From the Bookshelf of The Dusty Bookshelf…

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

George R.R. Martin

Why we're reading this: Have had this a couple of months (a friend sent it to me, along with the other 4 books) and thought of se…more
[close] Have had this a couple of months (a friend sent it to me, along with the other 4 books) and thought of selling this but really, really, really want to read it.

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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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Aug 25, 2011 Tracey rated it liked it

I have to admit this took me some time to get through since kept putting it down to read other books since kept getting confused on who is who, relation to each other and where they all lived.

However, kept with it & so glad I did. Going to get the 2nd one in the series today.

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Apr 11, 2011 Josephine (biblioseph) marked it as tbr-own

Shelves: own-new-york, 1st-in-a-series

Gut punching character tales... there are like a HUGE amount of characters to keep straight. Not for a student, I think... Unless who can keep it straight really well... Or make a chart. I have yet to get beyond page 2.

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