A Game of Thrones
Ratings2,268
Average rating4.4
This was just ridiculously good. Impossible to believe I haven't read it yet, but now I want to call in sick to work until I've read the rest of the series. Rich, complex, stunning.
A true fantasy epic in all sense of the word. Epic world, epic characters, epic lore, epic story, epic politics and continued epic surprises!
I saw the first episode of the TV series and I was thoroughly unimpressed, but I thought, “they made it into a movie, the book is probably excellent.” I picked up the book and I was appalled. People must really love soap operas, because that is what this book is. Whoever compared this to Tolkien's work must be out of their mind. This is fantasy soap opera. Terrible trash.
This was a wonderfully engaging tale that created a realistic fantasy world. The character development was done with great care and the presence of multiple, coexisting plot lines made the story more rich, though at times slightly confusing. I only wish there had been more elements of magic within this piece. However, as it is the introductory novel to the series, I am hopeful that more magical elements will come about as the story develops. Though it is a long read, it is truly something you cannot put down!
DNF. I picked this up as someone who knew nothing about the show except that people liked it and that it somehow involved dragons. I got a couple of chapters in and couldn't take it. I'm sure that the storyline is fascinating and all, but it's not worth the incest. Should have been a warning at the front.
Age range: 18+
Grody.
I was enjoying this book quite a bit, then it lulled slightly. I had about a week or two off from reading and when i came back I just couldn't bring myself to get back into this. There are some bits that are very well done but there are plenty of needless parts that slow everything down too much. I want to finish but at the moment Westeros will have to wait.
Not only is it an amazingly well written story, but for now it's very faithful to the tv series - except for some physical descriptions.
Eurgh
Did not dig the way that women were written about in this book. Dnf at 15%
5☆
What can I say about AGoT that we all don't know already?
It's brilliant and beautifully tragic and honestly just a must-read when it comes to adult fantasy.
I've read it twice in German, and now in English for the first time, and I am as in love with this book as ever! ♡
4+ !
Katsoin kesällä GOT-sarjan, ja siitä sitten innostuneena aloitin tämän kirjan lukemisen. Ensimmäinen kausi menee hyvin samalla tavalla kirjan kanssa, mutta silti siellä ja täällä, kirjassa on ripaus jotain, mitä tv-sarjaan ei koskaan voi saada kuvattua. Joihinkin hahmoihin tuli lisää syvyyttä esimerkiksi unien tai ajatusten kautta.
Oli myös helppoa lukea kirja vasta sarjan katsomisen jälkeen, sillä hahmot tuntuvat todella tutuilta, samanoin termit ja kirjasarjan maailma. Uskon, että palaan tämän kirjasarjan pariin toivoen, että se joskus kirjoitetaan loppuun.
very good book , kinda made a little boring by the fact i know most the events unfolding before opening the book , thinking about it the fact that i liked the book even if i knew everything is an amazing feat
Ned poor Ned , you nearly had it all didnt you , if bobby didnt go hunting that day you would have won
Sansa got the most brutal reality check at age 11
i feel for robb , i really do specially in catwlyn inner thoughts , specially knowing how it will end
jon , jon , jon , good chapters really like the charachter developement , from entiltled bastard son of a lord to humbled , sort of , man of the night watch
dany , dany chapters are good , sort of , cant get myself to care about the dothraki and i dislike overpowered dragons like make them killable have more stakes lol , she is a sweet girl and kind hearted , but i dislike how she keep saying the 7 kingdom who by right are mine , chill , you dont have any right over people you never met or a land you only know about thanks to your insane brother ramblings
he inner monologue is still very touching , i feel sadd for drogo death , just because she is sad about it not because of the death itself , for death itself i say good riddance
i feel bad about the fact that mormont is a traitor he is the only one she trust
joffrey is stupid but with confidence got that from his mommy
tywin , meh i feel bad that his daughter is cersei and joffrey is his grandson , but alas you deserve no better , just look a little down , lol , tyrion is there and he is smart
If you enjoyed the TV series (excusing the ending), then I think you will definitely enjoy this book. I listened to the audiobook and I was immersed all throughout - it really is classic fantasy. It is heavy on the politics and it can be hard to remember names at times, but it is worth pushing through. I am excited to continue reading more of George R.R. Martin's work.
9.5/10 ⭐
I began watching the show a long time ago when it first aired, and I've rewatched it multiple times before the shithole that was season 8 came out. I'd say it's fortunate for Season 8 to have been released, as otherwise, I would have found myself rewatching the show yearly, which would have been time-consuming. Thankfully, the end is always there, taming my urges. In the initial seasons, the show was superb, and now I understand why. They adhered almost perfectly to the book, and this book is just... INCREDIBLE. I postponed my life for 2 days because I couldn't stop reading it. The writing was excellent, striking a balance between clarity and poeticism. And the cast of characters - it's hard to find characters more human, with such depth.
R.I.P to my man Ned Stark. I knew it was coming and my heart breaks each time I experience this honorable fool's death. Now I experienced it in the books too. Just as shocking. Too good for this world.
An epic of a story: long, heavily detailed, and with huge emphasis on character building. If you're just looking for something to engage you in a story for nothing more than story's sake, it's a great book, however, it's such a sprawling saga I found myself a bit lost at times, wondering almost what the "point" of it all was, the plot reminiscent of a run on sentence... Perhaps I missed things - it's so long, I almost certainly did - but it seemed like there was a sense of meaning and/or purpose lacking from the story, leaving me feeling a little hollow at the end. There's a lot of trauma and gut-wrenching parts that leave you hating the thoughts of some of these imaginary characters, but I can't say I really felt the opposite was as true; there are heroes, but none as captivating in a good way as the evil of the enemies was repelling, which I guess made it hard to get really invested in it all.
I might check out the TV show just to find out what happens, but I can't say I'm feeling to inclined to push my way through the rest of the books.
I've been putting off reading this book because the author seems to have no plans to finish the series. However, I am so glad I finally read it. It's very nice to end the year in such a high note :) This is the best book I've ever read.
Still as great on a reread! Epic in scale with twists and turns at every corner. Characters you love and love to hate! Really is a fantastic book
I tried reading this before the HBO series came out, and found it a hard slog. It's incredibly slow to start, and there are so many different characters to keep track of it's hard to bond with any of them. Embarrassingly, I had to watch the series before I tried this one again, but it was much better once I had an idea what the hell was going on - and the rest of the books were so much better! Three stars for getting me into the series and for general competence.
800 pages flew by much faster than I expected - Rare that you get an author that so deftly balanaces such a hefty amount of world building with great pacing and characters. Jumping straight into Book #2, A Clash of Kings.
