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)

Must Listen

Has great story telling and good imagery. Watching the show before reading it provides a good baseline to imagine these characters doing what they do

terrible narration

I've read the books myself before and am already a huge fan, so I decided to listen to them instead. The narration of the story is terrible, in my opinion. He uses ridiculous voices for some of the main characters and pronounces several names wrong.

Game Of Thrones is worth it

I really enjoyed the book, even though it can be difficult to follow so many characters in an audiobook. The narrator is quite talented. I'm downloading book two!

Good story but lots of characters to keep up with

The book was written in the voice of its time.  And in this time period, women were not regarded highly at all, it's just a fact.  I have read lots of reviews trashing this book as being misogynist and sexist, and you know what, if you don't like it, then don't read books that predate political correctness.  During this time period, children were not treasured like they are today, but that was history and you'll see it in this book.

This book, like I said, takes place in medieval times when kings sat on thrones, knights guarded the castle and the common folk knew their place.  It seems there are only two seasons, harsh winter and summer and they each last for years.  We follow several families in royalty and servitude. With them, we experience their troubles, defeats, ties to each other, and triumphs as well as their endings.

Upstanding King Eddard Stark and his family live peacefully in Winterfell.  Ned finds a dead dire wolf with 6 orphaned cubs, one being an albino.  He allows his 6 children to keep and raise the cubs including his bastard son Jon Snow.  Do you see any similarities?  (That's because this is foreshadowing.) An old friend King Robert Baratheon visits King Stark and drafts him to be the advisor to the crown.  Stark is reluctant and after he agrees, he and his entire family walk into a kingdom of lies, betrayal, incest, jealousy, and murder.  When Stark discovers the truth about Robert's family (that not even Robert himself knows) it places the entire Stark family in danger that Stark sees no way out of.  With one Stark daughter to be betrothed to the Prince who means to kill him, a bastard son sent away to be a Knight, another daughter who has to flee for her life or face death, the baby boy who may not survive a crippling fall at the hands of an adult (the things I do for love) and his queen who is left to keep the kingdom running herself (which was rarely done by a woman back then) King Stark is stuck between a rock and hard place.  All because he wanted to help a friend, King Robert.

Viserys and his sister Daenerys Targaryen are the last of their family and Viserys has betrothed his 14-year-old sister to the leader of a nomadic tribe of brutes. I'm not kidding they are horrible.  The tribe is called the Dothraki and the men only cut their hair if they have been defeated.  They do not conquer kingdoms when they go to war, instead, they pillage and plunder destroying everything in their path.  The men enslave the women and line up to rape them, making the men watch and killing the children.  When they are done, for as long as it takes, then everyone is killed. We see that the leader who is to marry Daenerys is named, Kahl Drogo and has very long braids which means he has never been defeated.  After some time, after they have been wed and Daenerys begins to truly accept her role of wife to the leader she begins to speak their language and take on their customs and rituals truly becoming a Dothraki.  Jorah even tells her she is finally beginning to talk like a queen.  Her response is "Not a Queen.  A Kahleesi."  Which is the Dothraki equivalent and shows true assimilation.  Throughout book one Daenerys repeats the phrase "I am a dragon's daughter" as though she is trying to convince herself, but we see her bathing in water that is way too hot for humans.  This again is foreshadowing because fire cannot kill the dragon, and we see proof of that by the end of this book.  Although Daenerys becomes pregnant and is enjoying her new life she isn't without trials, and tests, encountering schemers, traitors, and liars which only leads to great misery at such a tender age.

There is so much in this book (34 hours of audio) that I can't possibly fit it all in. Roy Dotrice did a superb job narrating.  He is superb in his timing, and the feelings and emotions he adds to the voices and there are so many.  He makes them all sound so authentic and each one seems one of a kind.

perfection!

loved every minute! huge fan of the book, and even bigger fan of the narration!!

fantastic!

a wonderful follow, expertly read and easy to follow. Roy Ditrice was wonderful and a master at his craft

Book is better than the show.

I miss Khal Drogo! I wish there were more narrators; at least for female characters.

What the show should be

strange pronouncing of names doesn't distract from a masterpiece. The insite into the characters minds are what the show watchers miss out on.

Great story but that narrator

I really like the story but this narrator is beyond frustrating. The mispronunciation of names was a bit too much for me and the voice changes were horrible. I really hope this will be redone with a different narrator.

Just like the show, it took me a bit to get into

I find the show amazing but when I first tried it, not so much. same with the book but now I am hooked. I find that it makes me care more for the characters and I have a deeper understanding if their motives.