A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Release Date: August 6, 1996
Publisher: Spectra
Pages: 864
Source: Purchased for Kindle
Rating:  
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

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. 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. – Goodreads

Review:
After having watched two episodes of the HBO series, I was hooked and in the need of more. The idea of picking up the book seemed very daunting, though. Not only is A Game of Thrones massive in length, which is a problem due to my short attention span, but it’s also fantasy, a genre I hadn’t quite dipped my toes in yet.

The book took me eight weeks to finish with me reading other material in between. The show kept ahead of my reading, but I managed to wrap up right before the finale. Even though the show obviously “spoiled” events in the book for me, I actually found this to be a helpful form of motivation; I wanted to finish faster and know what happened in the conclusion.

For some reason I expected a more complex writing style, making for a surprise by the ease I found instead. There were passages that I did find to be dry, and I wished for more emotional impact to some of the events taking place but, again, I was surprised that it did keep pulling me back in.

My favorite characters differ from the book to show a bit. The Stark family is amazing, with Arya being my favorite character in both, but I feel that the show allowed for a better grasp on the rest of her family. For example, Robb Stark quickly climbed up on my list in the later episodes, but I didn’t get quite the same feeling in the source material. It’s the same for someone like Cersei — by no means is she a favorite of mine, but I felt like I better understood her motivations on the screen adaptation.

Another surprise from the two is how close the television show stuck to the source material. Of course, there are a few differences, but considering that the entire book was adapted into only ten episodes, it’s shocking that they didn’t deviate more. The HBO adaptation did an excellent job of having my hate for Joffrey carry over, so that right there shows how well of a job they did.

Would I recommend the show? Yes, definitely. Would I recommend the book? That depends. In my case, reading and watching (somewhat) simultaneously really helped. I’ve started A Clash of Kings already and my hopes are that I will finish up the books before season two begins next year. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing where the story continues after the final events in this first book.