Overall Impression: A bloody battle of wits, armour and cunning, but not everyone is playing fair.
I am desperately in love with all things A Game of Thrones. As an avid follower of the TV series and a big fan of fantasy novels, I couldn’t not read this book. I have been looking longingly towards its place on my bookshelf for months. (Well, actually it was on top of my bookshelf because there’s no shelf space left, oops.) I love what this series has done in terms of making high fantasy more mainstream. There are many discerning people who look down on the genre, so I think it’s great that so many people have gotten behind this series. With the summer months spiraling out before me, I finally felt like it was time to pick up the 803 page doorstop and get lost within its pages!
In the game of thrones, you win or you die.
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 a dead enemy 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 grown 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.
This is an intimidating book to review, its sheer length, complexity and endless characters make it difficult to summarise in a way that promotes its awesomeness but prevents giving away spoilers. Plus, I think the less you know the more intense the reading experience is. Essentially the one sentence version is that a bunch of power hungry people are fighting over the Iron Throne that rules over the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and some of them have more legitimate claims than others. Continue reading →