A Song of Fire & Ice: Game of Thrones

I have just finished reading the first book of George R. R. Martin's beloved "A Song of Fire & Ice" series, "Game of Thrones."  I have not seen much of the HBO television series, but from what I had seen of it and heard from many people, I was at least very anxious to start reading the first book.  I am thoroughly impressed with this series so far!

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This series has so many interesting characters, both within the main cast and the side characters that only show up once in a while. Tyrion, Jon Snow, Arya, Daenerys and so many others have compelling personal histories and develop in interesting ways.

There are quite a few interesting aspects, for instance ice-like zombies that are held back in the north by a giant wall barely holding, dragons born into the world after supposedly being extinct for centuries through such ill mannered magical means, and various forms of bounds being forged and betrayals.

I think what draws a lot of people into this story is the fact that it is not like many stories people are now used to.  It is not simply a story of good triumphing over evil, as there are quite a few characters that have good qualities to them yet also have despicable qualities too.  Many times, it appears that the truly evil characters will win and many of the characters with noble intentions end up suffering and dying horribly.  A happy ending does not appear to be that clear on the horizon.  Even if there is a happy ending to this series, there will be so many scars left over from many of the horrific events that play out. This is not like many fantasy movies we see where there is a clear protagonist who we root for and wins out in the end. There is more of a brutal reality to this epic.

If there is anything people seem to complain about in this series, it is the pacing.  It appears that Daenerys will take forever to get over to the main continent and actually interact with the other characters in the storywith her dragons, King Joffrey has yet to have any sort of appropriate comeuppance for his despicable existence along with the rest of the Lannisters, and who knows when the ice zombies are going to break through the Black Wall.  I was surprised to find out that the author of this series, George R. R. Martin, is still working on another book in the series!  I'm not sure, but I believe the HBO series is on the fourth season & I think it might mean it is partly into the fourth book. There are already five books out each over 700 pages long each!  There is a ton to this story!