Song of Ice and Fire - A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Last year, I started watching the first season of the Game of Thrones TV series. While in the hospital, I finally got around to watching the remaining episodes (although I did start from episode 1 again) plus I also read the book. 

Source: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11264999-a-game-of-thrones

Because I had already seen part of the series before I even picked up the book, I already had faces for the names and the setting for the story. Of course there were times when I'd think, well, "Ned Stark doesn't look 35!" or "this isn't what they showed on TV." But that's just fine. Artistic license.

There were also times while watching that I would think that I already watched that episode even if I haven't. I was recalling the images as I saw them in my head while reading. Loved how that felt!

Last year I had listed my favorite characters and they're still the same people I like. I still love Dany, and my heart broke when she had to lose her sun and stars. I loved how they called each other: Khal Drogo was her sun and stars, while she was the moon of his life. Ah the moon. However, I just read an interesting review in Goodreads from someone who actually did not like GoT. She has a point, I suppose Dany was raped here, over and over, by her husband. Yet it was played off as love. Interesting perspective. 

Seems like GoT wasn't so boring for me because the author did not waste pages describing the world, or the landscape of the Seven Kingdoms. For some readers, this is also a fault. I also couldn't really decide if this was fantasy, because there was not much magic. Again another turnoff for the usual fans of fantasy. Despite these shortcomings, I still would give four stars to this first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series and look forward to reading the next installment.


Edit: A Game of Thrones is recipient of the following awards:
Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (1997)
Ignotus for Novela extranjera (2003)

This is my first entry for this year's Award Winning Books Challenge.