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A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) | 
 enlarge | Author: George R.r. Martin
Publisher: Spectra
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $6.00
You Save: $10.00 (62%)
New (31) Collectible (5) from $6.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  1496 reviews
Sales Rank: 1150
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 704
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0553381687
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780553381689
ASIN: 0553381687
Publication Date: May 28, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: NOTE: NEW mass market paperback - direct from publisher not a second or remainder - IN STOCK/READY TO SHIP - orders recd by 1PM ship same day p1204.4.6 - NEED IT FAST? use EXPEDITED SHIPPING - many George R. R. Martin titles available including A FEAST FOR CROWS(to be release in November, 2005 - PRE ORDER YOUR COPY NOW) see our ZSHOP or email for list of titles, alternate payment methods and multi item S&H discount
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Readers of epic fantasy series are: (1) patient--they are left in suspense between each volume, (2) persistent--they reread or at least review the previous book(s) when a new installment comes out, (3) strong--these 700-page doorstoppers are heavy, and (4) mentally agile--they follow a host of characters through a myriad of subplots. In A Game of Thrones, the first book of a projected six, George R.R. Martin rewards readers with a vividly real world, well-drawn characters, complex but coherent plotting, and beautifully constructed prose, which Locus called "well above the norms of the genre." Martin's Seven Kingdoms resemble England during the Wars of the Roses, with the Stark and Lannister families standing in for the Yorks and Lancasters. The story of these two families and their struggle to control the Iron Throne dominates the foreground; in the background is a huge, ancient wall marking the northern border, beyond which barbarians, ice vampires, and direwolves menace the south as years-long winter advances. Abroad, a dragon princess lives among horse nomads and dreams of fiery reconquest. There is much bloodshed, cruelty, and death, but A Game of Thrones is nevertheless compelling; it garnered a Nebula nomination and won the 1996 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. So, on to A Clash of Kings! --Nona Vero
Product Description
Here is the first volume in George R. R. Martin’s magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R. R. Martin’s stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.
A Game of Thrones
Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.
Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
Download Description
A Game of Thrones is a contemporary masterpiece of fantasy. The cold is returning to Winterfell, where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime. A time of conflict has arisen in the Stark family, as they are pulled from the safety of their home into a whirlpool of tragedy, betrayal, assassination, plots and counterplots. Each decision and action carries with it the potential for conflict as several prominent families, comprised of lords, ladies, soldiers, sorcerers, assassins and bastards, are pulled together in the most deadly game of all -- the game of thrones.
"George Martin is assuredly a new master craftsman in the guild of heroic fantasy."
KATHERINE KERR "The keen and complex human characters and the convincing force of their surroundings operate as magic...setting George R. R. Martin's first fantasy epic well above the norms of the genre."
LOCUS "Offers the rich tapestry that the very best fantasy demands...few created worlds are as imaginative and diverse."
JANNY WURTS "A vast, rich saga, with splendid characters and an intricate plot flawlessly articulated against a backdrop of real depth and texture."
KIRKUS REVIEWS "A dazzling fantasy adventure... with a great cast of characters that weave a tapestry of court intrigue, skullduggery, vicious betrayal and greathearted sacrifice."
JULIAN MAY "A colorful, majestic tapestry of characters, action and plot that deserves a spot on any reader's wall."
ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1491 more reviews...
 Slow and rather boring July 23, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book had an interesting idea in that it attempted to tell a story through the viewpoints of multiple characters. This is a good idea in theory (something more original for a fantasy novel) except that half of the characters it tells the story through are uninteresting and are really more a waste of time than anything else. If you don't like some of the characters, the chapters that focus on them become torturous and painful to read. There are whole chapters in this book that could be omitted completely and probably should have been for the sake wasting the reader's time.
The storyline has many plots and subplots as have been mentioned in other reviews but the overall guiding storyline is predictable and any twists it introduces are pretty plain. There are a few exciting high points that should have been focused more on but were lost quickly by the dense amount of seemingly useless subplots taking place at the same time.
