...
Series: A Song of Fire and Ice
Title: A Game of Thrones (Book 1)
Author: George R. R. Martin
ISBN: 0-553-57340-3
Format: Paperback 835 Pages
Overall Concept 7
Execution 8

After all the hype about this series and George R.R. Martin in general, I thought I would give this series a try.

Despite my initial misgivings that this book might not be as good as it was being touted to be, I was pleased to find that I very much enjoyed this novel.

My wife had read this book before I and was very much turned off by the dark tone of the book and the seemingly unnecessary grit of the tale as it was told.

I will admit that I flinched at what ended up happening to Bran, especially since he is only a young boy. And, as I was warned, don't get too attached to any one character as odds are they might die in a most horrible way. My favourite character of the book died under very spiteful circumstances......very nasty.

For a Fantasy novel, which is typically expected to employ elements of magic and the supernatural, this book was more of a historical fiction, as the only real elements of magic and the supernatural are few and fleeting, until the last 100 or so pages of the novel. Actually it was quite refreshing to have a Fantasy novel that was more driven by politics and courtly intrigue than by spells and dragons.

My only misgiving about this book is that George has been a little heavy handing in ensuring that the villains were villainous, the heroes virtuous, and the fools foolish. It didn't truly detract from my overall enjoyment of the book, but it did make me sometimes feel the story was a little too forced.

I would suggest this book to any reader of series such as The Wheel of Time or Wizards First Rule, but I would provide the caveat that it is a more 'realistic' tale of the medieval period, specifically with the brutality of the courts and that people can die horribly.