Game of Thrones Readalong Post #2, #3, and #4 (full book review)

I didn't finish A Game of Thrones before the final hour of A Winter's Respite Read-a-thon, but if it hadn't had been for the extra push of the read-a-thon I wouldn't have finished it in time for the ending of the read-a-long! (Say that 3 times fast!)

A Game of Thrones is a novel about just what the title says. The story is about the kings (and queens) and how they complete for the Iron Throne. Marion Zimmer Bradley herself says, "It is perhaps the best of the epic fantasies." It is the first book in the series A Song of Ice and Fire. Amazon describes it as "George R.R. Martin's high fantasy weaves a spell sufficient to seduce even those who vowed never to start a doorstopper fantasy series again." This is certainly true because normally I hate this genre!

What makes this novel the best is that the story is told from two different perspectives simultaneously. The first is as a historical account and the second at an intimately personal level. We see what it is like to be a king, the king's hand, a knight, a warrior, a child, and most of all, an outcast. There are so many different points of view in this novel and there is a character in this story that everyone can fall in love with.

What I loved the most about the novel was Martin's stories about the females. Some were weak and forced to submit to their kings, but a few were not only strong, they were heroines. One of my favorite characters was Arya. She is a young princess that preferred wielding a sword over a sewing needle like was proper in her day. Catelyn was a queen who reminded me of Athena in that she wisely offered advice about battle to her son who became the child leader of their army. But the most fascinating woman of the tale, who learns the price of dark magic, is featured on the cover of the book in the photo. Her name is Daenerys. While Daenerys does pay a price for dark magic, it is because of this, the true magic that runs through her blood is awakened. If I were to tell you what kind of magic that was, it would spoil the book.

My only complaint about this incredible book is that since it is a series, the story isn't wrapped up and the loose ends tied neatly. Instead the ending leaves you hungry for more. A Game of Thrones isn't light reading either. At 807 pages (not including the Appendix detailing the family trees) it is truly epic in it's scope. The characters are hard to keep track of at first. Some of the characters you grow to care about do not live. At the middle it started to lag and I grew frustrated, even bored. But then one death comes suddenly and with that death many of the kingdoms spiral into chaos. I think that was what was most fascinating. How one person affected the fate of literally thousands.

The book is called A Game of Thrones, but it does not end with a winner. Instead, you are set up for the next book in the series. It is at the same time frustrating and exhilarating. I especially loved the ending of A Game of Thrones and it left me eager to read the next book in the series.

(For a partial review, see Game of Thrones Readalong Post #1 where I talk a more about the male characters and the tv show.)

My rating

Game of Thrones Readalong Post #1

• January 8: Progress post #1; Pages 1 (Prologue) - 189 (End of Jon)

I didn't quite make it to page 189. I have read up until page 119 but I think I have read enough to give a partial review. I have to admit I was so nervous about this book. I still have bad memories of trying to read Lord of the Rings and feeling so overwhelmed by all the characters, places, and battles that I just gave up.

This book is much easier to follow but not completely easy. I think there are too many characters and the constantly shifting points of view sometimes leaves me baffled. What is surprising though is despite so many characters, there is not a single cardboard, cliche character in the group. Each character is unique and likeable. What's also surprising is there are points of view from men, women, and even children of both genders. I think this is what makes the book so good. One chapter may be from a veteran warrior while the next is told from the point of view of a teenage princess. What can a bit jarring is how young many of the characters are. It's culture shock to read about a thirteen year old girl getting married or a fourteen year old boy preparing to dedicate himself to the life of a chaste warrior.

What surprises me more than anything is that the book is character driven, not plot driven. This is the first fantasy adventure book that I have truly read. I only read a few chapters of Lord of the Rings and since then I think it has been my stereotype of what fantasy adventures are like that has kept me from attempting to read this genre again. I don't want to read page after page describing different battles. It turns out Game of Thrones is nothing like that. While battles and royal politics are certainly part of the plot, Martin's style is the exact opposite of a dry history lesson.

My favorite part in the book so far, and it is probably because I am a girl, was the consummation of the marriage between Khal Drogo and Daenerys. Khal Drogo is a fierce king of a barbaric people that kill and rape without mercy. Daenerys has been betrothed to Khal Drogo by her brother in hopes that Khal Drogo's army will help him regain the throne that was taken from his family. Daenerys is a young innocent teenager and Khal Drogo speaks only one word of Common Tongue and that is the word "no." As a reader, I fully expected Kahl Drogo to just violently take her but instead it was a tender love scene that was better than any Harlequin novel I have ever read.

My biggest complaint is that I don't understand who's story this is. Who is the main character? I think there are two and they are Eddard Stark (Ned) and Jon Snow, but I could be wrong about that. I am truly excited to read the rest of this book and find out. I find myself rooting for Jon to be the hero of the entire book. I always love an underdog.

I am also anxious to watch the HBO series based on the book. I decided to watch the first episode as well. I didn't go any further because I didn't want the book to be spoiled. The first episode pretty much covered all that I had read so far. However, the pacing felt too rushed and there is very little character development. The book is by far better, but aren't they always?

The tv show was different plotwise only in minor ways, but since it's only an hour long so much had to be left out. Far fewer characters are in the show so it is easier to follow, but this actually kind of bored me. Or maybe I was bored because HBO reduces some of them to stereotypical cardboard characters. In the show, the character of the Imp wasn't cardboard but did come off as kind of gimmicky. The tv show also focused on Khal Drogo and Daenerys but completely ruined the love scene because he is violent not tender like in the book.