I had high hopes for this book when I first picked it up but it was ultimately very disappointing in the end. When the book finishes, it eludes to something much bigger going on. But I can't bring myself to continue with this series because this book is 800 pages long but should have been cut to half that many to tell the mediocre story it does. Just plain slow
 not memorable at all July 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
So I was looking for a new book to buy and reading glowing reviews for this one, here at Amazon. After reading about ten of them I started to have the sneaky suspicion that perhaps I had actually read this book already? Indeed, I looked and there it was on my bookshelf! Bought about a year ago, read soon after, and apparently completely forgotten until now.
See my point?
Something is coming back to me now about pseudo-mongolian tribesmen on grasslands, something about dragons, wolves, sword fighting probably, a few names. The book has been much praised around here, but it just didn't connect with me. Consider some of the features that have been talked about:
Characterization? Many people are impressed by the fact that the characters are not morally "black and white". Well, I find the preponderance of only goodies and baddies in fantasy a pain too, but real people are SHADES of gray. Instead we get uniform 50 percent gray across the board. This is probably even worse as we exchange two colors for one! Putting morality aside, the characters seem to differ only in details about which it's difficult to care. One guy wants to be leader of the horsemen, several others want to be leaders of the kingdom, etc. Then there are assorted "young" people who don't know what they want at all. Seen that before? The defining features of memorable characters for me seem to be firstly that you know enough about what they want so as to want it for them as well, and secondly that you can tell it apart from what other characters desire. Now, I can vividly remember lots of characters in other books that I have read over the years by e.g. Donaldson, Asimov, early Eddings, Jordan, early Feist, and even - prepare to cringe - the Dragonlance books! None from here.
World building? It looked pretty stock standard, from what I saw. Pseudo-mongolian tribesmen again, pseudo-medieval feudal kingdoms, castles, dragon eggs, and menacing enemies hanging out in the (you guessed it) North. A compelling world tends to have at least some aspects which are NOT copies of something on Earth nor of well known human legends. Those aspects are also supposed to lead to logical consequences. THEN it seems like a real and interesting fantasy. Think of some places invented by Donaldson, Lem, Jordan (yep), Asimov, Aldiss, Herbert and even Margaret Weis or early David Eddings. I can't see anything like that here. All right, one little original thing was that the pseudo-Hadrian's wall in the north is built all of ice, but this appears to have little consequence apart from being cold to step on. We don't even get to see a redshirt character slip on the ice and break his neck during a thaw.
Graphic sex and violence? Well actually I don't recall any really overwhelming amount of it in this book, in contrast to what some reviewers have written. Maybe violence is just not memorable for me when presented in large amounts. Guts, gore, skim, and skim some more. As for romantic scenes, in my humble opinion they are FAR more memorable if the explicit parts are left out - because then you can fill them in yourself!
In summary: very uninspiring.
 A Game of Thrones July 17, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The story is great i love how the chapters are really people perspective during the time. You can see how one person or side is thinking and then vice versa. There are many characters i love and hate and love to hate. I can not wait till his next book comes out. I LOVE this book and i tell everyone i know to read it.
Very good fantasy (to my mind) July 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book violates enough of my heroic fiction stereotypes to be worth highly recommending. For example, the first chapter involves an execution, but there's no bold rescue of the prisoner, and the lord who ordered (and carried out) the execution turns out to be a nice guy.
This turns out to be a theme of the book. Deciding who are the "good guys" and who are the "bad guys" is difficult here (although there are some exceptions). There are shocking events and some good twists and surprises.
As I perused the reviews here, I noticed that this book does have some detractors. I suppose that's to be expected, and I appreciate even dissenting views. Count me among the many fans, however.
A book for the inexperienced fantasy reader July 8, 2008
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
Not that anyone will ever find this review in the amazingly long list of reviews, but I feel I must write it anyway. This book is what I consider as junior fantasy. It ranks on par with David Eddings and all of the Dragonlance books. Decent story, decent writing, but the depth just isn't there. There is very little character development, the plot is more or less predictable, and there's little original about the themes. One of my rules of thumb is that if I ever hear an adult raving about this book or any of Eddings' or Weiss/Hickman's works, I can be pretty sure that they really aren't that experienced in the world of fantasy fiction. 1000+ cheering reviews for this book shouldn't fool anyone but junior high kids.
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