A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, Fantasy, 835 pages.

I read this back in 2008, enjoyed it, read the other three volumes that had then been published, enjoyed them, and then settled back to wait the couple of months until the next volume, Dance of Dragons, was due to be published. Publication was pushed back several times, and now the book is reported to be actually finished and due out in July. Over the last three years I have forgotten, for I am old, most of what had happened in the first four volumes. Because of this, and because I have been hearing so much about the HBO series, I decided to re-read the first four volumes. The first book covers the last days of the reign of Robert Baratheon, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms. We see how he got to the throne and how his reign ends through the stories of several of the principal players. Most of these stories are fascinating, well written, and well paced. Those relating to Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and the North, and friend of King Robert as well of those of his wife, Catelyn, and of his sons and daughters, are great. Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf, a cynic, the younger son of Tywin Lannister, and brother of Robert's queen, is one of the best characters in the series, and his chapters almost always take the reader somewhere unexpected. Those involving Daenerys, the daughter of the the dethroned King, Aerys Targaryen, are boring and a bit creepy by comparison and I found myself skimming through those.
Enjoyable. I look forward to re-reading the next three volumes, and reading the final installment in July.
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