Book 14: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

This series has become very popular lately, no doubt due to the new HBO series based on the books.  I know a couple of people who absolutely love these books and can't stop talking about them.  I also know a couple people who say they're crap.  I guess we'll find out which side I agree with in about a week.

807 pages!?  Ouch... that's about 116 pages a day.  Hope it's good, 'cause that could be painful otherwise.

REVIEW:  This book was a little hard to get through.  As the first book of a long series, it took a long time to get up to speed.  About 500 of it's 800 pages were, essentially, an introduction to the characters and locations involved in the story.  Once it does get going, however, it became much more interesting.

It is definitely a fantasy novel, but written very realistically.  There is little magic and a lot of the action is political in nature.  The Game of Thrones are basically the political machinations of the half-dozen or so lords and their King.  The story is as epic as The Lord of the Rings, or perhaps even more so, but far grittier, rough and bloody.  It is a no-holds-barred look at war in a medieval setting with all the death, destruction, rape, pillaging and burning that implies.

I have really only a few complaints about the book.  First, the story is very dark and gets darker throughout the book.  It could do with a bit of humor or some other respite to help lighten the mood.  Secondly, it is an extremely well detailed story... Martin doesn't omit any little detail in his descriptions of people, places or plots.  While it nice to see someone write his story so thoroughly, it bogs down the story quite a bit and makes it harder to read than necessary.  Finally, I'd like to see him tone down the sex a bit.  I'm no prude, but there is a LOT of sex in the book, consensual sex, incestuous sex, rape, you name it.  There is usually a reason for it, so it's not exactly gratuitous sex, but it's very close to pornographic in sections.

Rich and complex, realistic and gritty this book still suffered a bit from a slow start.  I'd give it about an 7 out of 10.