About this title: First volume of a brilliant new fantasy trilogy: the most powerful, original and absorbing new epic since Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. The first volume of George R R Martin's glorious high fantasy tells the tragic story of treachery, greed and war that threatens the unity of the Seven Kingdoms south of the Wall. Martin ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Spectra
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780553573404ISBN:0553573403
Description: Acceptable. Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Description: Acceptable. Book shows wear to cover edges and spine. Spine has creases. Corners bent/rounded. Cover may have folds or creases. Otherwise in good reading condition. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9780553573404ISBN:0553573403
Description: Grade: B. Catalog: Fiction Fantasy Synopsis: 835 pages. A Game of Thrones is a contemporary masterpiece of fantasy. The cold is returning to Winterfell, where summers can last decades and winters... read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Spectra Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780553573404ISBN:0553573403
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Good plus condition. Some edge, corner and seam wear. Cocked spine. No marks. Tight binding. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 864 p. Song of Ice and Fire (Paperback), 1. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Spectra Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780553573404ISBN:0553573403
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Good copy. Binding is tight, pages are clean. Cover is nice with minor edgewear and some creasing to spine. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 864 p. Song of Ice and Fire (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780553588484ISBN:0553588486
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Very light edge and corner wear. Small cover crease. No marks. Tight, square book. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 835 p. Song of Ice and Fire (Paperback), 1. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780553588484ISBN:0553588486
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 835 p. Song of Ice and Fire (Paperback), 1. Audience: General/trade. read more
"A Game of Thrones is a must read for any fantasy fan. Martin grabs your attention and holds it. Only issue- set aside a day to read it, otherwise you'll be very upset when people interrupt you."
"Epic fantasy on an epic scale. I haven't read a book as long as this one was (800 pages) that was so gripping since I read Lord of the Rings the first time when I was in high school.
Martin deserves to stand up there with the greats.
To summarize the book, he writes chapters based on a few main characters. The book is the struggle between the great families of the Seven Kingdoms. The biggest players are the Starks, Lannisters, Baratheons, and Targaryens. The king is Robert of House Baratheon and his chief advisor is Ned Stark. Many of the chapters have Starks as point of view characters--his middle son, two daughters, bastard son, wife, and Ned himself all get point of view chapters as does Tyrion Lannister the dwarf son of the head of the family. The last person to get a chapter is the daughter of the ousted Targaryens, Daenerys.
The first book manages to give the background of the seven kingdoms and begin a war that is in equal parts: treachery, intrigue, and violence. Some of the scenes are horrific, but fitting for a book that has war scenes in it. Don't expect this book to be gentle at all expect all the viciousness of the War of the Roses here and frankly, it seems that Martin took a bit from history in that like the English wars we have noble houses with personal armies fighting for ascendancy in one kingdom.
The plot is well designed although this book isn't a singleton. He has four novels currently and a fifth is planned in this epic cycle. The characters are ones you love or hate, you don't feel indifferent towards his characters. Even though the series is quite long in scope (the second book is 1000 pages), I am eagerly reading the second book already to find out just how things end.
If you like fantasy especially epic and historical fantasy, then you should read this book and series."
"The first book in an amazing series. A Song of Ice and Fire is simply the best series of books I have ever read. The only downside to the books are that the author isn't done with the series yet.
A Game of Thrones is one of those books that leaves me feeling slightly breathless and totally unwilling to put it down once I picked it up. If you are at all a fan of the fantasy genre, you need to read this series. If you aren't a big fan of the fantasy genre, I would still recommend it as an excellent and entertaining book. The characters are engaging and complex. Even minor characters have a richness that draws you in. The plot isn't obvious from the beginning, and no character is immune to death. Even as the book develops a sense of wonder and mystery around the magic in the world, it is very grounded and realistic. The world is violent and brutal, and it takes it's toll on the inhabitants.
I highly recommend this book, and the accompanying series. I have never found a more well-written, engaging story."
"A clerk at the local Borders recommended this series to me. I bought the first book but it languished on my shelf for a while before I saw a colleague reading the second book. I talked to her about it (the series had been recommended to her by another person in our building) and she gave me such an intriguing synopsis that I started to read A Game of Thrones the next day. I haven't regretted that decision at all. This is perhaps one of the few series (and I'm only partly through the third book but this has held true so far) which has such wonderful characters that you want to tear your hair out over what befalls them. You become invested and then something horrendous transpires. And the horrible characters - the ones that you want to see shot through the eye with a flaming arrow - manage to beat the odds and win the day. And yet you come back for more.
Whether fantasy is your genre or not, this is definitely a series worth checking out. The surprises and the sheer audacity of following through with the worst case scenario even when you know the audience is screaming for the Hollywood ending - that is what you get in A Song of Ice and Fire. But trust me - you'll love it."
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