Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1012 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 704 pages

Synopsis
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 unfolds with astonishing skill a tale of truly epic dimensions, thronged with memorable characters, a story of treachery and ambition, love and magic. Set in a fabulous world scarred by battle and catastrophe over 8000 years of recorded history, it tells of the deeds of men and women locked in the deadliest of conflicts and the terrible legacy they will leave their children. In the game of thrones, you win or you die. And in the bitter-cold, unliving lands beyond the Wall, a terrible winter gathers and the others -- the undead, the neverborn, wildlings to whom the threat of the sword is nothing -- make ready to descend on the realms of men. A Game of Thrones begins the most imaginative, ambitious and compelling fantasy epic since The Lord of the Rings.

Thronged with memorable characters, it unfolds with astonishing skill a tale of truly epic dimensions. There have been many pretenders to the throne of Tolkien: now at last he has a true heir.

About the Author
George Raymond Richard Martin was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, Sept 20 1948. He began writing monster stories as a child, and by high school was contributing fiction to comic fanzines. His first professional sale, short story `The Hero', written while he was in college, appeared in Galaxy February 1971.Martin graduated from Northwestern University (BS Journalism 1971, MS 1972). A conscientious objector, he worked for VISTA at Chicago's Cook Country Legal Assistance 1972-4. From 1976-8 he taught journalism at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, and spent another year there as writer-in-residence 1978-9. He has been a full-time writer ever since.He was story editor for CBS's The Twilight Zone series in 1986, and worked as writer, executive story consultant, producer, co-supervising producer, and executive producer on Beauty and the Beast from 1987-90. He currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.Martin won his first Hugo for the novella `A Song for Lya' (1974). In 1980 he won the Nebula and Hugo Awards for novelette `Sandkings', and a Hugo Award for short story `The Way of Cross and Dragon'. Martin won a second Nebula in 1986 for `Portraits of His Children', a 1988 Bram Stoker Award for `The Pear-Shaped Man', a 1989 World Fantasy Award for novella `The Skin Trade', a 1997 Hugo for novella `Blood of the Dragon', and is a 10-time Locus Award winner.His novels include Dying of the Light (1977), Windhave (with Lisa Tuttle, 1981), Fevre Dream (1982), The Armageddon Rag (1983), Wild Cards VII: Dead Man's Hand (with John J. Miller, 1990), and three novels in A Song of Ice and Fire sequence: `A Game of Thrones' (1996), `A Clash of Kings' (1998) and `A Storm of Swords' (2000). He has several short story collections, notably A Song for Lya and Other Stories (1976), Songs of Stars and Shadows (1977), Sandkings(1981) and Portraits of His Children (1987), and has edited a number of anthologies, including volumes for the New Voices in Science Fiction and the Hugo-nominated Wild Cards series.

Customer Reviews

a must read for all fantasy fans
This epic scale fantasy series is a must for anyone who loves the genre. It is not strange that this book receives so many star reviews- it is one of the best out there. I started reading this book and got frustrated often, but I could not stop thinking of the characters. The characters are human, not black and white, evil and good. You often find yourself sympathetic towards the "bad guys" and frustrated with the so-called "good guys" it is realistic, people die, even characters that you think might be essential to the plot. This is not some predictable story where the protagonists live or die at the very end- Anything can happen.
In short, buy the first of the series and give it a try- if you don't get hooked then this series is not for you- higly recomended

Incredible story and impressively written
This book truely was gripping. For one which is over 800 pages long, I was amazed at how quickly I finished it.

Firstly, it must be said, this is the most realistic fantasy book I have read, and the world has many links to the history of Britain. From different families turning on each other in every battle, to having a wall in the North to keep creatures out. The story may not be an epic tale (such as Lord of the Rings) but that doesn't prevent it from being incredible. Its a lot more down to Earth, believable, and intrigueing.

The characters are well developed and the story itself is told from the viewpoints of eight different viewpoints (Eddard, Catelyn, Jon, Sansa, Arya, Bran, Tyrion and Daenarys). Out of these I felt the most enjoyable were Eddard's, Jon's and Tyrion's chapters, these three were all interesting and I kept on wondering what would happen to them throughout the book.
The prose is superbly written and constucted. I find it amazing that Martin was able to have periods when the plotline was relativley slow, yet still grab at my attention.

All in all, this was an excellent read, I am really pleased that I gave it a go. A detailed world that immersed me and then blew me away, Martin is a genius.

Think Fantasy is a stale genre? Try this...!!
I'll keep this short and sweet:

I gave up reading fantasy in the 80s...it was all so much rubbish. Every book seemed the same. I'd occasionally try a new book only to be disappointed yet again. Then I read this book and was totally gripped from start to finish...in fact, it only took me a few days to read and that is with a toddler trying to distract me. This book won't let you put it down!! READ IT!