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 enlarge | Author: George R.r. Martin
Publisher: Spectra
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $5.75
You Save: $10.25 (64%)
New (30) Collectible (5) from $5.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  1511 reviews
Sales Rank: 2344
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
Condition: New, Low Price and Quick Shipping!
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| Customer Reviews:
 Excellent Story...however, read the rest with this in mind August 31, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Read the 5 star reviews for what makes this a good book, as I agree with them.
However.......
#1 - It's much too long, the last three or four chapters are the best in the book, the first 5 are fantastic as well. But the filler in the middle was like the first 15 minutes of a bad movie when you are saying to yourself "if the plot doesnt show itself in the next 5 minutes I'm not watching the rest". BUT, plow through it, skimm some if you wish (especially the "SANSA" chapters) and you will be rewarded! The feeling that I was left with was there was no overarching main plot line, and there isnt, there are three.
#2 - Way to much forced stupidity, the author wants us to beleive that all good people are 90% stupid and slow and only 10% witty and smart. It's forced it seems, and it's insulting to me as a reader. Thats why it only got 3 stars instead of 4.5!
 Four Families Fight for the Realm August 30, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
A complex epic with strong, sympathetic characters on all sides! This is like WAR AND PEACE and GONE WITH THE WIND meeting JRR Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS, with one major difference: this author will spend chapters developing an engaging character who surmounts challenge after challenge and then suddenly, by a twist of fate, boom! the character is dead or crippled. It can sure make those suspenseful scenes more suspenseful!
A Game of Thrones centers on the fortunes of four noble families: the last daughter of the deposed king, Daenerys, called Dani; the Starks of Winterfell headed by Eddard Stark, called Ned; the Lannisters, the numerous family of the current queen and House Baratheon of King Robert.
One can hardly praise this fantasy too much; it breaks the mold of heroic fantasy while upholding the tradition with style. High honor, low treachery, magic, mysticism, vast grasslands filled with nomadic barbarians, icy wildernesses full of grim mystery, messenger ravens, direwolves...set forth by a master for the reader's entertainment.
Just incredible...a classic in it's own right. August 28, 2008
A Game of Thrones, author George R.R. Martin must be from another planet indeed. A planet that still workships the Gods of Old, steel and knighthood.
This masterpiece is so well written that it amazes me. How in the world a normal person can plot such an intrincate story?, so many characters? How does Mr. Martin creates such elavorate personalities? It's a rollercoaster of intrigue and excitement.
I read somewhere that "A Game of Thrones" was the equivalent of "The Sopranos in medieval times", well, somehow it is. Prepare yourself to get engulfed in the world of The House of Starks and Lammisters, the Black Brotherhood that watches "The Wall" up north. Beyond this wall, a terror is rising. "The Others" cold and souless creatures are moving forward.
Prepare to experience treachery,secret whispers, magic, dragons, rape, murder, poisoning, honor, pain, diplomacy and betrayal at it's best. Prepare to loose yourself page after page inside one of the best new epic fantasies of our time.
Mr. George R.R. Martin at least from my point of view can stand proud side by side with Mr. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
The first of six. Read it and enjoy!!!!
P.S. - Some say it's too long to read...I say bring more.
Cheers!!!!
Epic. August 26, 2008
Well,
This book is not for the casual read. If you like books to be finished on the last page, then the first book in the "Song of Ice and Fire" series is not for you. However, if you love good stories that seem to end too soon than I encourage you to give this a chance. It's true, the series is not finished yet and you'll be waiting for the last two books but what a journey to that point.
I have to admit, I was a skeptic. With so much praise being given, I had put of reading this book for too many years. It did not win me over easily. Oh! But the tangled web it weaves only becomes more captivating with every turn of the page. Yes, it lacks magic (in this book) but remember, this is the forerunner of a much larger story. It sets a stage. That's the goal. Martin excels here in a way that Melville did with "Moby Dick" and if the comparison sounds far-fetched than hear me out. The characterization is impeccable, but the details are astounding. At points I felt mired in them and cursed them, but the it's dressing for the world-- the frame of this beautiful picture. You wouldn't want it to be different.
Something of a technical detail that I think is worth mentioning is that the chapters aren't broken down by theme or plot element, although both are intricately wound within the divisions. Instead, Martin chooses to separate his work by addressing individual characters while much of the action happens in the background in relation to them. I felt that this was a refreshing and welcome twist to a genre that seems hackneyed at times.
All in all, this book cannot do without the highest rating. It's too compelling, too well written, and too encompassing to be slighted. It does have faults, but within this magnificent scope and compelling story they are easily overlooked.
If you are a fan of fantasy and are reading this then I urge you to try this one book. You will not regret it.
 Boring August 21, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
I had -as many readers, I suspect- good expectations for this book. It seemed the perfect holiday series of novels.
I am not generally scared by n-logies amounting pages in the thousands -I just finished Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, which I heavily recommend, by the way-.
So I started reading A Game of Thrones... Well, I fount it boring, bland, commonplace, linear (yes, despite the zillion subplots; they all sound the same). Skipping chapters, which I rarely do, gave me the impression the same white noise would go on for 6000 pages.
It never hook me up. I couldn't find any reason to keep reading.
I know a lot of people praise Martin's original mix of soap opera and fantasy, but it just doesn't work for me. There is no intelectual depth, just plain dull soap opera narrative.
There might be some bright memorable moments and universe details, just like it happened in Dying Light, but we're not talking about a 300-page novel where those bright details compensate the sometimes boring narrative and overall bland story, we're talking about a 6000-page monster saga...
Well, there are plenty more interesting books to read out there.
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