Like many I have watched the hugely popular television series ‘A Game of Thrones,’ except that I have viewed the the first two seasons on DVD and not on Pay TV as it is currently in Australia. With that said, I am an entire season behind most who have watched via Pay TV/Cable. Of course there are aspects of the series that I could do without, but overall I have enjoyed watching the show, which brought me to the point of wanting to read the books behind it. This is the first novel in the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series and the only one I have read so far. I was expeting it to be quite different to the television series, yet the reality was that it wasn’t too different at all, which I was pleased to see – unlike The Hunger Games, the Jason Bourne novels, etc.

This is a fantasy novel, with inspiration taken from Middle Ages England. Yet there is much about Westeros that is different to England in the Middle Ages. You have a fantastical plethora of difference with the presence of White Walkers, magical intrusions, fire-breathing dragons and more. Yet the intrigue, the weaponry, the buildings and more reminds one of Middle Ages England. It is a setting one can picture from our past, yet it is also a setting that cannot be imagined in our past, except that past be some alternative universe featuring powers and beings beyond our own reality.

There is much in this novel not to like, particularly in the natures of many of the characters about whom the novel is about. Yet it is a novel that is so very easy to read and carries you along and into this world of incredible adventure and herosim, yet so full of moral corruption and violence. There is always some surprise in the plot of the novel (unless you have seen the television series of course) and usually just when you think you know what the result of a certain action or actions will be.

It is difficult to write too much here without giving the game away, though I suspect that most people who would want to view the television series have done so by now. This novel captures the attention and runs with it. It is difficult to put the book (or ebook reader) down and very easy to get caught up in the world that is ‘A Game of Thrones.’ When the novel ends, it leaves you wanting to go straight on to the next in the series and that is perhaps one of its strengths – especially for marketing purposes. It is not a stand alone work, but the first in a series of fantasy novels in which the plot is constantly developing. It’s a great read.

I think I would give it 4 out of 5 as a rating.

Buy this book at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GJXQ20