn't have any problems with this.
(Edit: Actual rating: 2.45 stars That one was a REALLY close one and it hurts my heart.)
But let's get into detail...
For the first few chapters of this book I was super excited. I already mentioned, Game of Thrones counts to one of my all time favourite tv shows, so I was really pumped going into this.
But with every page, my enthusiasm sank.
I wouldn't say it was because of Martin's writing or storytelling or anything. I don't read much adult fantasy, so this was foreign terretory for my anyways. But I now know that adult high fantasy really isn't my slice of cake. English is not my first language, but I would go as far as to say that I have close to zero problems when reading English books. And I didn't have any problems with this one, it was just that I had to really concentrate to get what was written on the page - due to the rich writing and variation of words - and there were sections where I was just reading and only later realizing that I hadn't really read anything (idk if you guys have that as well sometimes...). Like, I was literally just staring at the pages.
Another thing that bothered me is the format of this book. Why is it that high fantasy novels either come in the size of my head or the size of my hand? Why not the good old normal 15x21cm?
It's so frickin hard to read them! Especially with the small ones, the writing is SO tiny and it's so easy to slip between lines whilst reading. WHY
But alright, back to buisness: The plot
No one can deny that the Song of Ice and Fire series is a strategic masterpiece. The plot is so well thought through, with literally every character having his own backstory and every action being perspicuous. This story is just epic, alright? There's no other way to put it. You have no idea how often I've sat in front of my laptop, crying my eyes out because George R.R. Martin has once again succeeded in ripping my heart out.
(lets just pretend George R.R. Martin is Elijah here okay?)
Character development? Hello? A plus.
World Building? Please, I have rarely come across a better constructed world.
Also, the way the author balances fantasy with politics is incredible and I have to say that only based on the story alone, this is a 5 star book.
So why only 2 stars?
Well, obviously, there are things that bugged me that I just can't ignore. For once, the already mentioned writing style - which is beautiful and everything, but so elaborated. The format annoyed me (I know this isn't really the authors or the books fault but still, it took away from the reading experience). I don't know, I think I was expecting too much out of this one.
I love the tv series and maybe that is the big mistake I made here: watching the show before reading the books (also did this with The Perks of Being a Wallflower, same result here). This book took me so long to read because I already knew what would happen. Sure, there were some parts that they couldn't fit into the show or had to change. But the tv adaptation to Game of Thrones is not by chance one of the most successful tv series in existence. It is amazing because it really is a book to screen adaptation. Not just a 'Ah, yah, I guess the book is loved by thousands so let's just - uh - use the characters and the base of the story but go a completely different way to make lots of money' adaptation. Due to that, it is - in my opinion - not necessary to read this books series because the tv show is so damn good I just don't have to.
Normally I am 100% percent Team The Book is Better Than the Movie, but in this case, I'm not.
I'm cringing inside whilst writing this but I -- I think I --- I prefer the tv show.
There, I said it. Send me to hell I am not worthy of being called a reader.
But no, that's not even the worst of it.
I skim read this.
Yup, this always seems to happen with adult high fantasy books (Eragon, too). 70 % in, and I start to skim read. I think I have to admit to myself that it's just not my favourite genre to read.
Also, I think the sheer size of this was intimidating to me. 800 pages, that's huge. And anyone who knows me even a little bit knows how easily distracted I am whilst reading. I just didn't see myself making any progress with this one, 400 pages in and I still had so much to go through. That just didn't really encourage me to read.
In a nutshell: Game of Thrones is an awesome fantasy novel, yet it didn't live up to my expectations in a lot of ways. May it be the intimidating size of the book, the complicated, sometimes dull political aspects of this or the writing. For me (big pronounciation on the me) this just wasn't it even though I am in love with the tv show and the characters and story, this book just couldn't hold my interest. I am, sadly, not going to continue reading this series, it is just too time consuming and non-essential if I can just watch the tv show. There are so many other stories I want to get into and it just doesn't make any sense if I read this one on top of watching it...
So yeah, I think I am going to really give this only 2 stars. I don't want to but looking back, I really did not enjoy reading this (except for the beginning, but this just couldn't keep me interested). Like I said, amazing story, AMAZING characters (Jon? Daenerys? Tyrion? Oberyn? Even Joffrey. And I'm just mentioning a few here), but there was just something missing for me to really make this enjoyable, even though I'm not able to really pin point 'the reason'. For now, let's just blame it on the 'Watched the movie/tv show before reading the book'- syndrome.
Quick Note: This is my own opinion I totally understand why some people praise these books. Please don't flay me alive after you read this. *puppy dog eyes*?
Sooo, rating: It was really hard for me to rate this book. I wouldn't say I loved this book, but I wouldn't say I hated it either. My gut tells me I should place this somewhere between 2 or 3 stars.
