A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
by George R.R. Martin
List Price:
Our Price: $6.00
You Save: $10.00 (62%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.64 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: George R.R. MartinEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2002-05-28
ISBN: 0553381687
Number of pages: 704
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
Book Review: Fighting the wrong enemy
Summary: 2 Stars
From a technical point of view, this book is excellently written. The setting is vivid, the characters decently well defined, and the plot is convoluted and interesting to follow.
However, while most stories can be phrased as a conflict between protagonist and antagonist, or between protagonist and The Environment, this book defined for me a type of conflict that I had not previously thought existed: protagonist vs author.
This entire story is about watching the author screwing over his main characters, and listening to him laugh as he doles out strong hints of even further doom to come. His weapons of choice are random chance, arbitrary obliviousness, and gratuitously irrational secondary characters. His prime target is an easy mark who could be the poster child for Lawful Stupid. (Yes, I'm talking about you, Eddard Stark.)
If you are the type of person who likes slow-motion videos of someone driving a car down a mountain road toward a blind turn where you can see that the road just drops out, and then watching them fall to their doom in a ball of fire and blood, then you might like this book. I'm not, really, and I didn't.
Summary of A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
Here is the first volume in George R. R. Martin's magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R. R. Martin's stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.A GAME OF THRONES
Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.
Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
Readers of epic fantasy series are: (1) patient--they are left in suspense between each volume, (2) persistent--they reread or at least review the previous book(s) when a new installment comes out, (3) strong--these 700-page doorstoppers are heavy, and (4) mentally agile--they follow a host of characters through a myriad of subplots. In A Game of Thrones, the first book of a projected six, George R.R. Martin rewards readers with a vividly real world, well-drawn characters, complex but coherent plotting, and beautifully constructed prose, which Locus called "well above the norms of the genre."
Martin's Seven Kingdoms resemble England during the Wars of the Roses, with the Stark and Lannister families standing in for the Yorks and Lancasters. The story of these two families and their struggle to control the Iron Throne dominates the foreground; in the background is a huge, ancient wall marking the northern border, beyond which barbarians, ice vampires, and direwolves menace the south as years-long winter advances. Abroad, a dragon princess lives among horse nomads and dreams of fiery reconquest.
There is much bloodshed, cruelty, and death, but A Game of Thrones is nevertheless compelling; it garnered a Nebula nomination and won the 1996 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. So, on to A Clash of Kings! --Nona Vero
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in General Books
A Storm of Swordsby George R.R. Martin
Bantam; Bantam; Release date: 2003-03-04; Published: 2003-03-04; Kindle Edition; eBooks
Best price: $6.39
Price in other shops:
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)by George R.R. Martin
Bantam; Published: 2002-05-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
Robert Adams?' Book of Alternate WorldsRoc; Published: 1987-07-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $45.79
The Hugo Winners, Volume 5: Nine Prizewinning Science Fiction Stories (1980 - 1982)by Barry B. Longyear, George R. R. Martin
Doubleday Books; Published: 1986-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Dead Man's Hand (Wild Cards, Book 7)by George R.R. Martin, John J. Miller
Bantam; Published: 1990-07-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
GRRM: A RRetrospective (Trade Hardcover)by George R. R. Martin
Subterranean Press; Published: 2003; Hardcover; Book
Songs the dead men singby George R. R Martin
Dark Harvest; Published: 1983; Unknown Binding; Book
Best price: $539.99
A Game of Thrones: D20-Based Open Gaming RPGWhite Wolf Publishing; Published: 2005-11-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $59.50
Down and Dirty (Wild Cards, Book 5)by George R.R. Martin
Bantam; Published: 1988-11-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $205.35
ACES HIGH (Wild Cards, No 2)by Various authors
Bantam Spectra; Published: 1987-04-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy, Part 3 (Sword Of Truth, Book 11)by Terry Goodkind
Tor Books; Published: 2007-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One)by Joe Abercrombie
Pyr; Published: 2007-09-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.75
Price in other shops:
Assassin's Quest (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 3)by Robin Hobb
Spectra; Published: 1998-01-05; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.94
Price in other shops:
Royal Assassin (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 2)by Robin Hobb
Spectra; Published: 1997-02-03; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1)by Patrick Rothfuss
DAW; Published: 2008-04-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
A Dance With Dragons (Song of Ice and Fire)by George R.R. Martin
Random House Audio; Published: 2009-09-29; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $31.50
Price in other shops:
Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 1)by Robin Hobb
Spectra; Published: 1996-03-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.30
Price in other shops:
A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire)by George R.R. Martin
Bantam; Published: 2006-09-26; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.54
Price in other shops:
A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3)by George R.R. Martin
Bantam; Published: 2003-03-04; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.47
Price in other shops:
A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2)by George R.R. Martin
Bantam; Published: 2000-09-05; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.97
Price in other shops: