A Game of Thrones

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Critics

• Book Review: A Game of Thrones, 4-Book Boxed Set (A Song of Ice and Fire Series) by George R.R. Martin Share

  It might seem a little odd to be reviewing books that have been available for the best part of the past decade. However, with the renewed interest in George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy series, "A Song of Ice and Fire", thanks to a Home Box Office (HBO ... (read full critics)

  blogcritics published on Mon, 23 Jan 2012

29 Reviews

• 6 people find this helpful

  

  A very good book!

  A bit slow to start but then the pace picks up and the next thing you know you are totally sucked into the story line. This book is not for the faint of heart and also not for people who get attached to characters. George RR Martin has no qualms about killing people!

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  beagle1 said on Oct 3, 2007 | Add your feedback

• 3 people find this helpful

  

  An 800-page prologue, plots, sub-plots and questionable characters

  The good: Martin can write, when he puts himself to it. He can even let characters emerge from their actions without explaining everything to death. His world-building is often pretty solid, to the point where the unexplained bits feel like watching Blade Runner without the bloody narrator: you're f ... (continue)

  The good: Martin can write, when he puts himself to it. He can even let characters emerge from their actions without explaining everything to death. His world-building is often pretty solid, to the point where the unexplained bits feel like watching Blade Runner without the bloody narrator: you're fascinated and want to know more, longing for a deeper understanding and willing to wait or work more for your rewards. Chapter headings bear the name of the character whose viewpoint is followed in them: That makes for some interesting and insightful switching of points of view. Some cliffhangers are well played out: when the book picks them up again, the story has moved on enough that you are on edge, waiting for the writer to reveal you what the hell's happened, especially if the plotline is picked up through another characters' eyes.
  The bad: The good stops after 200 pages and occasionally resumes about 500 pages later. I'm perplexed to read Stephen Donaldson calling himself a notorious over-writer, whereas Martin and Jordan (to name but those I've read) get away with writing these monsters which could have been summed up in a quarter if the space, as they are little more than a collection of plot twists, with mercifully short chapters that read like Dragonball anime episodes: 25 minutes of smoke screen for one lonely bit if info. For God's sake, what's taking you so long, mate? Oh wait, bigger and more numerous books equal more money... Oh, okay, got it! If you do not care for a character and his/her story are fairly detached from the rest (Jon and Danerys), reading through them is often a pain: you'll wish the writer had cut some chapters, or sites those for another book our a soon-off if you're a completist.
  The ugly: this doesn't really sound like anything new, partly because it's apparently based on idealised visions of gruesome middle ages, partly because it's really uselessly long. Insane lists of useless names are not good world-building, they're pretension. Back cover quotes for this books usually compare them favourably against Tolkien's to class creations: that's such a load of crap. Tolkien's good because the background work was so deep and consistent, by the time he sat down to write the Lord Of The Rings, he achieved more a writer in a thousand odd pages than Martin will have achieved when the seventh and last book will be out. Tolkien also had the decency to let the process out until his son dragged his corpse out of the grave (happy as I an to have been able to read the Silmarillion and more, I recognise tomb-raiding when I see it), while Martin just throws it all at you at once. If you value quantity over quality though, my complaints will be your praise. Also: if you want to see intelligent woman characters, open another book. If you wasn't to see a positive depiction of sex: open another book. Rape and whoring abound, and much as I value realism and mature themes (this is after all revised middle age "history") to bring fantasy out of the Harry Potter hole, this is not it. Realistic politics play a big role in the book; however, some characters still act so dumbly (for overdone sense of honour or inexplicable plain stupidity) that it all loses strength and credibility. Eddard and Catelyn are despicable in this respect, the latter is am especially insufferable person. Buy they're both honest to the point of seeming gullible against all reason, and Catelyn goes as far as showing, at some point, some incredible pacifism that is so badly portrayed, our makes a god thing look bad! China Mieville's your cup of tea if you love fantastic worlds and worldviews if total credibility, or the often sadly overseen Stephen R. Donaldson.
  Closing comments: I eventually was enthused enough by the plot that I might read book 2 some day (after having read Ghormenghast and at least 2 more Donaldson and Mieville books...): if that also fails to give me some sense of achievement, that's totally it, I'm over my brief falling in with unending fantasy epics.

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  Hadourien136 said on Aug 1, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 3 people find this helpful

  

  I am not usually a fan of fantasy fiction, but this really was a compelling reading.

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  Ro said on Jun 14, 2007 | Add your feedback

• 

  dear god this dragged

  Okay i admit i did not make it to the end and abanoded this one 200 pages in. Now i have never read a fantasy as this, so that may be the problem. But bloody hell this was tedious

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  John Brunton said on May 20, 2012 about the eBook edition | Add your feedback

• 

  
  I appreciated the many different characters, their complex personalities and the challenge of understanding the reasons why they act...
  I find myself totally absorbed and intrigued... lost in this wonderful "epic soap opera"

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  Pi said on May 18, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 2 people find this helpful

  È nato prima l'uovo o la gallina?
  Meglio il libro o la serie tv?
  Come al solito, nel mio caso, quello a cui arrivo prima - se mi piace abbastanza da spiengermi a recuperare il complementare.
  Il fatto è questo: ammiro molto Martin per aver saputo costruire tutto un mondo così ricco e funzionante, e ... (continue)

  È nato prima l'uovo o la gallina?
  Meglio il libro o la serie tv?
  Come al solito, nel mio caso, quello a cui arrivo prima - se mi piace abbastanza da spiengermi a recuperare il complementare.
  Il fatto è questo: ammiro molto Martin per aver saputo costruire tutto un mondo così ricco e funzionante, e per averlo reso così perfetto per un adattamento (cliffhanger ogni due per tre, e tanti di quei personaggi da amare da non sapere mai bene per chi "tifare"); per saper scrivere decentemente (anche se, l'ho capito la prima delle sei volte che l'ha detto, qual è il colore dei capelli di Sansa).
  Ma, per me, il production value della serie la rende uno spettacolo più coinvolgente e il mezzo primario attraverso cui conoscere quei personaggi e le loro storie. I libri, se li continuerò oltre il secondo, saranno un'appendice da leggere per la curiosità di capire le differenze e il modo in cui Benioff e Weiss, gli showrunner, affrontano i problemi di adattamento.
  Detto quessto, romanzo leggibilissimo e agile nonostante le quasi mille pagine, chapeau.

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  Claire N. said on May 6, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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Book Details

• Rating:
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• English Books
• Mass Market Paperback 864 Pages
• Edition: Reprint
• ISBN-10: 0553573403
• ISBN-13: 9780553573404
• Publisher: Spectra
• Pub date: Aug 04, 1997
• Dimensions: 1161 mm x 839 mm x 258 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Paperback, Hardcover, Audio CD, Audio Cassette, Others and eBook
• In other languages: other languages Libros en Español, Danske bøger, Nederlandse Boeken, Česká kniha, Polskie Książki, Svenska böcker

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9780553573404	Mass Market Paperback	$7.99	$7.19	bn.com
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