Book Review: A Game of Thrones (series)

I really enjoyed reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. The book follows so many different characters, that at first it almost gets unwieldy, but Mr. Martin is able to keep it together. He does provide an appendix with a listing of the names and relationships of the royal houses. I might have used it if I had known it was there, but I was not lost without it. As in many multi-person point-of-view novels there are certain characters a reader can relate to better than the others, and this novel is no different. I will say that one of the character’s stories I liked least in this novel, became one of the more intriguing stories in the second book.

I praise Martin on his attention to detail to the world he created. The tools, weapons, homes, clothing, food and other items appear to be based on technology from the middle ages. Everything is very functional, machines and weapons make sense, no item are hard to understand. Also the elements of magic and fantasy are very subtle at first, helping keep the novel grounded in reality. Only slowly does mystical elements insert themselves into the story. However, the story never takes on (so far) a fantasy novel flair.

I enjoy maps in books, but found that I had to frequently use the map in this book as the characters are always moving or talking about some other city or place where something happened or was happening. I'm on the fourth book and still have to refer to the maps to figure out where the characters are.

A Clash of Kings and Storm of Swords maintain the same level of detail, creativity and excitement as the first. However, the fourth book, A Feast of Crows disappointed me because only one of my favorite characters was in it and even then she went down an uninteresting path in this book. The rest of my favorite characters were completely absent from this novel. Martin says at the end of Feast of Crows that all of the other characters' concurrent stories will be told in the next book. To read a 1000 page novel without my favorite characters, then read another 1000 pages before I get back to the characters I just read about, is something I'm not happy about.

The books are really good reads, but they are very long.