A Game of Thrones
Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel 1997. World Fantasy Award nominee 1997, Nebula Award nominee 1997.
From a master of contemporary fantasy comes a novel of imaginative power unlike any you've ever read before. In A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has created a genuine masterpiece, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill the pages of this magnificent saga, the first volume in an epic series sure to delight fantasy fans everywhere.
A GAME OF THRONES
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 advisor 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 enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal, a tribe of fierce wildings carry men off into madness, a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne, a child is lost in the twilight between life and death, and a determined woman undertakes a treacherous journey to protect all she holds dear. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, allies and enemies, the fate of the Starks hangs perilously in the balance, as each side endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
Unparalleled in scope and execution, A Game of Thrones is one of those rare reading experiences that catch you up from the opening pages, won't let you go until the end, and leave you yearning for more.
”George Martin is assuredly a new master craftsman in the guild of heroic fantasy.” – KATHERINE KERR
”The keen and complex human characters and the convincing force of their surroundings operate as magic... setting George R. R. Martin's first fantasy epic well above the norms of the genre.” – LOCUS
”Offers the rich tapestry that the very best fantasy demands... few created worlds are as imaginative and diverse.” – JANNY WURTS
”A vast, rich saga, with splendid characters and an intricate plot flawlessly articulated against a backdrop of real depth and texture.” – KIRKUS REVIEWS
”A dazzling fantasy adventure... with a great cast of characters that weave a tapestry of court intrigue, skullduggery, vicious betrayal and greathearted sacrifice.” – JULIAN MAY
George R. R. Martin
George Raymond Richard Martin (born 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey), is an American author and screenwriter of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. He majored from Norhwestern University in 1970.
Martin sold his first science fiction story in 1971 and has been writing professionally since then. He spent ten years in Hollywood as a writer-producer, working on various television series and feature films. In the mid ‘90s he returned to prose, his first love, and began work on his epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. He has been in the Seven Kingdoms ever since. Whenever he’s allowed to leave, he returns to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives with lovely Parris, and two cats named Augustus and Caligula, who think they run the place.
A Song of Ice and Fire
George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series has set the benchmark for contemporary epic fantasy. Martin has conjured a world as complex and vibrant as that of J. R. R. Tolkien’s, populated by a huge cast of fascinating, complex characters, and boasting a history that stretches back twelve thousand years.
Three great storylines weave through the books, charting the civil war for control of the Seven Kingdoms; the defence of the towering Wall of ice in the uttermost north against the unearthly threat of the Others; and across the Narrow Sea the rise to power of Daenerys Targaryen and the last live dragons in the world.
A Song of Ice and Fire consists of five primary works, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads, and the series is set to expand with the upcoming release of two more books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Related series A Song of Ice and Fire (related works)
Related series A Song of Ice and Fire: The Graphic Novels
Related series A Targaryen History
Related series The Targaryan Dynasty
Book Reviews
It's difficult to find enough words to praise this book and the whole series, because George R.R. Martin has managed to create a perfect fantasy series. All I can say is that A Game of Thrones is a unique fantasy book and it's difficult to find similar books. I've read many fantasy books and I like all kinds of fantasy books, but there are certain books which are clearly above all other books. This book is one of those books. The complexity and richness of the characters and the events is truly amazing. If you're not familiar with this book, you should buy it. You won't regret it. A Game of Thrones is an unforgettable reading experience.