Volume 1 of A Song of Ice and Fireby George R.R. Martin, 694 pages
I started this a while ago on a friend's recommendation, but got distracted. With Sean Bean starring in the debut of the HBO tv series, I had more incentive to finish it, and I am glad I did.
Martin has created vivid settings and varied cultures, and a byzantine plot line. The Tudors and Borgias don't have anything on the corrupt rulers of the Lannister family. Opposite them you have the flawed but compelling characters of the Stark family, Lords of Winterfell in the icy North. One of the Stark mottoes is Winter Is Coming, which doesn't quite evoke the dire warning it is. In the Seven Kingdoms, the seasons can last a dozen years or more. As the novel opens, summer is waning, and winter is coming.
Someone told me that Martin was inspired by the War of the Roses in Britain, and the houses names sound similar, Lannister for Lancaster and Stark for York. The armies clash, plots are hatched, rulers dispatched while up in the far north beyond The Wall, a malevolent force is on the move...south.
I enjoyed the complexity of the plot--you are never sure which characters will prove true-hearted or not. I am already into the next book, A Clash of Kings. One warning: the series isn't finished yet, and Martin is famed for keeping his fans waiting....and waiting.
Martin has created vivid settings and varied cultures, and a byzantine plot line. The Tudors and Borgias don't have anything on the corrupt rulers of the Lannister family. Opposite them you have the flawed but compelling characters of the Stark family, Lords of Winterfell in the icy North. One of the Stark mottoes is Winter Is Coming, which doesn't quite evoke the dire warning it is. In the Seven Kingdoms, the seasons can last a dozen years or more. As the novel opens, summer is waning, and winter is coming.
Someone told me that Martin was inspired by the War of the Roses in Britain, and the houses names sound similar, Lannister for Lancaster and Stark for York. The armies clash, plots are hatched, rulers dispatched while up in the far north beyond The Wall, a malevolent force is on the move...south.
I enjoyed the complexity of the plot--you are never sure which characters will prove true-hearted or not. I am already into the next book, A Clash of Kings. One warning: the series isn't finished yet, and Martin is famed for keeping his fans waiting....and waiting.
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