This book is far too large (807 pages) and has far too many characters (close to one billion) to give it a proper description. If you don't know anything about A Game of Thrones, all you need to know is there is a land with seven kingdoms where summers last for years, but winter is coming and so is war. The current King overthrew his predecessor and when he dies, there are multiple claims to the throne. This book has love, war, deception, humour, death (lots of it), birth, magic, dragons, and so much more. Don't be put off by the magic and dragons if you aren't usually in to that, these elements in the book are minimal. The book reads like historical fiction and Martin makes you believe that this time really could have existed. Really, there's no other way to describe the book, and I'm sure the entire series, as epic. LOVED IT!

I loved it. It was more in depth than the show, you understand more of what's happening without being too confused. Well written, he gives each character such diverse personality, if you forget who the character is by name you will remember by the way they speak.

I am going to start this review with a disclaimer: I am not a fan of fantasy novels. Now I am going to contradict myself: I loved this book. Okay, with that out of the way where does one even begin to summarize the massive tome of a story? In the land of the Seven Kingdoms there are two prominent ruling families; the Starks and the Lannisters. The battle to rule on the Iron Throne has been ongoing. As Publisher’s Weekly wrote, “some fight with sword and mace, others with magic and poison”. Lord Stark of Winterfell and his family have lived a rather idyllic life until he is summoned south to become “the hand of the king”. Although plots and schemes to dispose of the king run rampant, the king is felled by a wild boar. As the queen and her children plot to take the throne Lord Stark is accused of treason and the war begins. The book is written in sections, each headed by the name of the character propelling the story forward. Sometimes I find this a little off-putting when reading but in this case I found myself coming to a new chapter and thinking, “YES!! I’ve been wondering what happened to him/her while the rest of the story was being told”. Many have compared this book to other epic fantasy novels. Not being a constant reader of the genre I cannot make similar comparisons. This book had a very medieval feel to it so my closest comparison would be Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. Yes, if you were to cross those two books with Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon it would be a fair description. Kingdoms, knights, swords, dwarves, wolves and castles mixed with a little bit of magic, witchery and dragons. I am looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

A Song of Ice and Fire is probably one of the most breathtaking, dark fantasy series ever written. In my opinion, its place is alongside giant such as Lord of The Ring. A Game of Thrones, the first book of the series, manages to beautifully introduce the reader to a complex world, where the line between good and evil is often thinner than the edge of a sword. While this novel can prove itself quite a challenge for new readers, it’s a must read for any medieval science fiction adept. To me, the real strength of this book is that even at the end, I couldn’t say for sure who the main protagonist was. Indeed, this tale manages to connect you to a great variety of characters, some good, some less, but all so very human. To describe briefly the scenario of this story, the books follows the lives and actions of different people on their quest for power, such as the title suggest. The best sentence to describe this book is a line uttered by Cercei Lanister in a verbal duel with Lord Stark: “In the game of Thrones, you win or you die”. This book has found a nice resting place on my shelves, until the next time the urge to read such quality work takes me again.

I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to start the next one. The only thing is that this book took up way too much of my time. I don’t know if I have all of a sudden become a slow reader, but if any book takes over 15 days to read, there must be a problem. Almost a month it took me! Unbelievable! I am ashamed with myself. There were many characters but they were easily distinguishable. I loved every moment of reading. Daenerys was my favourite. Loved the knights, the war, the blood and the lust. Will take a break until the next one though. I read in occurance to the series on TV: Episode 1: Pages 0 - 108 Episode 2&3: Pages 109 - 236 Episode 4: Pages 237 - 304 Episode 5: Pages 305 - 384 Episode 6: Pages 385 - 500 Episode 7: Pages 501 - 594 Episode 8: Pages 595 - 674 Episode 9: Pages 675 - 728 Episode 10: Pages 729 - 807

This book needs serious concentration and as of the arrival of the book, I have not been able to give it that concentration. I am looking forward to a quiet spell of reading. what I read so far is intriguing and takes you to that "other" time and place. Really like it so far. CGB

Love these books!