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Indeed, I thought that the book and the program were remarkably similar. One can see how the show's producers transformed this book into such a popular hit, since Martin's style is already cinematogra
One of my favorite strategies for learning a language is to read something I am already familiar with, translated into the target language. Even though I have never read Martin's original book, I was quite familiar with the HBO series, which proved to be enough background for me to follow the story.Indeed, I thought that the book and the program were remarkably similar. One can see how the show's producers transformed this book into such a popular hit, since Martin's style is already cinematographic. Each chapter follows a different character performing a decisive action, in just the same way that a show progresses scene by scene. The correspondence of chapter to scene in nearly one to one.
Though, like so many, I was disappointed at the final seasons of the show, I greatly enjoyed most of its run. So it is a pleasure to relive the series in this format, especially since I can practice German in the process. Curiously, the German translation breaks each volume in half, so this one ends at a completely arbitrary point in the story. I suppose I will at least have to finish the next volume, just for completion's sake.
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i loved it, really. i love dany so much and i love arya even more now. it was not as bad as i through to remember all the names and the relationships between the people and the houses. i think it was good that i started to watch the tv show some time ago. it made it easier to understand :)
i think it can be even more i should have done homework instead but i couldnt resist to read the last 50 pages and now its over and its not like a real end for a book, so im happy to have the second part here.
i loved it, really. i love dany so much and i love arya even more now. it was not as bad as i through to remember all the names and the relationships between the people and the houses. i think it was good that i started to watch the tv show some time ago. it made it easier to understand :)
i think it can be even more exciting and fascinating and im loooking forward to read the second part.
(AND THIS THING WITH THE PRISON CELLS AT EYRIE WAS SO COOL AND I REALLY FELT BAD FOR TYRION BECAUSE I LIKE HIM SO MUCH)
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I found this book to be similar in writing style to Lord of the Rings. Very descriptive.
I had some issues with how many characters were introduced, especially secondary characters! By the end of this book I could recall all of the main characters (I think) but all the Lannisters! Too many.
I liked all the different points of view. Probably Eddard Stark and Jon Snow were my favourite in this book.
It was definitely setting the scene for a lot of future conflict.
Where it was le
Listened to on Libby.I found this book to be similar in writing style to Lord of the Rings. Very descriptive.
I had some issues with how many characters were introduced, especially secondary characters! By the end of this book I could recall all of the main characters (I think) but all the Lannisters! Too many.
I liked all the different points of view. Probably Eddard Stark and Jon Snow were my favourite in this book.
It was definitely setting the scene for a lot of future conflict.
Where it was left;
-The dwarf Lannister was in the mountain with Caitlin and her sister (with the weird 6 year old baby king) and they were about to fight for the dwarfs freedom.
-Eddard Stark had just been attacked by Jamie Lannister and was no longer the kings hand.
-Bran and Rob had been attacked but saved in the woods and knew of their fathers health.
-Calesia was with child (her brother is a real piece of work)
Things I know;
-The Lannister brother and sister were copulating and Bran saw it and was pushed out a window
-The Lannister Queen is a bad guy
-The King is being manipulated by the many Lannister's
-Eddard Stark is trying to get to the bottom of it all
But let's begin with something else, the writing:
I don't know why the author thought
But let's begin with something else, the writing:
I don't know why the author thought it would do anything else than confuse anyone if he constantly changes the view. I am a huge fan of one perspective, maybe two if they are at the same time and place, but how am I to really dive into a world if I am thrown to the other end of it every chapter? How should I grow to love the characters if I don't stay with them long enough to even recall their names or the names of the ones they hold dear?
And the style of writing? Don't even get me started! This poor attempt at being as rough as the surrounding area, at sounding cold and vicious, it's just pathetic.
Now the characters, these jokes of storys. Every single one gets a tragic and heart wrecking background story, something I don't really dislike in other books, but it's so obvious and boring at how Martin tries to make every single one of these characters sound burdend with something. How am I supposed to connect and suffer with a character if I have to do it with all of them and remember every single story if there are so much?
Now the story itself I already said that I find his attempt at bringing magic in his stupid world pathetic, but dragons? How obvious and desperate do you have to be if you have to bring them into your world? It seems like he can't decide what he wants to portray, a world wich everybody tries to gain access to the throne by killing everyone around or a world where a girl finds dragon eggs and discovers that the dragons inside are indeed alive, or a world where there is a threat by monsters locked away in the darkest parts of the world. But if you shove it all together in one world you get chaos and confusion, something I don't like in a book. If the author himself cannot decide what he wants to portray how am I supposed to grasp it?
