BOOK REVIEW | A GAME OF THRONES (A SONG OF ICE & FIRE #1) BY GEORGE R.R. MARTIN

"A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge" 

-George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones)

Title: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1)
Author: George R.R. Martin
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Pages: 704
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date Published: May 28, 2002 (First published: January 1, 1996)
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780553381689
Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis

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 and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is 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 wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
  
My Review
I started this series really thinking I wasn't going t like it. I thought it was going to be boring and long and confusing. I couldn't have been more wrong. This story really got me thinking. George R.R. Martin really did a number on me. He found a way to make me understand this complex world and the people in it so well that I didn't even realize all the details he was giving me throughout the story that would click and make sense later. 

We follow quite a few people. Basically the main groups are the Starks of Winterfell and the Lannisters who are the bad guys and off in a far off land the Targaryens. You see so much drama unfold its almost too much to handle. You follow the three different families as their paths cross as people die and their secrets come out. 

I really enjoyed this first book in this series. I learned so much about each character and what they are made of. They've all been tested and I can't wait to see the outcome of their choices in the next book. It is pretty graphic so I'd only recommend this book to adults.