Book Review: A Game of Thrones

So... I did it.

I *finally* finished book 1 in the Song of Ice and Fire books: A Game of Thrones.

I started late last summer/early fall but just haven't had the time to work through all 800+ pages of it. Fortunately the chapters averaged about 10 pages, so it was easy to read a chapter or 2 and put it down if I needed. But my goal was to finish the book before season 2 of the show starts on April 1, however I also wanted to at least read book 1 in the Hunger Games trilogy before the movie comes out in March and I didn't want to start Hunger Games while still reading Game of Thrones cuz I hate reading multiple books at once. So that meant I had to finish Game of Thrones first.

I think I read about 200 pages the other day just to finish it, but it did start getting good as it got to the end, much like the last few episodes of the show had you on the edge of your seat as so much was happening!

Anyways, it was long and took a bit to get into it (although having watched the show, I already knew what to expect).

The show did keep pretty close to the book though - I only noticed a few slight changes and minor things that were omitted in the show, however HBO did add in a lot of gratuitous sex scenes (specifically, there's a long, graphic lesbian sex scene in the show that happens while Littlefinger is monologuing that doesn't happen in the book!). I really didn't like how cold Catelyn Stark is to Jon in the book though - on the show she didn't seem to be nearly as harsh or hateful to him as she is in the book, it made me sad for Jon! I'm kind of torn between the Starks (especially Arya and Jon Snow) and Daenerys Targaryen - I like them both! One thing I didn't make the connection of on the show was that the Lord Commander of the Night Watch at the Wall is the father of Daenerys' exiled knight guide Ser Jorah Mormont! It clicked when Jon mentions Jorah to the Lord Commander near the end of the book - doh!

After having read the book, I kinda wanna go back and re-watch season 1 of the show now, just to see what other minor things I may have missed!

I'm looking forward to finding out what becomes of Arya (if/how she escapes the city and if she ever gets reunited with her family), what they end up doing with Jaime Lannister, I already know a little bit of who claims the throne next (hubby told me that for some reason I forget) but am curious as to how and what becomes of Joffery... and Sansa, if she ever quits being stupid.

But 1st... I need to read at least The Hunger Games, and most likely Catching Fire and Mockingjay (which I already ordered off Amazon for a decent price!).

If you like fantasy books and don't mind a medieval-like settings with kings and queens, lords and ladies, dwarves, giants, zombies and the like with some sex and violence thrown in, be sure to check out this book! It's got the quite the twists and turns in it!

What have you read lately?