Sometimes I only understood what was happening because I had read the book. An example is when Daenerys is told "You don't want to unleash the dragon" by her brother. Without the context of the book, you have no clue what this means. I thought there were a few scenes that were more powerful in the show than in the book though. This included when Ned and Robert reunite and when Bran gets injured. Reading about a boy falling and seeing it happen are emotionally two very different things!

Here's more info if you would like to participate in the Game of Thrones readalong:

The December Wolf Hall readalong has inspired me to tackle another long book that I’m scared to start by myself: A Game of Thrones. I loved the show and Kwame loved the book so I asked for volunteers to read it with me this January. The awesome Jenn from Booksessed responded and we’ve decided to get more people involved by hosting a readalong! We’ve spread it over 4 weeks so hopefully we’ll get through it together.

How to Participate:

• Enter your blog site on this post. (If you don’t have a blog, just add a comment and start reading!)
• Optional: Write a post to drag more readers into the fray with us
• Optional: Stick the button in your sidebar! :)

Schedule

(Page numbers from my paperback copy, I’ve put the names down to help you find it in your book but it’s not too important to get it perfect)

• January 1: Reading starts (or has started already)
• January 8: Progress post #1; Pages 1 (Prologue) - 189 (End of Jon)
• January 15: Progress post #2; Pages 190 (Eddard) - 395 (End of Daenerys)
• January 22: Progress post #3; Pages (Bran) 396 - 617 (End of Tyrion)
• January 29: Final progress post; Pages 618 (Sansa) - 807 (End of Daenerys)

Game of Thrones Readalong

In an earlier post I wrote about how I had just bought the book A Game of Thrones. Well guess what? There's a readalong in January hosted by Adventures of 2.0!

Here's more info:

The December Wolf Hall readalong has inspired me to tackle another long book that I’m scared to start by myself: A Game of Thrones. I loved the show and Kwame loved the book so I asked for volunteers to read it with me this January. The awesome Jenn from Booksessed responded and we’ve decided to get more people involved by hosting a readalong! We’ve spread it over 4 weeks so hopefully we’ll get through it together.

How to Participate:

• Enter your blog site on this post. (If you don’t have a blog, just add a comment and start reading!)
• Optional: Write a post to drag more readers into the fray with us
• Optional: Stick the button in your sidebar! :)

Schedule

(Page numbers from my paperback copy, I’ve put the names down to help you find it in your book but it’s not too important to get it perfect)

• January 1: Reading starts (or has started already)
• January 8: Progress post #1; Pages 1 (Prologue) - 189 (End of Jon)
• January 15: Progress post #2; Pages 190 (Eddard) - 395 (End of Daenerys)
• January 22: Progress post #3; Pages (Bran) 396 - 617 (End of Tyrion)
• January 29: Final progress post; Pages 618 (Sansa) - 807 (End of Daenerys)
  

2012 TV Addict Reading Challenge

Belle at Belle's Bookself is hosting a brilliant challenge called the 2012 TV Addict Reading Challenge.

Here's more info:

I watch a lot of TV. The fiancé and I are big fans of box set marathons. At the moment we’re going through Dexter, and when I discovered that it’s based on a book series, it got me thinking about how a LOT of my fave TV shows are based on books. And about how I want to read them. Then, whilst browsing the available challenges on A Novel Challenge, I had a light bulb moment: Why not turn my quest to read the book versions of my fave TV shows into a challenge?

So here it is! The rules are simple (coz I’m not so good at following them myself):

-The challenge runs from January 1 2012 – December 31 2012. The idea is to read the books that TV shows are based on. Where it's a series, read the books that correspond to the TV seasons available (read the whole series if you want to, of course!). What you do from there is up to you: review the books, do book/show comparisons, review the TV shows, do recaps… whatever tickles your fancy!

-Pick the level you want to achieve in this challenge from the list below, create a post on your blog about it and pop it in the sign-up linky! Non-bloggers are welcome to participate too – do your thang in the comments.

-Each month I’ll create a post where you can come and link up your reviews or comment about the books you’ve read/shows you’ve watched as part of the challenge.

-You don’t have to plan in advance what books you’re going to read - though of course you can if you want to! Here are some ideas (let me know if I’ve missed your faves):

•The Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith. There are four books in the original series, plus The Return trilogy and one book in The Hunters trilogy (with two more to come). There’s also Stefan’s Diaries, which are four books (with more to come) based on the TV show. Just to make things easy. Ahem.
•Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepherd. The series currently stands at nine books, with three more to come.
•A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, which Game of Thrones is based on. There are five books out now, with two more coming. There are also six novellas connected to the series.
•Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, which consists of six books.
•­The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, which True Blood is based on. At the moment there are 11 books out in the series, with at least two more to come.
•Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar. There are 13 books in the original series, 10 books in the It Girl spin-off series and four in the follow-up series, The Carlyles.
•Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell.
•The Secret Circle trilogy by L. J. Smith.
•Chief Inspector Barnaby series by Caroline Graham. There are seven books in series, and the first five were the basis for Midsomer Murders.

Challenge levels
1.Single play: Read the books that correspond to ONE TV show.
2.Mini-series: Read the books that correspond to TWO TV shows.
3.Series: Read the books that correspond to THREE TO FOUR TV shows.
4.Soap opera: Read the books that correspond to FIVE OR MORE TV shows.

Since this is my own challenge, I'm going to aim high and go for "soap opera" level. Remember, you don't have to read the whole series to complete the challenge, just the books that correspond to the seasons of the TV show (e.g. the first four books of the Southern Vampire Mysteries, which formed the basis for the four seasons of True Blood that are currently available).

I, Julie, would also like to recommend the many Buffy the Slayer books as well. (I love True Blood and The Vampires Diaries but BtVS beats them both!) And I think I will be doing Level 3: Series.