5 stars for A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire book 1) by George R. R. Martin |《Reread》.
I always relish in-between books; the infinite possibilities with all the wonders one may have at the fingertips. Well, that is until I settle down on the one book. But then, there is just so much to it. It gets on my nerve when one week or three pass and I have yet to find that one book. By then, the thoughts of reading A Song of Ice and Fire series are no longer fleeting but taking root. It is actually something I have been thinking of since last year. But to read the series, I will have to reread this long joyride of more than 800 pages of a book 1 A Game of Thrones since I have forgotten bulk of the story and badly in need of a refresher to the many characters. Perhaps that is what has been holding me back from reading this series. But no books fancy me at the moment, so I take it as a sign. A Game of Thrones, it shall be.
As I go on this perilous journey of revisiting the Iron Throne, the Seven Kingdoms, Dragonstone and King's Landing, I realize I have not totally forsaken the devils in the details. Ha. Hidden away in the dim recesses of my mind are bits and pieces of the story, the plot, the development and the characters. I feel as if I am visiting an old friend and the feeling's not only wonderful and welcoming but fill me with nostalgia. I certainly did not expect this but I actually enjoy this second visit more so than my first as I gain insight from the finer details best absorbed from a second reading.
Honor, glory, loyalty, faith, courage, truth and lies. All are seen and felt and told through the eyes of different characters, mostly the Starks of Winterfell. There is Eddard Stark (Ned), Lord of Winterfell and his wife Lady Catelyn and their children - Sansa, Arya, Bran and Jon. Interestingly, the author leaves out the Stark's first trueborn son Robb and instead assigns the same unfolding of events in third person perspective to two other characters. They are the dwarf from House Lannister, Tyrion, also called the Imp, and Daenerys, a thirteen-year-old girl descendant from the old dynasty House Targaryen.
For a story that rest heavily on signs and dreams and omens and godswood and prayers, this one has it all panned out and truly well. Indeed, the significance to each and every one of the signs is there if you know where to look.
For a book that has no lack of characters and yet more added with every few chapters or so, I am impressed with the details and efforts taken to name them aptly. Brilliant I will say. One can easily infer much from the name of a character or a House and their sigil and location in the Realm. To name but a few, House Lannister of Casterly Rock brings forth a House that is not only powerfully rock solid but comes across as sinister as well, and the commander of the City Watch, Janos Slynt, makes me think of a man who is nothing but sly from head to toes. And I will not want to get on the wrong side of a knight, one with a name such as Ser Alliser Thorne.
Signs and names aside, I will say I still dread coming to that part of the story which I remember as vividly as if I have read it yesterday instead of eight years ago. The shock of it reverberated through my entire being still. But there is also beauty in it for not many authors are willing to kill off their characters. Authors who dare to do away with characters, big or small, are oft not burdened by baggage and have the leeway to explore and move on to greater things.
A Game of Thrones. The start of an epic saga to which the player wins or dies; there is no middle ground. Read it yourself to find out who lives and who dies in this game of thrones.
Publisher: Voyager; paperback / softback edition
Publication date: 6 Jan 2003
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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.
*Blurb from Goodreads*
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