A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) – George R. R. Martin
I went back to the fantasy genre at this point, and really got into this series. This planet is loosely similar to ‘our’ medieval times, where different gods are worshipped in different areas. Magic plays a part in the series, but not to the point of suspending belief, from my point of view at least. This series probably wouldn’t suit those who tend not to like Fantasy – you need to have a lot of patience to keep going for thousands of pages (over the four books so far), and the action is rarely fast paced.
The author switches from describing the goings on from one character to another, each chapter. This style can take a while to get used to, and I wouldn’t personally recommend reading this book over several months, unless you have a pretty good memory.
This first book really sets the scene for the following novels, and is loosely based on the English real life ‘War of the Roses’, a long running conflict that went on to mould the shape of England’s history. You won’t find any typical good vs. evil tale here – things often take an unexpected twist…