A Game of Thrones: A Book Review

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I usually don't read fantasy, particularly the knights in shining armor type. They are usually really, really long with many, many characters that get me confused about who is who before the first chapter is over. This book is really long and from what my fantasy loving hubby tells me, is the shortest in the series. I usually don't try to tackle a book of this length unless I'm going on a vacation, meaning I'll just be sitting for quite a while on the way to the destination. The chapters were a little longer than your average book too. This can be disconcerting for the average reader, as passing chapters makes me feel like I'm making head way. The story line kept be riveted the whole way. Excellent, in fact. I got a little confused with all the characters-- particularly which bannerman belonged to which lord-- but I quickly figured out who the important characters were and just focused on them. The names of the principle characters being at the top of the chapters and the story line switching view points between the main characters also helped to mark these characters. Also, if you get REALLY lost (or REALLY into it) there's a visual break down of who's who in the back of the book. I usually only give 5 stars to books that are so great that they change the way I feel about literature or about the topic on which they speak in the case of non-fiction. This book definitely falls in that category, as 1) I'll be reading the rest of the series and anxiously await my next vacation so, I will have time to tackle it and 2) I might even branch out and try other so called "high fantasy."


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