by George R. R. Martin
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 forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. To the south, the king’s powers are failing—his most trusted adviser dead under mysterious circumstances and his enemies emerging from the shadows of the throne. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the frozen land they were born to. Now Lord Eddard Stark is reluctantly summoned to serve as the king’s new Hand, an appointment that threatens to sunder not only his family but the kingdom itself.Sweeping from a harsh land of cold to a summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, A Game of Thrones tells a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Here an…
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reviewed A Game of Thrones
Eddard Stark's arc is a masterclass in subverting genre expectations. This is a book that promises you a traditional fantasy story and then systematically dismantles every assumption you brought to it. Essential reading.
reviewed A Game of Thrones
Slow to start for modern readers used to faster pacing, but the investment pays off completely. The map in the front is not optional. By the halfway point you'll be reading with genuine anxiety about people you weren't sure you liked two hundred pages earlier.
reviewed A Game of Thrones
The book that proved epic fantasy could be literary. Martin's decision to make every POV character the hero of their own story is what makes the world feel real. Nobody is simply a villain. Nobody is simply a hero. The Red Wedding exists because Martin spent 800 pages making you trust him. Then he reminded you not to.
Chris Van Allsburg
