A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martins

I am a fan of fantasy. It all started with Urshurak by the Bros. Hildebrandt. Some of you might recognize the Bros Hildebrant from the artwork they created for Tolkien and Brooks. In Urshurak, you have a ragtag, motley crew of heroes who are out to save the world from evil! I've always loved those kinds of stories, as a matter of fact these are my favorite kinds of stories- The Seven Samurai, The Dirty Dozen, the A-Team, Eaters of the Dead, etc. The artwork in Urshurak led me to Terry Brooks. If you've read Terry Brooks, you know every single book is the same story over and over, but with a different cast of characters, but almost always a ragtag, motley crew of reluctant heroes. This kind of fantasy is melodramatic, full of action and adventure, and repetitive. Give me swords and sorcery, monsters and elves and dwarves, and something to get lost in. Can you dig it?

A Game of Thrones is not that kind of fantasy. AGoT is the kind of fantasy that I don't like. There are a million characters, "politics", and it takes itself too seriously. If I wanted that kind of story, I'd read the newspaper. Not that AGot is a bad book! Martin really wrote some great scenes, and I really like the way each chapter is written from the perspective of a different character. I thought the Wall (kind of reminiscent of Hadrian's wall and the wall in the M.Night Shyamalan's The Village) was a creepy (in a good way!) location, the Dothraki great characters, and I wish I owned a direwolf.  Martin really made his characters distinct, and I was surprised at how well he wrote the two, adolescent Stark daughters.

As a matter of fact, my favorite character is Arya Stark. I kind of wish the rest of the series was about how she grows up to kick ass and take names and run the 7 Kindgoms all by herself. But I highly doubt that's what this series is about. This series is more concerned with how the politics of the Seven Kingdoms plays out, who will be the last House standing? I probably won't read any more of the series, but I might finally tune in to the highly popular HBO production of it.

Give me R.A. Salvatore, Terry Brooks, or David Gemmell any day.

A Game of Thrones was recommended by Dave Limberg, Rich Hall, and Gene Keranen, the book weighs in at about 800 pages.