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So, this may have sounded a bit harsh, but I still liked this book! ...more
It has its own character this way and I enjoyed it very much. It seemed more "old world" this way. More antiquated. It felt as if Reading this has a slightly different sense than in English. There is more weight in the words, more foreboding. I'm not sure how to put it really. The two languages are similar yet so different. One being the root of the other. I think that is the major difference. Plus the translation of the original back into a language from which it's drawn has its own confusion.
It has its own character this way and I enjoyed it very much. It seemed more "old world" this way. More antiquated. It felt as if I was looking farther back in history. That set it more in the past, and that appealed to me the most. ...more
ok i'm done. Quality review.
Did I literally buy this book 7 years ago? Yeah, BUT I've finally read it, better late than never, right?
MAN DID I LOVE THIS ONE. I've seen the first.. idk, 2? 3? seasons of the show (idk, 4 years ago?) and know how the show is gonna end, but that didn't stop me from being taken aback by every single sentence in this book. The first season, if I remember correctly, could be a mirror to the book, it's cra Before I start: TYRION LANNISTER!!!!!!!!!!!!;'d'b'n!!!!!!!:an!!
ok i'm done. Quality review.
Did I literally buy this book 7 years ago? Yeah, BUT I've finally read it, better late than never, right?
MAN DID I LOVE THIS ONE. I've seen the first.. idk, 2? 3? seasons of the show (idk, 4 years ago?) and know how the show is gonna end, but that didn't stop me from being taken aback by every single sentence in this book. The first season, if I remember correctly, could be a mirror to the book, it's crazy how much they're alike. And while I wasn't the biggest fan of the show, I still absolutely adored the book. Don't ask me how that makes any sense, I don't know, it doesn't. The only word that comes to my mind that I think describes this first book best is: rich. It's so FULL of everything. I can't even begin to describe of what. ...more
It's a bit slow, but exciting nevertheless. There are many clues, foreshadowing what's going to happen, in the very beginning, revealing a well-plotted story.
The characters, unknown at first, start growing, devoloping slowly, but steadily. And even now it's noticable how well crafted they are, their past, their motivations, their actions, everything!
I ADORE IT, completely and
ENG: A strong beginning of the complex epic story, setting up the world, the entangled web of politics and the characters!It's a bit slow, but exciting nevertheless. There are many clues, foreshadowing what's going to happen, in the very beginning, revealing a well-plotted story.
The characters, unknown at first, start growing, devoloping slowly, but steadily. And even now it's noticable how well crafted they are, their past, their motivations, their actions, everything!
I ADORE IT, completely and utterly.
PT: O forte início da complexa história épica, configurando o mundo, a teia emaranhada de política e as personagens!
É um pouco lento, mas emocionante. Há muitas pistas, prenunciando o que vai acontecer, logo no início, revelando uma história bem traçada.
As personagens, inicialmente desconhecidas, começam a crescer, desenvolvendo-se lentamente, mas de forma constante. Mesmo agora é perceptível o quão bem trabalhadas são, o seu passado, as suas motivações, as suas ações, tudo!
ADORO, completa e totalmente!
...more The only things that are quite annoying were the fact that the German publisher decided to split every book into two books and to translate the names (Theon Graufreude... I can't). But I am way to lazy to read them in English. Buuut then on the other hand I would only need to buy 5 books instead of ten. What should I do? Those are the questions keeping me awake at night 😂
So, I have been watching the series first and then started reading the books.
Quite honstely, I do have mixed feelings towards this book series.
But first, let me start with the positive.
One of the most interstring things about this book (series) is the dystopian fantasy world itself.
A world that is (at this point) against anything that stands out, "bastards", dwarfs, etc.
To me it was interstring seeing how politics in a such a world that resembled the Middle Ages would have been made.
O
So, I have been watching the series first and then started reading the books.
Quite honstely, I do have mixed feelings towards this book series.
But first, let me start with the positive.
One of the most interstring things about this book (series) is the dystopian fantasy world itself.
A world that is (at this point) against anything that stands out, "bastards", dwarfs, etc.
To me it was interstring seeing how politics in a such a world that resembled the Middle Ages would have been made.
Other than that I loved some of the characters, other I just found very interstring and i quite enjoyed the writing style.
