Date Started: 7/16/12
Date Finished: 7/29/12
Wow. Ok, so I'm not a big fantasy reader, but I've been wanting to start this series for a while and definitely wanted to read it before watching any of the HBO series. And wow.
There is no way I can adequately summarize this book; there are simply too many characters, too many loyalties and betrayals, familial connections and legends. The book starts by plunging the reader into this unknown world, and I"ll admit that it took me a bit to warm up to it. But as the chapters continued and I learned the characters and their connections, I was enthralled. I really liked how the chapters alternate from different character's perspectives - it added so much more than being stuck in one person's perspective. And it means you're rooting for characters on separate sides of the struggle - obviously the Starks (and by the end you even feel bad for Sansa) but also Tyrion and Dany. I think it is a masterful author who can make so many characters compelling and likeable even as they're at war with each other.
And meanwhile, we have the coming winter approaching and the Others - entities we are left knowing nothing about, other than they can somehow create zombies, based on Jon Stark's experience at the wall. I'm sure this will figure much more prominently in the coming books and expect it will also help shape the war.
This was an amazing book and I will surely be reading the rest of the series... though I think for the sake of my marriage I will need to take a break before starting the next one. It can't be easy on one spouse when the other enters the world of Winterfell and the Seven Kingdoms.
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