A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin

Sorry about the obscenely long time between posts. Last semester was very difficult, and while I did read a few books I didn't really have time to write blog posts, and I doubt I'll be able to next semester either :/ I will certainly try to though! One of my New Years resolutions is to be more productive and procrastinate less, so we'll see... On to the review!

Novel: A Game of Thrones, written by George R. R. Martin

It's Like: Lord of the Rings mixed with Eragon might be the best parallel.

Summary: Wow, this is going to be difficult without spoilers... Alright, here it goes. Eddard Stark, the Lord of Winterfell, is asked by the king and very close friend, Robert Baratheon, to become "the hand of the King," which basically means that he will run the kingdom while Robert plays the figurehead. Though Eddard has qualms, he accepts the position and leaves his home for the south with some of his children--his wife (Catelyn) and the rest of his children stay. And from there, everything goes down hill, in the style that Martin has perfected.

Notes:

• Whenever I hear the name "George R. R. Martin," I immediately think of "J.R.R. Tolkien," probably because they both have the "R.R."s. I know that Martin holds Tolkien in high regards and that can be sensed throughout A Game of Thrones. The main difference between the two is that while Martin is a great writer, he doesn't focus on description of characters and scenery, at least to the extent that Tolkien does, probably because each individual book from A Song of Ice and Fire is approximately the same length as the entirety of Lord of the Rings... I personally love Tolkien's pages upon pages of description, but I wouldn't say that the lack of such writing in A Game of Thrones detracts from the novel's overall quality.
• A Game of Thrones is quite long, and while I can usually sit for hours reading, I sometimes felt like I had to stop reading after a few hours because there was so much going on with so many characters and subplots. Now I'm not saying that it isn't an interesting and intriguing story line, because it is! It was just a lot to handle for an extended period of time. 
• Along those same lines, the number of characters is INSANE. It takes a while to learn all of them, but its not too difficult to remember the ones that are important (though "Tyrion" and "Tywin" got me for a while). If you get desperate, there is an Appendix in the back with all of the houses and main families. Or make your own list! Lots of effort but honestly it would probably be worth it.
• I love how Martin splits up the story between people, though sometimes I would flip forward, desperate to find the next time that character spoke. I really like the third-person-somewhat-omniscient because you get the thoughts of the character currently speaking and a lot of their personality, but you don't have the limited perspective of first-person or first-person bias.

Recommendation: I would say that this book is certainly not for everyone. There are "adult themes," if you catch my drift, as well as "fantasy themes," which are some people find more difficult to handle... :) But if you are responsible adult that enjoys interesting and intense fantasy novels and spending hours on end wrapped in a book, then you seriously need to read Game of Thrones, like right now.