I am writing this review as an individual who watched Game of Thrones on HBO before picking up the book series, so with that in mind you may or may not find my review helpful/useful. I will also try to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible.
As a fan of the tv series, I came into this book knowing what to expect; I was told that Season 1 and Book 1 are very similar, and that is most certainly true. But do you know what? I still loved the book. I’ll do list format for the book’s good and bad points (in my opinion and in no particular order) to make this a little more organized.
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GOODS:
DIALOGUE/WRITING - George RR Martin has a way with words. His descriptions of the various locations and lands and kingdoms of Westeros, from Winterfell to King’s Landing to Vaes Dothrak, have flawless flow. I love descriptive writing, and there is always a fine line between not describing something enough to give the reader a good picture and going overboard to the point where it gets boring to read through paragraphs of superfluous text. This is especially true in the fantasy genre, where the lands and people and words and customs are all…well, fantastical. This book finds that balance, with evocative, beautiful language that puts you right in that setting and right in the thick of the action. Hell, the descriptions of food always made me hungry even if they were serving something that I would never actually eat! As for the dialogue, if you are a fan of the show’s dialogue, or clever dialogue in general, you will enjoy this book. There are a good number of memorable and poignant quotes throughout the book, my favorite being “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die,” an apt summary for sure. Bottom line, when you pick up this book, be prepared to engross yourself and be swept away to a foreign land.
VOICES/POINTS OF VIEW - Notable about this book, and all the books in the series, is that it is constantly switching from various characters points of view (POVs, as I’ll refer to them from now on). And by various, I mean roughly 7-8 characters. As difficult as this is to pull off, Martin does a great job. It’s an effective way to see what is going on in multiple locations at roughly the same time while keeping us invested. I applaud his decision to present us the information this way as it gives us a greater connection with the characters and more insight into various situations as we see how they are impacting the character that we are viewing it through. Not to mention, Martin manages to keep each of the individual POVs unique enough that you don’t need to flip back to see who’s narrating. Each character has distinct personality traits and ways of thinking/speaking that distinguish them from the others. Sansa is lady-like, a romantic and naive. Arya is fiery, resourceful and a fighter. Tyrion is shrewd, astute and full of quick-witted jibes. And so on and so forth. It is also worth noting that each character, even if a few of them are in the same place at the same time, sees different things and different people and analyzes situations in different ways, so each chapter gives you new information in some way or another. It’s very cleverly done and just as frustrating when you realize “UGH this character doesn’t know what was revealed to me, the reader, in THIS CHARACTER’S chapter” which is a great way of keeping you hooked.
CHARACTERS: HEROES VS VILLAINS - Getting inside the characters heads, you start to understand their motives and the ways that they think. So you get to decide for yourself what motives are justified and who you believe in or who you’re rooting for. But then again, just because one character appears to be the “hero” of the story, doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily get a happy ending. If you’re looking for a feel-good story about about good conquering evil, this probably isn’t for you. If you’re looking for a story with deep, cunning characters who you can’t always trust, who are shades of grey versus black and white, then you’ll find this book a compelling read.
DEPTH - Martin has done his homework and has developed rich histories for each of the characters and their houses. Hell, the Appendix of the book has small blurbs about each house, its history, its sigil, its words/slogan and the relevant members of the house. It’s always available for you to flip back and read if you find yourself confused, which can happen. Having watched the tv series, I was less confused about the various Houses and characters coming into the book, which helped a lot. Yet I still found myself learning new information from the Appendix. It’s a great tool and shows the author’s dedication to his characters and their backgrounds. I was impressed by how richly developed everything was, even though this is only the first book in the series.
NO TEENAGE DIARY DESCRIPTIONS ABOUT SEX - This book has sex in it. Quite a bit, too. I can see how this would be off-putting to some readers. Personally, I don’t mind it much. What I appreciated was that the descriptions of sex weren’t long, drawn out, excessively pornographic or mushy-gushy. I appreciated not having to wade through pages upon pages of “his fingers brushed against my fingers and my heart fluttered, he looked at me and I admired his beautiful eyelashes” or other mushy teenage romance dialogues that frankly bore the poop out of me. On the other hand, you’re not reading through pages and pages of detailed erotica either. It’s written very matter-of-factly, very bluntly and to-the-point and only went into a bit more description when it was warranted. Again, I imagine this isn’t for everyone, so you may consider this a negative. The way it was presented throughout the book, however, I felt warranted a checkmark in the “Good” category.
FEMALE CHARACTERS - Some of the best depictions of female characters I have read. I was very impressed. The female characters are at all ends of the spectrum in this book, from feminine to tough to conniving. In a book where you’d assume the male characters take front and center, the female characters are just as fascinating, if not moreso in some cases.
X-RAY - I have the Kindle version of this book. The X-Ray features really helps you keep track of the book’s many characters and remind you who someone is if you forget, which is SUPER helpful. I used the features many times throughout the book and it definitely aided my understanding and allowed me to further appreciate the depth of the characters and the story.