My rating system is defined like this:
-3 stars: I liked it but nothing special
-2 stars: I think it just wasn't for me.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that this wasn't special (c'mon guys this is Game of Thrones), but -like I already said - I didn't really like like it either. I also would never say that this wasn't for me. I love the tv show, so you should think I wouldn't have any problems with this.
(Edit: Actual rating: 2.45 stars That one was a REALLY close one and it hurts my heart.)
But let's get into detail...
For the first few chapters of this book I was super excited. I already mentioned, Game of Thrones counts to one of my all time favourite tv shows, so I was really pumped going into this.
But with every page, my enthusiasm sank.
I wouldn't say it was because of Martin's writing or storytelling or anything. I don't read much adult fantasy, so this was foreign terretory for my anyways. But I now know that adult high fantasy really isn't my slice of cake. English is not my first language, but I would go as far as to say that I have close to zero problems when reading English books. And I didn't have any problems with this one, it was just that I had to really concentrate to get what was written on the page - due to the rich writing and variation of words - and there were sections where I was just reading and only later realizing that I hadn't really read anything (idk if you guys have that as well sometimes...). Like, I was literally just staring at the pages.
Another thing that bothered me is the format of this book. Why is it that high fantasy novels either come in the size of my head or the size of my hand? Why not the good old normal 15x21cm?
It's so frickin hard to read them! Especially with the small ones, the writing is SO tiny and it's so easy to slip between lines whilst reading. WHY
But alright, back to buisness: The plot
No one can deny that the Song of Ice and Fire series is a strategic masterpiece. The plot is so well thought through, with literally every character having his own backstory and every action being perspicuous. This story is just epic, alright? There's no other way to put it. You have no idea how often I've sat in front of my laptop, crying my eyes out because George R.R. Martin has once again succeeded in ripping my heart out.
(lets just pretend George R.R. Martin is Elijah here okay?)
Character development? Hello? A plus.
World Building? Please, I have rarely come across a better constructed world.
Also, the way the author balances fantasy with politics is incredible and I have to say that only based on the story alone, this is a 5 star book.
So why only 2 stars?
Well, obviously, there are things that bugged me that I just can't ignore. For once, the already mentioned writing style - which is beautiful and everything, but so elaborated. The format annoyed me (I know this isn't really the authors or the books fault but still, it took away from the reading experience). I don't know, I think I was expecting too much out of this one.
I love the tv series and maybe that is the big mistake I made here: watching the show before reading the books (also did this with The Perks of Being a Wallflower, same result here). This book took me so long to read because I already knew what would happen. Sure, there were some parts that they couldn't fit into the show or had to change. But the tv adaptation to Game of Thrones is not by chance one of the most successful tv series in existence. It is amazing because it really is a book to screen adaptation. Not just a 'Ah, yah, I guess the book is loved by thousands so let's just - uh - use the characters and the base of the story but go a completely different way to make lots of money' adaptation. Due to that, it is - in my opinion - not necessary to read this books series because the tv show is so damn good I just don't have to.
Normally I am 100% percent Team The Book is Better Than the Movie, but in this case, I'm not.
I'm cringing inside whilst writing this but I -- I think I --- I prefer the tv show.
There, I said it. Send me to hell I am not worthy of being called a reader.
But no, that's not even the worst of it.
I skim read this.
Yup, this always seems to happen with adult high fantasy books (Eragon, too). 70 % in, and I start to skim read. I think I have to admit to myself that it's just not my favourite genre to read.
Also, I think the sheer size of this was intimidating to me. 800 pages, that's huge. And anyone who knows me even a little bit knows how easily distracted I am whilst reading. I just didn't see myself making any progress with this one, 400 pages in and I still had so much to go through. That just didn't really encourage me to read.
In a nutshell: Game of Thrones is an awesome fantasy novel, yet it didn't live up to my expectations in a lot of ways. May it be the intimidating size of the book, the complicated, sometimes dull political aspects of this or the writing. For me (big pronounciation on the me) this just wasn't it even though I am in love with the tv show and the characters and story, this book just couldn't hold my interest. I am, sadly, not going to continue reading this series, it is just too time consuming and non-essential if I can just watch the tv show. There are so many other stories I want to get into and it just doesn't make any sense if I read this one on top of watching it...
So yeah, I think I am going to really give this only 2 stars. I don't want to but looking back, I really did not enjoy reading this (except for the beginning, but this just couldn't keep me interested). Like I said, amazing story, AMAZING characters (Jon? Daenerys? Tyrion? Oberyn? Even Joffrey. And I'm just mentioning a few here), but there was just something missing for me to really make this enjoyable, even though I'm not able to really pin point 'the reason'. For now, let's just blame it on the 'Watched the movie/tv show before reading the book'- syndrome.
Quick Note: This is my own opinion I totally understand why some people praise these books. Please don't flay me alive after you read this. *puppy dog eyes*?