Game of Thrones

I have to preface this review by letting you know that I have seen the first three seasons of the HBO television series based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, so I knew what to expect for deaths and twists before I finally read this book.Before I had heard anything about the HBO series, several people had asked if I had read A Game of Thrones and once I said I hadn't, it was immediately suggested I check it out since I am such a big fantasy nerd. I got myself a copy of the first book and did start reading it getting around 100 pages into the book. I was rather disappointed and bored with it that first time. Besides the mystery of north of the Wall, the Walkers, and the Others there was very little fantasy element that appealed to me. Yes, the story is set in medieval world not our own and there are direwolves and mentions of dragons and is therefore a fantasy series, but there was no magic system and the lack of magic rather bored me. So I set the book aside.Sometime later I watched the first season of the HBO series and found myself hanging on the storyline dying to know what happens next and each time I watched another season I felt the same way. I found myself constantly picking up the book and buying the other books of the series when I came across them because I wanted to read ahead of the television series, but I just couldn't get through the first book - in fact, every time I picked it up I never got more than a few chapters into it. This past fall I suggested running a read along for anyone else that needed the encouragement and company of other people pushing through the thick tome and several of us ended up tackling it just after Christmas (several are still reading it).I am a fast reader, but it took me about half a month to read this book. (And it has really stuck in my craw that it took me so damn long to read this book.) I admit that part of the reason that I may not have been as invested in the book may have been because I knew what was going to happen. I did find that having seen the series and become so familiar with the characters, it was much easier to keep track of the large cast in this game of thrones.The book was slow going for me especially when taken into account my original attempt to read it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it on screen so I felt that overall, book AND tv series taken into account, A Game of Thrones rated four stars. I do plan to continue reading the series and hope to read the fourth and fifth books before I see the show to really get an idea of how I feel about the writing itself.

There were too many character POVS and internal monologues for me