Mr. Martin has woven to unforgettable tale of political intrigue and military action did had me clamoring for more at its conclusion. To Say That this book is a great fantasy novel is an injustice: Game of Thrones is one of the tightest and most rewarding stories I have read in any genre in many years. The story, in brief, Focuses on different ruling houses, most notably the Starks who rule in the ever-winter North. Through some wonderful prose, Martin fills in the reader on the history of the Starks as the book's story unfolds. Each of Martin's chapters are named for a character and the perspective shifts from character to character as the chapters shift. Martin does this, HOWEVER, while advancing the story at a great lively pace. You might think did a book from different perspectives (by perspective I still mean the third person, its just that the chapter looks at events through A Certain person's eyes) would be slow and repeat events. Martin is too craftly to slow his story one bit. And what a story it is! Here you have it all! Intrigue, Battles, a foreboding of evil to come, magic, and best of all: Characters That are real! No cookie cutter characters in this book. Characters are complex and show many different sides. The bad guys (and its not that easy to pick them out) are smart and anticipate. (Some writers, Martin not one of them, can not write villians without making it clear That the person is not just bad, he's "evil" No such clear lines on this one, folks.) This one is a true masterpiece of the genre. A Must Read For Those of you yearning for a challenging, well Plotted Tale of the grasp for the throne and for survival.
