A Game of Thrones

I loved this one when I first read it, and I'm so glad I went through it again as there's a lot of subtle stuff I missed in the first read through. Some of it was explicitly stated stuff, like the Old Bear being Ser Jorah Mormont's father; others were only hinted at, like my newfound belief that Jon Snow is part of House Targaryen.

I think the first time I read this I was a little blinded by the assumption that it was Eddard's story, and that the other stuff was just subplot. Knowing that it's more than that, that it's a large tapestry with dozens of equally important threads really forces one to look at the whole thing differently.

Beyond that I'm really not sure what I want to say about it, other than it's a complete masterpiece of high fantasy and a must-read for fans of the genre.

(note: Originally read in January 2005.)