But of course there were also some negative aspects.
Something that really disturbed me (in a not-so-good-way) was the way Daenerys story line was handled.
While watching the show, I didnt even realize HOW young she was in the books, 13!!!!!
She was so sexualized...not just in the show.
I wouldnt have minded her age that much if that hadnt been the case.
(It gets slightly spoiler-y here, but not really!)
Also some scenes were she was literallyraped by her own husband just felt like a glorification of exactly that, because it focused more on her body than her pain.
Which was absolutely disgusting!
That being said there also were some other things I didnt like that much.
I just wished there had been more time for character moments instead of rushing over them and then going on to writing pages about fights. That is for all characters the case - even though I obviously do have favourites here (e.g. Arya, Sansa, Daenerys, Jon,...). Sometimes, especially with characters I couldnt relate to that well (e.g. Cersei, Joffrey, Jaime) they felt quite flatt.
The writing style is really engaging and some characters hooked me up since the very beginning and the ones I wasn't so sure about, I ended up empathizing with as the book progressed. There's not a boring moment, a lot of things are happening and the fact that each chapter contains the perspective of a differ
I have known the series for a while but it took me a long time to read the book because, for some reason, I thought I wouldn't like it. What the hell?! I finally picked it up and I LOVED it!The writing style is really engaging and some characters hooked me up since the very beginning and the ones I wasn't so sure about, I ended up empathizing with as the book progressed. There's not a boring moment, a lot of things are happening and the fact that each chapter contains the perspective of a different character keeps everything really interesting!
My only recommendation for those who are thinking to pick this up is to read it in a moment when you can give it your total attention. There are a lot of characters and if you are not concentrated in what you are reading you might get lost.
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Rate: 3,5 Stars.
3,2 Stars for now, but I think that I will reread it in the future.
Volume 2: Rating and review soon.
I'm truly enthusiastic about the next books. As I was reading this volume I felt like I was watching the tv series.
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George R.R. Martin has a reputation of excellence in the fantasy community and he has certainly made himself shine in many areas of this book. His world building is superb, his pacing is smooth and he knows
I'd been meaning to check out this book series for several years partly out of curiosity due to all the hype, and partly due to recommendations. I'm also an author and, as fantasy is my preferred writing genre, I like to stay informed and check out successfully published and promoted material.George R.R. Martin has a reputation of excellence in the fantasy community and he has certainly made himself shine in many areas of this book. His world building is superb, his pacing is smooth and he knows how to keep his readers riveted. Martin has created a deeply layered, colorful, intriguing, and fully immersive world full of all the things fantasy lovers crave. Kings and kingdoms; might and glory; princes and princesses; magic and mayhem; bravery and deceit; politics and battle; heroes and ghosts; sadness and victory. We see the genesis of a much grander story here. We hear of the legacies of heroes of old and walk alongside new and emerging heroes in their childhood. We learn where the heroes will come from before they have ever been titled so. As such, we have yet to see the depth of characterization we might, but not because it's simply lacking, but instead because Martin is giving us the grass roots, enough to cause us to be solidly invested, so that he can bring us along for the unfolding transformation to come.
Having said all of this, I must add at least one element that Martin included that I find personally distasteful and unnecessary. I understand that Martin wanted us to see many of his key players from the beginning and build on that foundation in later volumes. For the most part, I think he did masterfully. However, taking a 13 year old maiden and unwillingly marrying her to a man then subsequently detailing their sexual activities and practices... ugh. Disturbingly unnecessary to me. Granted, I have strong feelings about gratuitous sex and token lascivious content in general as it often feels to me as distracting and distasteful to an otherwise good story and a bit of a sell-out to popular marketing techniques. I'm not against sexuality and romance, but I do believe it has a proper place, and in most cases, it is not necessary to the story's larger aim. Sadly, I think in this instance of 13 year old sexuality in Daenary's character, Martin fell prey to a moral and distasteful mistake. He later describes what the 13 year old maiden experienced with her barbarian leader as 'love'. What 13 year old maiden has the capacity to feel the kind of love that exists in a loving, marital relationship? The most understanding that I could bring this situation was that, given the girls abusive history, she was emotionally seeking the love and comfort of an older man to replace what she'd lacked in her own life previous to these events. At the very least, Martin could have made the girl an older maiden of eighteen or a suitably mature age for such activities.