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BADS:
MULTIPLE POVs SLOW DOWN THE ACTION - The constant cutting back and forth between different characters and settings, while well done, also has the side effect of slowing down some of the action. You end a chapter on a cliffhanger as the one character’s POV learns something horrifying or experiences something shocking. But then the next chapter jumps to a character who is in a completely different setting and you have to wait until you get to a chapter of a character who is in place where the cliffhanger first happened. It slows down the action a bit, which can get a little frustrating. If it really bothers you to read a cliffhanger and then wait a few chapters to see a reaction or resolution to that cliffhanger, then this book might frustrate you more than entertain you. Not to mention, if you find one character’s voice/writing style/actions particularly boring, you might find it tiresome to have to wade through those chapters to get to the “good stuff.” I know I personally had that problem in a few instances.
TYPOS - I have the Kindle version of this book, and it had quite a number of typos. Not on every page or anything, but more than I would have liked. A few of them sort of interrupted the flow of the story while I was reading, but for the most part they aren’t a huge deal. Just a little annoying.
LENGTH - Not gonna lie, flipping through the Table of Contents and realizing there are 72 chapters was a little daunting. And if you have a really busy schedule, you might find the length a little scary too. I’m very glad I stuck it out and plowed through, though!
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Overall, I’m a happy camper and am going to pick up the second book in the series ASAP!
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About the author
SUMMER IS OVER. WINTER IS COMING. BOOKS RULE.
FIRST PUBLISHED BACK in 1996, the opening volume of the fantasy epic called A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE is immediately captivating, enthralling, entertaining, and even shocking. This is epic fantasy at its best. Well, for some of the book, anyway. It is also immediately obvious why and how this book (and in fact the whole series) has become one of the most watched, and most loved TV shows ever made. I won’t say that it was written just to be adapted, but the genius of the author has created a fictional world so well populated with amazing characters, who in turn love each other and hate each other with such passion that at times the book simply sizzles. At certain points in the book some characters are seen to be doing unmentionables to each other, and when discovered by innocent parties, take further measures so extreme in order to protect themselves you may well find yourself in such shock that you literally wont be able to put the book down.Long term fans of the genre will make immediate comparisons to other giants (!) of the field, and the first name to spring to mind will, of course, be J R R Tolkien, with his breathtaking LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. On a superficial level, Martin’s books are longer (by a looooong way) and yet despite the extra length and time involved in writing and reading them, he has failed to gift the reader with the quality of prose, and downright beauty, that is the trademark of Gandalf, Frodon, Elrond and company.Humour has a minor role in the book, but only with certain clans. I am thinking of the Lannisters here, folks, but only the loveable and highly durable Tyrion (the imp) demonstrates qualities of this nature worth mentioning. And of course he uses humour as a defence mechanism in order to cope with the situations and compromises he finds himself in on a daily basis.For the rest of the cast, life is much, much, much too serious to be caught laughing. And it’s only going to get worse. Winter is coming, you see. One of the plethora of strong features of GOT is character development, and they oftentimes grow and develop right before your eyes. Obviously time passes in this book but i found it immensely satisfying seeing how some of the younger generations of the book’s populace cope with, and grow into, roles they find themselves in. Some under duress, some at the hands of fate and some, Gods forbid, at the result of their own engineering.There is the subtle hint of dragons making an appearance in the story, but having just reached page 604 out of 780 I do believe that the reader is running out of time and words if they are going to be blessed with the presence of these magnificent creatures in the first book of this epic fable. Of course there is a lot more going on than just the re-emergence of dragons; like i just mentioned, Winter is Coming, and even though that is a saying strongly favoured by the Starks, it may well turn out to be a metaphor that affects the entire world that Mr Martin has so wonderfully crafted.The pace of the book ebbs and flows. It started off well, with several major emotional shocks hitting the reader full in the face early on. By page 300 I was ready to declare my personal love for Catelyn Stark (I still am) but then things slowed down and i found myself forced to carry on the exploration of this fantastic world i have become lost in. And for every page i forced myself to read, i found myself resenting the time doing so, and not spent playing hide and seek in Middle Earth with Sauron and company. But then the pace of the book picked up again, new characters came to life and a multitude of betrayals took place which made my investment more than worthwhile.Some of the locations described in the book are truly breath taking. Some of the ideas, too, are good enough to make you yearn to become one with the book and morph yourself right there. This book is incredibly deep. Characters that are presumably killed off are spoken of with such fervour and respect that you may well find yourself hoping against hope that they will be found again. There are many aspect of the book that have moved me, or grabbed my imagination by the throat and not let go. I have attempted to keep this review spoiler free and purposely vague at times. I can fully imagine myself reading GAME OF THRONES multiple times. Not for the beauty of the prose, because that is not its strong point. But certainly in order to relieve the drama, and the excitement, the cliffhangers and the shocks, you could certainly call me a fan.Four stars for a dead set modern day classic. It is not perfect by any means, and i can only assume the story will get stronger as i make progress through the books. Watch this space and I will let you know.Summer is over. Winter is coming. Books rule.
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- Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2011
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- anilReviewed in India on February 15, 2025
"An Unforgettable Epic: A Review of *Game of Thrones*"
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