A Game of Thrones

A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1

By: George R.R. Martin

Narrated by: Roy Dotrice

Length: 33 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Now the acclaimed HBO series Game of Thrones - the masterpiece that became a cultural phenomenon

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.

©1996 George R.R. Martin, (P)2003 Books On Tape, Inc., published in arrangement with Random House Audio Group,a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Locus Award, 1997

"Martin's trophy case is already stuffed with major prizes...He's probably going to have to add another shelf, at least." (Publishers Weekly)

"The first volume in Martin's first fantasy saga combines intrigue, action, romance, and mystery in a family saga." (Booklist)

"Grabs hold and won't let go. It's brilliant." (Robert Jordan)

"This novel is an absorbing combination of the mythic, the sweepingly historical, and the intensely personal." (Chicago Sun-Times)

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Best 1st book to a series in my life!

Loved it! Couldn't stop reading! Loved the multiple perspectives! Great performance! George is #1!!! Phenomenal!!

Great book! Great series! Bad narrator...

The book:

I have these books in print, and have already read them once. The books themselves are fantastic. The author weaves the tales of each character together masterfully. If you're a fan of the HBO series coming you this, you won't be disappointed. The first book and the first season are so close you could skip this one and not miss a thing, but I still recommend giving it a go; if not for a refresher, then to appreciate the subtle nuances of the characters and situations that can't make it into film.


The narrator:

Roy Dotrice has an incredibly dry and unvarying voice that seems to turn the best of tales into sleeping spells. This is the second chance I've given him. The first being "The World of Ice and Fire." I decided to give him this second chance because "The World of Ice and Fire," itself, is largely very dry, but now I'm considering getting this one in print to see if it might not be as bad as it seemed.
It is often difficult to distinguish who is speaking since the narrator has only around 4-5 different voicings for different characters 2-3 of which are recycled far more than the rest. One of these is used for every female in the entire book, and is also the only one that doesn't sound like a tired old man who is half out of breath; this one sounds like a tired old woman.


Overall:

I highly recommend the "Song of Ice and Fire" series, whether you're coming from the show or an outsider looking to see what all the fuss is about, and this isn't the worst way to approach it if book time must be delegated to a secondary task. However, it is still far from the best way to consume it. If you have even 20 minutes a day to sit down with a book then buy yourself a hard copy. I'd be willing to bet that before long, you'll be trying to scrape together more time to sit with it.

DISCLAIMER: If you're a truck driver, or any other kind of driver, looking to fill countless hours at the wheel with something interesting, look elsewhere! This audiobook is far more tedious than Kansas ever thought of being, and it will inevitably put you to sleep.

Excellent & Exciting

I am a huge fan of this series. If you enjoy the HBO adaptation of this so you are in for a treat. The book is so much better than the series, it has so much more detail. The narration is amazing. I truly enjoyed the narrator voice, It is completely subversive.

They were right...

I didn't expect it to live up to the hype, but they were right, it's an excellent book and series.

Nothing that hasn't been said already...

What made the experience of listening to A Game of Thrones the most enjoyable?

Not having to read an 800+ page book, and being able to read this series during commutes to and from work.

What other book might you compare A Game of Thrones to and why?

The only other non-trilogy book series I've read is Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. I think George R.R. Martin's Fire and Ice series is already off to a much better start than Dark Tower, only because Marin writes every scene with purpose. With King it can get frustrating because he adds a lot of "fluff" and sometimes you never know why certain things were added into a scene, or what is driving a character's motivations or dialogue.

So far I've been quite pleased with F&I and am eager to continue on in the series.

What about Roy Dotrice’s performance did you like?

He did a great job on having different accents for the various characters...and there were plenty of them!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No extreme reactions, but very dramatic and well written.

Any additional comments?

Although lengthy, I felt that Game of Thrones was great start-to-finish. Without going into details or spoilers, I thought each character was developed in an excellent manner and there was never a story arc that felt rushed or out-of-place.

I also have to admit that I was apprehensive to begin the series since most of the low-rated reviews indicated that the sex, language, and violence was gratuitous. I did not feel this way at all. There was little-to-no vulgar language and nothing perverse or offensive. After watching the HBO series, there is (for some strange reason) a large amount of unnecessary language and nudity that is not part of the book.

I'm eager to press on in the series and felt that every page added to the overall story.

Pros: Every written word has purpose to the story and there is not any "fluff" that some authors use, just to add more pages.
Cons: The very end of the story (which I won't go into to avoid spoilers), but none really.
Bottom line: an excellent beginning to a series that I am eager to read more about.

Amazing

i love game of thrones and actually going through the book was great. The reader did a fantastic job at setting scenes and giving you a visual of the characters.

Great Book, Great Narrator

The Narrator had great accents and even sounded as if he kind of acted things out, like if the book said the character swallowed nervously, you could hear a pause as he swallowed. Those kind of things were occasionally distracting, but I was still very drawn into the story. However, the story is so intriguing that I would have been drawn in even with a less engaging voice. It is a tad slow at first, and it can be hard to keep all the various characters and their stories straight, but once you can, you're hooked. I would think "Oh good, I wanted to know what happened next with this guy!" every time the narrator announced the name of the character we were about to follow. My only reason for taking off a star is the graphic nature of the story. It's known for its incest, especially with the TV show out (which I haven't seen) but I prefer to avoid descriptions as detailed as they were, even when it wasn't incest. :)

Great and enjoyable audio book!

Where does A Game of Thrones rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It rates very high. I have the book already but wanted to get an audio book I knew I would enjoy and was not disappointed.

What did you like best about this story?

The story is thoroughly enjoyable with well developed characters and great pacing.

What about Roy Dotrice’s performance did you like?

The performance was of a very high standard. He was able to give each character their particular personality and bring the story to life for me.

AWESOME!!!!!

Excellent narration of the mosr outstanding story of an awsome world by a magnificent storyteller!