I also found it disturbing that the newly hatched dragons birthed in the flames of a funeral pyre were described to suckle the 13/14 year olds breasts. I think Martin did an excellent job of detailing how the death of her husband and unborn child symbolically birthed the dragons and imparted their strength to the hatchlings. There was no need for that image between human (little girl still at this point) and mythical beast.
Similar to this last point regarding the 13 year old maiden, I wish Martin had been more tasteful in describing the incest that the 8 year old Brand witnessed. Despite the fact of what he saw, it didn't need quite so much detail as to the sights and sounds. I just feel that children are innocent and precious and that for the sake of decency Martin could have withheld some details of this situation and certainly of the 13 year old dragon maidens sexual experiences.
There were a few other occasions of sexual content that weren't strictly necessary, but these did not bother me as much because, at least, it involved adults. I still maintain that it could have been said simply, they went to bed together and the woman did not seem to mind his (I'm thinking of Tyrion here) physical deformity. Tyrion is actually my favorite character thus far, though I'm loathe to admit it because my claiming a favorite character has a tendency to see them killed at some point in the story.
My only other negative to mention is that I felt Edward Stark's death felt too abrupt, truncated as it were. He was, reference my previous comments on my selecting favorites and their subsequent deaths, a favorite of mine. Martin had often included Edwards thoughts and emotions in the text , yet during his death scene, we were strangely bereft of any of his thoughts or emotions leading up to the beheading. A bit strange and disappointing to me.
Despite my negative notes, I bow to Martin's story mastery and fantasy world building and comfortably admit the ingenuity of this first book in his series. I am only 200 pages into the second volume and planning to finish the series with the hope that (vain though it may be) Martin approaches the details surrounding his child characters with a bit more sensitivity than he has here.
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Not quite a masterpiece to me because I definitely see some room for improvement. However, because of the complex political plotlines which I really enjoyed and the deep, three dimensional characters, this is a very solid 4,5!
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I enjoyed the characters, how they are drawn and described. I enjoyed the scenes, the atmosphere, th I've always refused to watch the tv series, especially when all my friends and colleagues were commenting it. But some weeks ago I found the first book of the series with a discounted price. I got curious. And it was worth buying it. It is clear that it is very long and slow on purpose, to create suspence and especially to keep the story going for... how many? 12 books? That's business, obviously.
I enjoyed the characters, how they are drawn and described. I enjoyed the scenes, the atmosphere, the ideas. It's a kind of crime book, in a cold and dark Middle Ages opposite to a warm and dangerous South. Jon, Arya and Dan are full of deep emotions; Ned and Cat are more ambiguous. Totally impossible to define in one book most of the others – yet. We can see only the surface that I'm sure it will be shown in the other books. ...more
A compelling story as expected from the hit TV show, but I only put on my clown shoes because the new prequel series is coming out.
I love me a large, sprawling series and this one delivers, but the themes and lack of diversity stops me from lording over it anymore. It was interesting however to see even the minor differences between season 1 and the books - I'm interested to see how it diverges in later books. There were a lot of thinks that made me feel less bad about characters I reall
*3.5 🌟A compelling story as expected from the hit TV show, but I only put on my clown shoes because the new prequel series is coming out.
I love me a large, sprawling series and this one delivers, but the themes and lack of diversity stops me from lording over it anymore. It was interesting however to see even the minor differences between season 1 and the books - I'm interested to see how it diverges in later books. There were a lot of thinks that made me feel less bad about characters I really felt for in the show (cough Ned cough) and the other way around is true as well. I don't mind Catelyn and I'm not happy how disconnected Theon is for seemingly no reason.
...moreMartin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood chil
George Raymond Richard "R.R." Martin was born September 20, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was Raymond Collins Martin, a longshoreman, and his mother was Margaret Brady Martin. He has two sisters, Darleen Martin Lapinski and Janet Martin Patten.Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: "The Hero," sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed.
In 1970 Martin received a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude. He went on to complete a M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Northwestern.
As a conscientious objector, Martin did alternative service 1972-1974 with VISTA, attached to Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association from 1973-1976, and was a Journalism instructor at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1976-1978. He wrote part-time throughout the 1970s while working as a VISTA Volunteer, chess director, and teacher.
In 1975 he married Gale Burnick. They divorced in 1979, with no children. Martin became a full-time writer in 1979. He was writer-in-residence at Clarke College from 1978-79.
Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93.
Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/george...
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