A review by saramarie08
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

3.0

There are a LOT of characters to keep track of, and the author does try to give some hints as to where their storylines left off the last time. There are also many different regions that seem disconnected throughout the first novel, which I assume he make connected in later books. There is a lot of back-and-forth feel to the novel because of how much jumping around there is. Each chapter is focused on a different character, and really told from their viewpoints. Some chapters go back to previous characters, but there's not a pattern to this at all. Characters are a very important part of stories for me, and I don't feel this story had very many redeemable characters. I was frustrated by the amount of back-stabbing and lying that went on, which could be an allegory of modern politics in any country, but there seemed to be only a few minor characters that I could set my hopes on, and they were thwarted at every move. There is also absolutely no resolution within the first book, forcing readers to continue to read the series. Unlike other adventure series, such as Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series, this book is not meant to stand alone at all, which also somewhat frustrates me. The writing is fluid and very well done, especially if you are as interested as the author in what each character is wearing at any given time. The book is full of descriptions of all kinds, and no one could accuse Martin of having "talking heads"- a term a prof. of mine once used to explain the phenomenon around not describing characters as they are conversing with one another.