George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy novels begin in this amazing book. For anyone who has watched the show, I highly recommend reading the books. They are truly engrossing, fascinating in what they are accomplishing, and chock full of characters that I love from each house. (There are also characters that I hate with a burning passion. Looking at you, Theon Greyjoy.)
The premise for Game of Thrones is simple: each of the seven houses want to claim a right to the iron throne, the place where you rule from until you die. Since everyone wants a slice of the spiked pie, there’s corruption and dirty hands everywhere. Blood is definitely on more than one pair of hands in A Game of Thrones.
It’s hard to write a review for this novel, because there are way too many spoilers. But I will sing the praises of George R.R. Martin for making unique fantasy world–one that resembles our world in terms of culture–one that tells a story from not just the hero’s perspective.
This is the main problem with fantasy novels. Mostly, only the hero narrates. We don’t get to see what his or her enemies are thinking. And if they do, they are portrayed in a sinister light. We see the enemy doing evil things, because we’re viewing this from the hero’s perspective.
With A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin works hard to tell a vast narrative: one that encompasses the good guys, the bad ones, and the people who are caught in between this conflict. He excels at making the reader feel for all his characters, or at least see where they are coming from. This is something that I hope occurs more in the realm of fantasy, because it’s truly fascinating. I’ve never read anything like A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones before.
I’m excited to continue my journey in Westeros, where anything can happen and anyone of my favorite characters could die. I’ll cross my fingers for now.
The Nerdy Nook 
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