Game of Thrones - Book 1

Book Club #5!

About the Book:

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)

Summary: 

A super long book with a ton of characters from different families with various forms of family drama all somehow cross paths in this fantasy novel involving power, battle, incest, and dragons. Most characters are located in the Seven Kingdoms. Told from the view points of different characters, each person is mostly trying to not get killed and possibly be in some ruling leadership position. Members of the former ruling family, Targaryen, are exiled but seeks to return to the Seven Kingdoms and reign again by marrying into a nomad Dothraki tribe. If only they had some more dragons. Within the Seven Kingdoms, the King's right hand is no longer and the patriarch of the Stark family is requested to fill the role. The many children of the Stark family each have a wolf as a pet that come in very handy because many people seem to want to harm them. Though the noble Eddard Stark seems to be a man of integrity, the new position ties the Stark family to the Lannisters who hide a secret. Many characters get killed in the process but then new ones get introduced.

Characters:

• Not even going to try...

Questions:

1. Who was your favorite character?
2. What did you think about the language?
3. Did you like the author's use of different characters' points of view to tell the story?
4. What were the different character's motivation?
5. What does it mean to play the game of thrones? Is it possible to be moral and have integrity?

Conversation Summary:

Discussion topics:

• author's writing style 
• character analysis 
• fantasy genre
• favorite characters - all the outcasts, khal drogo, dany, jon snow, arya
• character motivations and integrity
• being in a position of power and integrity
• where the characters start and end up
• favorite characters murdered, many characters murdered
•  book should include a summary/index of all characters
• sansa willing to harm family for a boy
• this book was very long, it's hard to finish a 800+ page book

2/3 bears unable to finish book. 3/3 happy to watch the tv show.

References:

1. George RR Martin to Taylor Swift's Blank Spaces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qhp3wnKyKA

2. George RR Martin on SNL Weekend Update
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/weekend-update-george-rr-martin/2770803

3. Seth Myers brings Jon Snow to dinner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BabsgCQhpu4

07.2015 Game of Thrones - Book 1

Introduction:

Our first book fantasy book set in medieval times and subject of a popular tv show! It's our longest book yet! Get reading!

Book Jacket:

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. To the south, the king’s powers are failing—his most trusted adviser dead under mysterious circumstances and his enemies emerging from the shadows of the throne. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the frozen land they were born to. Now Lord Eddard Stark is reluctantly summoned to serve as the king’s new Hand, an appointment that threatens to sunder not only his family but the kingdom itself.

Sweeping from a harsh land of cold to a summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, A Game of Thrones tells a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; a child is lost in the twilight between life and death; and a determined woman undertakes a treacherous journey to protect all she holds dear. Amid plots and counter-plots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, allies and enemies, the fate of the Starks hangs perilously in the balance, as each side endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

Unparalleled in scope and execution, A Game of Thrones is one of those rare reading experiences that catch you up from the opening pages, won’t let you go until the end, and leave you yearning for more.

Book Details:

Length: 864 pages
Publisher: Bantam
Published: March 22, 2011
ISBN: 0553593714
ISBN13: 978-0553593716

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