A Game of Thrones

Book 1 of A Song of Ice and Fire

By: George R.R. Martin

Narrated by: Roy Dotrice

Length: 33 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

One of The Times’ 25 Best Audiobooks.

HBO’s hit series A Game of Thrones is based on George R. R. Martin’s internationally best-selling series A Song of Ice and Fire, the greatest fantasy epic of the modern age. A Game of Thrones is the first volume in the series.

Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.

It will stretch from the south, where heat breeds plot, lusts and intrigues, to the vast and savage eastern lands, all the way to the frozen north, where an 800-foot wall of ice protects the kingdom from the dark forces that lie beyond. Kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars, lords and honest men...all will play the Game of Thrones.

Winter is coming....

©2011 George R. R. Martin (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

" A Game of Thrones grabs hold and won’t let go. It’s brilliant." (Robert Jordan)

"Colossal, staggering... Martin captures all the intoxicating complexity of the Wars of the Roses or Imperial Rome in his imaginary world...one of the greats of fantasy literature." ( SFX)

"Fantasy literature has never shied away from grandeur, but the sheer-mind-boggling scope of this epic has sent other fantasy writers away shaking their heads… Its ambition: to construct the Twelve Caesars of fantasy fiction, with characters so venomous they could eat the Borgias." ( Guardian)

Great story poor voice performance

Love the series.
Bought the audio book with great expectation only to be disappointed with the voice performance. Roy makes everyone, even children, sound like 80 years old and dying. His rendition of Khal Drogo's voice is simply appalling.
Love to know if the audio book available by any other reader please.

Roy Dotrice is wonderful

The story is refreshing. The narrator, Roy Dotrice, in my opinion adds to the text, and is not a mere recital. I downloaded this due to Leo Leporte's recommendation from This Week in Tech, and I must say that i beleive it lives up to the hype.

That said, i am sure this is not for everyone. Listen to the sample and if you dont love the narrator then avoid as it will just ruin it for you.

More More More Please Love it!!

Great story line. Will be reading more of this wonderful series. Keep them coming. Totally keeps me wanting more :)

I didn't want it to end

If you could sum up A Game of Thrones (Part One) in three words, what would they be?

Long, involved, riveting

What did you like best about this story?

Everything. The story has a cast of THOUSANDS but everybody is well crafted.

What does Roy Dotrice bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Honestly? I would never be able to sit and read a book this long - I would cheat and read only the chapters about my favourite characters. Roy's voice is calming and a pleasure to listen to and you barely notice the passage of time.

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

Yes. I listen in the car on my way to and from work. I have to FORCE myself to bookmark and go to the office. I nearly missed a meeting once as I wanted to listen to the next bit.

Any additional comments?

I know the book is long and the audio needs to be split for ease of download. HOWEVER, it would be SO NICE if the splits took place at the end of chapters. It is REALLY ANNOYING when the audio stops half way through a conversation.

Amazing book... annoying voice

If you could sum up A Game of Thrones (Part One) in three words, what would they be?

Epic, enveloping, exciting

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bran. Because he's one of the few characters who is not a jerk, and has great potential as an underdog.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Roy Dotrice?

No. Many of the voices he puts on for the lesser characters are ridiculous and distract from the story. It sounds like his tongue has swollen to the size of a grapefruit and as such, I look forward to those characters leaving the scene.

I really enjoyed the performance

I have watched the series and now listened to the book. I feel the book is even more appealing, it explains the story better than the series in some cases. Roy Dotrice kept the book alive, I am amazed by his accents and portrail of the characters, remaining constant throughout the entire reading. Now for the next book ...

Brilliant, with a catch.

I thoroughly enjoyed ever minute of this Audio book, the story is very engaging and hooks you in within the first 5 minutes. The narrator however has a very small revenue of voices he is able to lend the characters and it sometimes makes things a tad confusing. Also, and I put this as a caution. THIS IS ONLY ONE HALF OF THE FIRST BOOK. I understand some of you may think this point mute but with all the different versions of the one book on here I accidentally missed this rather obvious situation and proceeded to buy the Second half of the second book and listen to that after finishing this... However props must be given to the Author because despite this I managed to piece the important bits that I missed together, which is about a years worth of information.

Anyway I hope this helps in your decision to purchase this truly wonderful book.

Regards,
Jeremiah.

A Feast for the Ears

What did you love best about A Game of Thrones (Part One)?

One of the best thing about reading novels is the ability to create your interpretation of the world in question, to flavour the characters beyond the story itself, or the words on the page. When books get adapted to film, the characters are presented in a very stark way (so that people complain

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Game of Thrones (Part One)?

Not going to give away spoilers here, but the first few times Roy Dotrice went from regal narrator to guttermouth were pretty memorable to me! :P

What about Roy Dotrice’s performance did you like?

Dotrice has a talent of providing each character with their own unique voice - not a mean feat in a novel that has more antagonists than a YouTube comment section! It may be a slight lisp, or a throaty chuckle, but the variances in Dotrice's voice allow each character their own identity.

Worthwhile

I have been very lazy and not managed to read these books even though I have been hearing about them for ages. So I decided to listen to them. This is the first of the series and I am not disappointed so far. I am glad I decided to listen,

NARRATOR - the narrator is good. He is not the most exciting narrator I have heard and sometimes his accents make no sense whatsoever; for instance one person in the family will have a different accent to everyone else, very odd. Every now and then his inflection is a little "off", but that is so rare, that it isn't intrusive. That being said he lets the story speak for itself.

STORY - The story is a great one and I am looking forward to the next book in the series. I am glad that I decided to listen rather than read though because I can listen whilst doing other things and with a story this intricate I may lose track only reading on weekends.

I would recommend this to anyone that likes a bit of drama and a bit of boys own fantasy sort of thing.

Great listen

After watching the show and experiencing the disappointing end to it, I had to listen to this and I have no regrets. The performance is definitely weird at first especially after getting to the tv show versions, but an excellent sound once you let go of that. Although I do want to mention that the only exception to this was Tywin Lannister, but even that was still fairly acceptable. The book is insanely detailed and the world that GRRM has created is just plain amazing. I’m without a doubt getting the rest of the series.