A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: A GAME OF THRONES by George R.R. Martin

There are two things I love about rainy days. One, it makes the otherwise hot weather cool. Two, it gives me an excuse to stay snuggled up in bed and read, and what better rainy-day read is there than the 800-page novel that you've had to wait ages to read? That, for me, is George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, the first in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

I was first introduced to the book series by my older brother, who is a fan of the HBO miniseries. Like all bookworms, I wanted to read the book first. Sadly, there was an ongoing war at home over who gets to read the book first. Out of the six of us in the family, I am the third to read this.

When it comes to literature, I devour fantasy novels. I love reading about magic, new worlds, epic battles, strange creatures, and all that jazz. Luckily, A Game of Thrones has all that.

Needless to say, I enjoyed reading this book immensely. The story is definitely action-packed. The range of characters is very diverse and the book has the right amount medieval other-worldliness to be a complete nerd explosion.

The book is told from the third person limited point-of-view of eight major characters: Eddard "Ned" Stark, his wife Catelyn Stark, their daughters Sansa and Arya, their son Bran, Ned's illegitimate son Jon, the queen's brother Tyrion Lannister, and the princess-in-hiding Daenerys Targaryen. This method of narration allowed for a full telling of the story, which was needed considering the interdependence of the different characters's story lines, but led to the occasional muddling and dragging of certain parts of the book. There were also some parts of the different character story lines that I felt the book, in its entirety, could have done without, and I'm not just talking about the sex.

The different character stories make the plot very intricate, but not without a price. Some of the characters's stories were better and more interesting than that of the other characters. For example, I definitely enjoyed reading about Jon and Daenerys more than about Catelyn and Sansa. On the positive note, it was very interesting to see the different events happening from different sides of the story.

The characters of the book were very interesting. All characters had their own flaws, making them remarkably human (despite the fact that some weren't all that human). Even upright and honorable characters had their flaws. Not all characters were given the chance to develop as well as others, a plague all books of this length and range seem to have, but the ones that George R.R. Martin focused on developed well. Some of characters were unlikable, but, like in life, we cannot expect to like everyone.

I'd give this book 5 out of 5 stars. This book has its flaws, but I believe that the good points definitely make up for its bad ones. Now, I can watch the miniseries on HBO and be a fangirl!

Until always,

Lemonjuicesodapop