Game of Thrones

Author: Geogre R. R. Martin

Published: October 1st, 1997

Series: A Song of Ice and Fire

Main Characters: Brandon Stark, Catelyn Stark, Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, Ned Stark

As Warden of the north,Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must… and dead nemy is a thing of beauty. The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, a vengeance-mad boy has gown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities beyond the sea. Heir of the mad Dragon King deposed by Robert, he claims the Iron Throne. – Goodreads

Where to start? I’d never read a fantasy novel before this one, I’d never thought that I would like the settings or that fantasy novels weren’t driven by the characters, that there was going to be to many description in the novel that would make me think or that I wouldn’t be able to understand all the referances to. These all put me off reading fantasy, so when I picked this book up I wasway out of my comfort zone. Am I happy that I did this? Of course! I adored this book and have since reading it picked up a few more fantasy books to read. I love the way one book can help you fall in love with a genre.

The characters were in my opinion one of the best features in the book, there was too many of them and it did get confusing at times but they all stood out in thier own little way. They was no character that was one dimentinal and that was as true as their intentions, maybe apart from Ned and Jon. In loved finding out backstory about the minor characters as well, you got to find out almost as much about minor characters as you did about the main ones. My favourite character has to be Tyrion Lannister, he was witty and knows how to play people off against eachother and it was sad that perhaps his father couldn’t see what a great negotioator he truely was before it was too late.The character that grew the most was probably Dany, she was a little older that 14 at the start of the novel and by the end of it she had aged and became so mature that you did feel for her.

I won’t talk about the plot much as so much happens and yet nothing at all happens. If I talked even a little about the plot it would give out so many spoilers and I don’t want to do that I want you to discover it yourself when you read it! The main ideas behind the plot is that the Seven Kingdoms are split up, you have the North, South, East and West, along with some islands. The North is guarded by the wall a wall that is meant to keep those from the other side out of the kingdom. It has been in place for centuries, however there aren’t many that are willing to take the Black and those that are, are crimminals with little choice, this has lead to the wall being in need of repair. Ned, Lord of the North goes South to become Hand to the King, he soon learns that you can’t trust anyone and mainly that he sould have styayed in the North.

You can tell the author took inspritation from Medival Englad and in particular the War of the Roses, you have family’s at war with one another, you have a very Medieval way of speaking to eachother and I throughly enjoyed this. I loved how easily the story flowed and how I could put it down and come back to a few days later and get swept into the world again.

I do think that because I read the series before I read the book it did benefit me, I probably wouldn’t of been able to keep track of the characters had I not watched it. I really enjoyed the book on a whole, I did think towards the end it dragged on a little bit but I woudn’t say it hampered my enjoyment of the novel, I would advise everyone to read it atleast once.