Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1080 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

Will i buy the second book?
After this i'de likely say yes, eventually. It has taken me AGES to read this monster of a book but you lose nothing from doing it like me mainly because after you finish one of the very long character based chapters, theres at least another 3 before u'll see them again, meaning theres no momentum.

Call me old fashioned as well but i like a good magic base in a book, as far as im aware, i havn't seen any evidence that magic will be explored in this series.

A decent hero getting through a few tough spots would be nice as well, after looking into the next few books in this series, it becomes pretty obvious that Mr Martin has a bit of an obsession with killing off his main characters, saying no names ofc.

Undeniably excellent writing by a gifted author but im left wondering 'do i really care about politics?' and 'whats everyone else doing?' alot of the time.

why so much hype?
(*slight spoiler warning*)
It's okay, but not great. Yes it is better than a lot of the middling fantasy novels out there, but not even close to being on par with Jordan or Erikson (and neither of them perfect).
The way Martin changes the perspective with each chapter means that each chapter begins with more filler to set the scene - meaning the book is a LOT bigger than it needs to be. It also stifles the flow of the story. Any book is usually just a collection of events weaved together, but this book feels like that at its core - lots of events that have to happen, with one in each chapter. It doesn't seem to flow together well as a result. Also there is no real bonding to any of the characters - I don't feel for any of them or really care what happens to them, possibly as a result of not staying with them for more than a small chapter each.
And for the reviewers who say this is the most original fantasy novel out there - First Men, forest dwellers, the others, seven kingdoms etc. show it most certainly is not. Which is fine if weaved into a good story, but that is the problem with the book. Even some of the huge events like the capture of Jamie Lannister take place 'off stage' and all in a page or 2.
Yes, he does have moments of really, really good writing, but Robin Hobb's prose is vastly better, and after all, you do expect an author to be able to string together good sentences.
An okay read, but certainly not great and not worth the hype.

A GAME OF THRONES
THIS AUTHOR IS NOT, OF COURSE, TOLKIEN'S HEIR. While with Tolkien you feel a wide range of feelings, positive feelings, you can not with this story that hides a lot of pederast material and coward violence. In other words, if you want to ENJOY a fantastic story whith dragons, and other fantastic creatures and mixed whith history don't buy this book. I threw it with its second sequel to the dustbin after reading a bit more than a quarter of the first volume. It was enough. Definitely nothing to do with the master of the epic adventure literature.
Excuse my English. I'm still learning.
This is the first time a write a review. But I hope that someone will find it usefull. Try with His Dark Materials by Pullman or Tunnels by Gordon or just go for a walk.
Greetings to Mr. Tolkien for the good moments he provided me there in Middle Earth's heaven. And too to Gordon and Pullman and other excellent novelists.
From southern Spain. Europe.