A Game of Thrones

Title: A Game of Thrones
Author: George R. R. Martin
Published: 1996, this edition (Voyager) in 2003. Or so it says.
Genre: High backstabbing fantasy, motherduckers.
Pages: 807

…it was a pound off the price at Forbidden Planet in London, and I’d just seen the TV show. Of bloody course I bought it.

One more party I’m kinda late arriving at, but since the fifth book (of seven?) just came out, I’ve plenty of time to catch up. I’ve been more or less avoiding fantasy-fantasy for about a decade, but this book/series is giving me faith in the genre again. This is the kinda shit I wish I’d be able to write. Backstabbings, utter bastard characters, those who seem like utter bastards but aren’t, and anyone can die. And stay dead.

So, as many must know by now, this is the first part of the Song of Ice and Fire –series. It follows a bunch of people in a medieval-type fantasy world, where dragons are dead, courts are corrupt, dwarves are schemy, young boys dream of glory, scary things move in the night, and so forth. A not-so special setting, compared to many fantasy books, but I really like how Martin is handling this epic, and the direction where it’s going. Even when it suddenly makes a complete 180 in direction.

“In the game of thrones, you win or you die.”