Reviews

Juego de Tronos by George R.R. Martin

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horchataenjoyer's review against another edition

4.0

This is my review for books 1-3 all together:

They're extraordinarily well-written, far beyond the usual standards of the fantasy genre. With that being said, I think they're also a little bit overrated, and they're definitely self-indulgent. You can tell that often a scene seems to exist only because Martin wanted to write about some cruelty or betrayal that tickled his fancy, and it gets to be a slog by the fifth time someone is blinded and castrated, or whatever.

ollie_isnt_tired's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

moonunforgiven's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

tloughlin91's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sams84's review against another edition

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5.0

I'm rather glad I waited for all the popularity of this to die down a bit before I started reading this so I can just focus on the books and nothing else (in case you haven't guessed, I haven't seen the TV series). Martin is a superb story teller and weaves deep complex characters with a mixture of epic battles, subtle conspiracy and dragons into an utterly gripping opening novel. I varied in my feelings with some of the characters so much it was almost too much, while there are others that are clearly developed to be hated, while others are there to be loved, and in traditional Martin style, lost in dramatic and very unfriendly ways. Martin combines familiar aspects of real world history, politics, family feuds and the like with myth and magic creating a story that is both familiar and comfortable and yet strange and fantastical. And it has dragons, you can never go wrong with dragons. I am thoroughly looking forward to the arm ache I'm going to get reading the rest of the series.