A Game of Thrones

Notes From Your Bookseller

Any lover of the fantasy genre should read A Game of Thrones, the first in A Song of Ice and Fire series. Martin’s writing is a force of nature, pulling you into the world of Westeros and the feuding families. Beneath it all, however, is the imminent threat of creatures who were long thought of as myths.

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Winter is coming. Such is the stern motto of House Stark, the northernmost of the fiefdoms that owe allegiance to King Robert Baratheon in far-off King’s Landing. There Eddard Stark of Winterfell rules in Robert’s name. There his family dwells in peace and comfort: his proud wife, Catelyn; his sons Robb, Brandon, and Rickon; his daughters Sansa and Arya; and his bastard son, Jon Snow. Far to the north, behind the towering Wall, lie savage Wildings and worse–unnatural things relegated to myth during the centuries-long summer, but proving all too real and all too deadly in the turning of the season.

Yet a more immediate threat lurks to the south, where Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, has died under mysterious circumstances. Now Robert is riding north to Winterfell, bringing his queen, the lovely but cold Cersei, his son, the cruel, vainglorious Prince Joffrey, and the queen’s brothers Jaime and Tyrion of the powerful and wealthy House Lannister–the first a swordsman without equal, the second a dwarf whose stunted stature belies a brilliant mind. All are heading for Winterfell and a fateful encounter that will change the course of kingdoms.

Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Prince Viserys, heir of the fallen House Targaryen, which once ruled all of Westeros, schemes to reclaim the throne with an army of barbarian Dothraki–whose loyalty he will purchase in the only coin left to him: his beautiful yet innocent sister, Daenerys.

Editorial Reviews

„The major fantasy of the decade . . . compulsively readable.“-Denver Post

„We have been invited to a grand feast and pageant: George R.R. Martin has unveiled for us an intensely realized, romantic but realistic world.“-Chicago Sun-Times

„A Best Book of 1996: Martin makes a triumphant return to high fantasy . . . [with] superbly developed characters, accomplished prose, and sheer bloodymindedness.“-Publishers Weekly, starred review

„A splendid saga . . . . Inventive and intricately plotted.“-BookPage

„Magic . . . George R.R.Martin’s first fantasy epic [is set] well above the norms of the genre.“-Locus

„Such a splendid tale and such a fantasticorical! I read my eyes out and couldn’t stop ’til I finished and it was dawn.“-Anne McCaffrey
– From the Publisher

The first installment in the engrossing fantasy epic series, A Song of Ice and Fire, opens on a rigid feudal society in a world where the seasons are unpredictable–pleasant summers can last a decade and cruel winters could be scores of years long–creating a hardened and durable people. Up against the ice wall that separates the barbarians and mysterious wild things from civilization, the Stark family has held the north for generations. As the King’s Hand, Stark must protect the king whose enemies covet the throne, and the most dangerous of these might be the queen and her family, the Lanisters. While the intricate, compelling story is told in many voices from many perspectives, Tony and Emmy award-winning narrator Roy Dotrice doesn’t attempt to perform each of the hundreds of characters. Only occasionally using a different accent or intensity, the tale unfolds in the gruff voice of an old master storyteller enthralling an audience at a hearth. With his British accent and straightforward narration, Dotrice adds a ominous sense of intrigue and doom to the dark and fascinating tale. A Bantam paperback. (Apr.)
– Publishers Weekly