A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) in Bound Together

Dec 25, 2009 Gaijinmama rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, fantasy

I went into this having seen the first two seasons of the TV show, so some of the suspense was gone.
Didn't matter a whit. I could hardly put the book down and pretty much binge-read the last 300 pages over a three-day weekend. Family? sleep? work? what's that?
Indeed, it was all I could do not to plow right into the next volume of the series, but I'm making myself take a break to process it.

The story is just plain non-stop irresistible brilliance. In more than 800 pages, not a single word is wast I went into this having seen the first two seasons of the TV show, so some of the suspense was gone.
Didn't matter a whit. I could hardly put the book down and pretty much binge-read the last 300 pages over a three-day weekend. Family? sleep? work? what's that?
Indeed, it was all I could do not to plow right into the next volume of the series, but I'm making myself take a break to process it.

The story is just plain non-stop irresistible brilliance. In more than 800 pages, not a single word is wasted. More importantly in my view, the characters are believable and complex. The bad guys have some redeeming qualities, and the good guys have some grey areas and do some unlikeable stuff. They're people, not superheroes, and that's what kept me riveted in their story.
Hands down, my favorite character is Tyrion, The Imp. I'd say he's the anti-hero of the whole darn thing. As far as I'm concerned, this is really his story. Kinda like Star Wars is really about Han Solo, not that boring Luke Skywalker, right? Tyrion isn't exactly a good guy but he is smart, shows compassion in spite of himself, generally does the right thing when it matters, and oh. my.gods. does he have a sense of humor!! Between him and Petyr Baelish( who really is a scumbag, but endearing nonetheless) I found myself giggling at all sorts of inappropriate moments.
Warning: in case you've been hiding under a rock, let's just say things get a bit violent here and there. I'm not at all squeamish, but this book contains some truly sick and twisted stuff that pushed even my limits. What makes it even more upsetting, is that it's portrayed realistically. There is no cruelty in this book that hasn't actually been done to someone at some point in history.
Same goes for the magical aspects of the story. Magic exists in this world, but it comes at a price, and people still have to deal with the consequences of their actions, or deal with the fall-out of other people's actions (Catelyn Stark, a word please!! In my office, now!!).
People survive by using their brains. And sometimes bad things happen to good people.
Maybe I'll grab the next book and dive right in, after all. ...more

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Apr 07, 2013 FlowerFairy rated it it was amazing

Audiobook. Revisiting old friends.

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Jul 31, 2011 Michelle Stie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: award-winners, fantasy

I picked up Game of Thrones because I enjoyed the HBO series, which is a fairly faithful rendition of the novel. I'm not normally a person who reads in the fantasy literature genre, but the book seems to follow all the tropes you would expect. There is a lot of talk about war--and the literal saber rattling does get old. However, I thought the device of telling the story from many different perspectives was a good idea, as it broke up the main plot and kept the action from dragging too much. The ...more

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Aug 08, 2011 Carolyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, own, 2015-read

OK, all these years and I've never read this series. No problem, except now that I've seen the HBO series I'm hooked! I hope that the books are half as good, so I'm committed to at least starting the first one.
Bought the book several years ago, just started it last week, and I'm really enjoying it. So far, the series is very true to the book (p267/807).
...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Ellen Librarian rated it liked it

I would have given this book four stars had it not ended suddenly, leaving most of the story threads dangling and with the very ending feeling completely out of left field and not fitting with the rest of the story.

That said, it's a good, fun read. I had been planning on reading the next book but now that I know I can't count on a real ending to that one either, I'm a bit less eager. ...more

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Jun 04, 2013 Tautchia rated it really liked it

Although I enjoyed the first three books in this series, After finishing book five (the final book on the series), I must warn those contemplating reading them.... Don't bother. In my opinion, The story is never resolved. There are too many loose ends left dangling. A complete waste of time :( ...more

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