A Game of Thrones

“Winter is coming.” This must be one of the most famous quotes from a book series. After years of promising myself, I eventually started reading Game of Thrones this year. So glad I did, too.

It is a gripping series set in a brutal fantasy world where different Realms/Houses are in constant battle to gain or win back the infamous Iron Throne, with a lot of blood-shed and betrayal thrown into the mix.

It is a complex story (7 books to date. I’m currently on book 3) that calls for the reader’s full attention. But once you’ve established names and… show more.

This is a multiplayer chess game, each side with their own agenda. Some play for love, others for revenge, others just to survive. 

It’s a treat to cheer for one side, only to find out we chose wrong. No side is pure good, and no side is pure evil. They’re all just people, and it’s impossible to cheer for only one person when in each chapter, someone else does something amazing or terrible.

The best part about this book is the wisdom. Every character clings to their own principles, and the author chooses the best words to describe these principles.… show more.

The TV show, Game of Thrones, only followed the first book, this book, to the letter, however, in spite of this, I still prefer the book. The descriptions of the characters, their inner thoughts, their adventures, their tragedies. It’s Shakespearian in scale. If Shakespeare had the chance to know of the horror of what it takes to be an honest man like Ned Stark, he’d be inspired to write a play on this. I know my own writing has been greatly influenced by Martin. 

I’m recommending A Game of Thrones, but for a specific set of reasons. No other series toys with readers’ emotions like this one. In most books, character deaths are either avoided, or predictable. A Game of Thrones completely shatters that mold.

This series taught me what it feels like to have characters I loved torn from me. It taught me how frustrating it is to get invested in a story line only to see it fizzle off into nothingness. In short, it taught me about an author’s responsibility.

There is a lot to love in this series. As an… show more.

Another common favourite amongst many, but its popularity, in my opinion, is wholly justified. The world of these books is extremely deep, which I love most of all. Its cultures, languages, and relationships between peoples and nations provide a world that is nothing short of immersive and utterly believable. Ironically, these books taught me an extremely important lesson: loyalty should never be given blindly through obligation, tradition, or dictatorship. The second lesson I took from these books was also extremely important: if the game involves gambling, don’t play it.

The TV series was a worldwide phenomenon, but the books of A Song of Ice and Fire are, to me, far more engaging. Highly character oriented in a deeply realized world of dragons, magic, and undead, it’s nevertheless treated more as a literary fantasy, with the focus more on the political games between factions. The tangle of motives and the fact that no one is sacred make this book, and the rest of the series, almost impossible to put down. You eat and fight along with the characters, and in spite of the fantastic elements, everything feels so real that… show more.

This author dances about in the realms of fantasy, kissing on the edge of a reality in an age of the ancients. There are battles between the various Houses and Kingdoms, in an effort to be the one remaining King, or Queen. The tale follows family against family and realm against realms with some guided by Magic, some by a raven, and some guided by dragons. The characters as well as the stories are very well developed, and allow the reader to lose themselves in a different world and a different time. I highly recommend this series.

I discovered this volume quite by accident years ago while searching in a used bookstore for something to read on a sailing trip. I ended up devouring it twice while at anchor in a remote bay during bad weather. The opening salvo in a series about a dark and brutal world, overflowing with interesting players and complicated plots.

The characters cover the full spectrum of the good, the bad, and the very ugly. You may have watched the TV series, but have you read the books they were based on? I highly recommend them. This is a good place to… show more.

A Game of Thrones is a nitty gritty, noir-style Fantasy that has all the elements of old-school epic or high fantasy, like magic and dragons, but some new and interesting elements that might be likened to mystery, thriller, horror, or even romance. You need to be comfortable with graphic imagery—violence, language, and sex—but beyond that, the description is fantastic and the story sucks you in.

I know most people have heard of or watched the TV series, but the books are so much better. When I first read it, the multiple points of view confused, and then fascinated me. And the more I read the more enamored I became. This was unlike any fantasy book I had read before, it was exactly what I craved fantasy books to be like. Realism, shocking reveals and surprises, and everything delivered from different characters so that while the reader knows more than the characters, it’s always uncertain if what a character perceives is actually the truth.