Lady Danielle

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” 

If you'd asked me earlier this year about my thoughts on A Game of Thrones, I would have told you it's boring; however, my thoughts, opinions, and feelings are entirely different now since I pushed myself to finish this. Worth it.

I can speak for [almost] everybody when I say fantasy is the best genre to read to get lost in another world entirely different from our own -- especially the long fantasies since one could savour it a little more... A Game of Thrones is one of those long fantasies people should read. 

However, please be careful when looking at the shelves people put it on (i.e. dragons). There's some talk of dragons, but they're not present. This book mainly treads through exactly what the front of the cover says: a game of thrones. This is about ownership, wars, allegiance, betrayal, and long, long, discussions about heirs to the throne. You read about the Lannisters, Starks, Tullys, and other important surnames as well as their mottos. You read about the Seven Kingdoms. Magic slowly -- very, very slowly -- creeps its way into A Game of Thrones. This book is mainly about characters. I promise you, it's not as boring as I'm making it out to be. Due to the fact these are long fantasies and there are going to be 7 books in this series, I understand why A Game of Thrones is incredibly slow. The characters must be introduced.

When I put this book on hold at the library, my position in the "holds" queue was 100. Yes, 100. I waited patiently; once I received this, I started reading and couldn't let this book go. I read up to page 546 and had to return it because other people were waiting to read this and I couldn't renew it -- so I bought the damned 5 book box set. It's pricey, but definitely worth it. I don't regret wasting my money on this series one bit (not to mention the box set/books are really purrrttttyyyy). I'm reading Clash of Kings (book 2) and I'm taking my sweet, sweet time with reading it. I'm not rushed, I don't have to return the book to the library, nothing. I'm very happy.

Now, the characters: Arya, Sansa, Bran, Ned, Catelyn, Tyrion, Jon, and Daenerys. Eight alternating point of views. It's enough to make anyone run in the opposite direction; nevertheless, I found it rather interesting to read about each of these characters (though at times I wanted to fall asleep). I enjoy Tyrion and Daenerys' PoVs the most. 

Let me also add that this book -- at times -- isn't a very nice read: there's rape, incest, and gore in here. There's prostitution and slavery (claiming ownership of people as if they were dogs). Yes, not a very nice book... but it's realistic in a way like the middle ages. A Game of Thrones has that atmosphere. 

I have yet to see the HBO television series everyone's talking about. I mean, I've seen half of the very first episode (and liked it a lot), but I have yet to continue. I think I'm going to watch them once I've finished books 2 - 5.

So many passages I wanted to highlight/save to put it all in this review, but alas, I'm only going to quote a few inspiring ones here:

"... sometimes words can accomplish what swords cannot." (535)

"Most men would deny a hard truth than face it." (105)

"... a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it's to keep its edge." (103)

Brace yourselves when reading this, lads, winter is coming....