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)

A Conflicted & Contrarian (Re)View

I read through the other reviews of this book and series a couple of times. The majority of them fall somewhere between very appreciate and rave reviews. In fact, somewhere in the middle of this book, when I considered just giving up, I went back and reread the reviews trying to get a grasp on what all the fuss was about. That was a helpful thing to do, I finished the book and I'm happy that I did.

Pros:

* The narrator (once you get used to his growls and other inflections) is truly excellent and very engaging.

* The plot moves along with good pace and is never entirely predictable. There are several mini-cliffhangers throughout which are entertaining.

Cons:

* Way too much gore for this listener's taste -- both to animals and humans. I did appreciate the fact that these scenes were neither prolonged nor sensationalized.

* Some of the political plotting (liberally mixed in with counter-plots) got a little tedious.

* The story gets off to a rather slow start, which is exacerbated by a long list of characters that need to be introduced (and then remembered by the listener).

Maybe if I were watching the HBO series I would feel more empathy and anticipation. But I'm not watching; and I'm just not empathizing. Bottomline: my weariness at some of the plain meanness overcame my curiosity at what would happen next. I won't read any further in this series.

loved it just loves it

great narrator and great story but try to read in moderation because you can lose yourself in this

So excited to go on this adventure

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

Up at the top so far

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

I would compare it to Eragon as far as adventure/fantasy.

Have you listened to any of Roy Dotrice’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

First recording I have heard of Roy Dotrice. Does an excellent job

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

In for the long haul

Any additional comments?

Have braced myself for this story as some reviews talk about the violence and how many characters will die. However, got through first one and want to hear more. A rich tapestry of characters, lands and plots has begun to unfold.

~ * I LOVED IT! Great for busy nerds w/no time!* ~

My fiancé has read all of the books & I'm envious of that ~ til now!..I am a VERY busy working mother of 4 teenagers...reading books is not an option even though I have a trove, just waiting to be read "some day". This was my 1st full-length Audible & I couldn't be happier. Excellent sound quality & I love the narrator...fantastic "acting" & use of many voices for the various characters. Listening also makes you forget you're working or doing chores...keeps the mind very active & occupied.

amazing

amazing book, the detail writing makes you feel like you are there with the characters.amaxing is all I can say

Might be a better visual read for some...

...even with a different narrator. GRR Martin has a whole world and a ton of characters to introduce the reader to in this first book. For those who occasionally have difficulties taking in more complex audio books, or audio books with narrators that read too fast, or have accents this book may be a better visual read. my aural/listening comprehension is quite good, likely because I've been addicted to audio books (or as we used to call them, "books on tape") since I was about four and hid a tape player under my pillow so I could covertly "read" with the lights out. A Game Of Thrones was difficult for me to follow at first, as there is so much to keep track of. My fiance' is new to audiobooks, and while quite an avid reader, he finds some audio books hard to follow, and this series would be impossible for him.

The narrator is actually a talented reader but he has a very limited range of voices, so he is the least fitted to read a series with a huge amount of important characters. Thus, it is even more difficult to keep track of who is who. However, I think most good narrators would have difficulty with the sheer numbers of characters Martin presents. If I were the audio publisher I would have looked high and low for a narrator renowned for his range of voices.

All that said, I managed to make it through the series (to date) after a work with about the first fourth of this book.

Perfect Story and Perfect Narrator

I have downloaded and listen to the whole series of the song and I said buyer with this narrator and I would never have it any other way. Roy gives a fantastic performance over the whole series which must have been months of work. Executed flawlessly

One of my favorites

This book is a decadent read and listen. I find myself longing for enough time and solitude to pop in my earbuds and get lost in this crazy fantasy, yet totally relatable, world.

I've watched the entire series more than once, so I knew I was a fan of the story. These books, however, are filled with so many details that you get swept up in the plight of each character - each volume a satisfyingly long lament of a world you don't want to leave anyway. YAAAAASSSS George R.R.

Mr. Dale's performance is not perfect, but his accent makes it loveable, all the same.

A Love/Hate Review

First off, I'm not a huge reader. I'm an extremely slow reader and I don't have very good reading retention. Not to mention the fact that I don't have a ton of time to read and can't read while on the plane or in the car because of motion sickness. But I do enjoy listening to a good audiobook while on plane flights, long car rides, eating lunch at my desk, laying in bed at night or even just mowing the lawn. I enjoy a great narrator who is an excellent voice actor and I even enjoy the productions with music and sound effects. I compare audiobooks to the radio plays of the 1920's, 30's and 40's.

Prior to listening to this book I had heard from several of my friends and read numerous reviews about how good this collection of books was. I had watched the first season of the HBO series "Game of Thrones" and I enjoyed it thouroughly so figured I would go ahead and give the books a try.

I love the story and the writing style. The description of the characters, what they're thinking, the plotlines, drama, conflicts and action. I enjoy an audiobook even more when the narrator does voices for each individual character. That's the love part of the review.

Hate may be too strong of a word for the rest the review. Dislike might even be too strong. I'm not a fan of Dotrice as a narrator (acting is a different story). I can tolerate him, but he in no way matches the likes of two of my favorite narrators, Mark Thompson or Jim Dale. A lot of the voices that Dotrice does are extremely similar. With other narrators, no two voices are alike. As one of the other reviewers put it, even the female characters (including the young girls) sound like 70 or 80 year old men sometimes. Some of the inflections that he uses when reading the lines make the conversations between characters seem extremely dry and emotionless. But again, I can tolerate it and he doesn't completely ruin the book for me. Afterall, I'm listening to it because I don't want to read it.

One of the other things that bugs me about this audiobook is the chapter splits seem to be way off. I downloaded the files straight to my iPod using the Audible app. When listening to the file, the chapter splits appear to be in the middle of a conversation. Then throughout the chapter, there appear to be natural breaks which would seem to be the actual chapter break. I don't know if this is just a problem with the files on my iPod and the chapter breaks got screwed up somehow when I downloaded it or if the original files on the Audible server are incorrect.

Great Listen!

I would definitely recommend this book to anybody who is a fan of the GOT show and to those who are new. My only negative takeaway was that the narrator pronounced some of the names and words in an odd manner, though this may just be because he has an English accent while I am native in US English.