A Game of Thrones

I haven't seen the popular TV show and I was unsure about reading the book. I'm glad I did. I'll probably read more in the series.

There are lots of characters and they have unfamiliar names. At first I had trouble keeping them straight but by the time I was well into the story it wasn't a problem any more. There is not protagonist, but there is perhaps a protagonist family, the Starks. A Game of Thrones is a story of intrigue and treachery, belligerence and valor, among aristocratic families in a medieval-like realm, with knights and kings and lords and ladies. The highest technology is the creation of swords of good steel. There is a climax of sorts, but at the end of the book it's clear there is a lot more to come. I'm not sure how many book there are in the series but they must comprise thousands of pages. A Game of Thrones is very long. Despite the length, Martin's prose is engaging and the story never lags.

It is a fantasy book in that it is a fictional culture in a fictional land. It reminded me of European culture of a thousand years ago, the Scots or the Vikings or the Goths. There are no supernatural beings or magic until the very end, when we see our fist dragons.