Author George R.R. Martin is the creator of the mystical world of Westeros in A Song of Fire and Ice. There are currently five books in the series. The first one is called A Game of Thrones, a fitting title for the deceptive twists and jaw-dropping scenes as lords and ladies fight over a single seat; the Iron Throne.

The seven kingdoms of Westeros are ruled by a single king. A long time has passed since there truly were seven kingdoms with seven kings, leaving the title “the seven kingdoms” more of a respect. Robert Baratheon, nick-named the Usurper by the remaining members of house Targaryen and those who supported them, sits the Iron Throne, and from the Red Keep, rules the people of Westeros, getting fat and being promiscuous.

Once, long ago, a king named Aerys Targaryen ruled the seven kingdoms. He had been nick-named the Mad King for his destructive love of fire and death. His ancestors created the Red Keep, the castle where the king lives, in the capitol of Westeros, King’s Landing. Targaryens were famous all over the world for their wild, untamed pets; dragons. Balerion, known as Black Dread, a dragon so large that he could eat a mammoth whole and every tooth in his maw was the length of a sword, was as black as night and feared along with his two sibling dragons, Vhaghar and Meraxes. His flames forged the seat of power desired by all great houses.

Every king has a group of men who have proven themselves strongest to protect him. These men are called Kingsguard, occasionally called white-cloaks, since they were… white cloaks. Each one of them takes an oath to hold no land, take no wives and have no children; their sole purpose is to protect the king.

Robert Baratheon is the king at the beginning of A Game of Thrones, but we don’t know how he got there. Long ago, Robert had a friend named Eddard Stark, commonly called Ned, who had a younger sister named Lyanna. Robert was betrothed to her by his father and fell madly in love with Lyanna. She was kidnapped by the then Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Robert swore that he would get Lyanna back, and raised an army, Ned at his side, to sack King’s Landing and kill the Mad King Aerys Targaryen. This led to an event known as Robert’s Rebellion. When Lyanna is killed, Robert vowed he would kill every last Targaryen.

After becoming the new king of Westeros, for economic stability he was married to a woman named Cersei Lannister. The Lannister family is the wealthiest in all of Westeros, and one of three of the greatest houses. She had two brothers, Jaime, her twin, and Tyrion, a stunted, twisted man with mismatched eyes and a smashed face. Her brother Jaime Lannister became a member of the Kingsguard during the reign of Aerys Targaryen. He was the one who murdered the Mad King during Robert’s Rebellion, completely going against his oath to protect the king. This action forever branded him as “Kingslayer”. Jaime Lannister not only killed the king he swore to protect, he also fathered three children with the most unlikely of women.

A Game of Thrones begins in Winterfell, seat of the Starks, their current leader Eddard “Ned” Stark, friend of the king, Protector of the North. He has to execute a man who abandoned his post on the Wall, an eight-thousand year old, seven-hundred foot ice wall that separates the northernmost part of the world from the rest of Westeros. These men swear a vow similar to the Kingsguard. They follow no kings and only serve the realm. A man who deserts the Wall is immediately executed. These men, exiled to the icy north, are known as The Night’s Watch, and are often nick-named Crows, for they wear nothing but black clothing.

In a following chapter, it’s shown to us that Robert, Ned’s good old friend whom he helped win a throne, is on his way to Winterfell. It takes months to reach Winterfell so far in the north of the land, as the King is also bringing his wife, his kings, the entire Kingsguard, and what seems to Ned as half the kingdom of Westeros.

Once in Winterfell, Robert asks Ned to do something that he doesn’t agree with, but knows he truly has no choice. Ned feels that his place will always be with his children and his wife, in Winterfell. However, Ned is an honorable man, and knows that he could never deny his friend anything, even if he is the king.

A Game of Thrones is written from many points of views. Tyrion, brother of the Queen, hated for being a dwarf, mistreated and unloved; Daenerys Targaryen, a young girl of thirteen or so running forever from Robert and his spies with her brother Viserys; Eddard Stark, valiant and noble and honorably foolish; Bran Stark, Eddard’s son, who suffers from a tragic, life-altering event at the hands of an unlikely pair; Jon Snow, the bastard son of Eddard Stark, who can never hope to hold lands since Snow is the bastard name of a child born in the north, and aspires to be a brother of the Night’s Watch; Catelyn Stark, wife of Ned Stark, who ends up being courageous and far more important than one might expect; Sansa Stark, eldest daughter of Ned and Cat, who becomes betrothed to the king’s eldest son Joffrey; and finally, Arya Stark, youngest daughter of Ned and Cat, untamable and completely uninterested in being a lady, a young girl who wants to be a knight.


The series A Song of Fire and Ice is such an intricate web of interlocked stories and lives that never seems to end. It mixes history with fantasy with reality in a satisfying blend that is, at first, hard to swallow. Every sentence is a new discovery, a shocking realization, a horrifying second in time. It would take an entire book to coherently explain to someone what A Game of Thrones is about. George R.R. Martin is a master seamster of reality. Once I picked up the first book, I couldn’t put it down. I wanted to know who’s head I would jump into next, who’s story would be revealed to me this time, what tragic event would affect the lives of these people now.
Although it’s a lot to handle at first, everything starts to make sense when the story unfolds, yet holds its basic structure; and that is, that this is a game of thrones. Many families join sides and clash together as suddenly the Iron Throne becomes vacant.


“In the game of thrones, you either win or you die,” Cersei Lannister famously quotes to Ned Stark. It’s as if she’s able to read the future!

All in all, I’m completely head-over-heels for A Game of Thrones, and the entire A Song of Fire and Ice series. Although George could expand his plot even further in later books, I feel that the very first book, A Game of Thrones, is perfect just the way it is. I could read it a million times and find some new detail each time. So, even though it might seem like a lot of confusing words and information swimming around in your brain, eventually everything just falls into place.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a diligent reader that is familiar with a bit of a larger vocabulary, though it’s just as good for those who don’t. Anyone who loves blood and gore and tragedy and drama and promiscuity and the scandalous and an amazing plot that replicates real life issues in an older time should find this book right for them.