Friday Favourites #2

Friday Favourites is a weekly meme, hosted by Tressa's Wishful Endings, that focuses on a favourite author, book, series, cover, publisher. Any bookish thing, really. 

Game of Thrones
George R.R. Martin
“Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.

As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must … and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.

The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne.”

Why this is a favourite

I just... do I really need to explain this one? I feel that whatever I write will end up not doing this book justice, so I'm going to - try and - keep this brief.

What is there not to love about George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series? The answer to that, if you're wondering, is nothing. 

That's right. Nothing.

Game of Thrones, along with all its sequels, is set in a wonderfully crafted world. I don't even want to think about how long it took GRRM to come up with it and finish polishing every last detail, because believe me when I say every last detail has been covered. Things from the country itself and the regions within it to the way society is to the way different languages are spoken have been included and fully developed. 

Not only that, but the characters - the hundreds and hundreds of characters (no joke) - have had so much time and effort and thought put into them. Everyone has their own house, their own loyalties, their own families, their own story, their own motives and agendas, their own way of speaking, their own characteristics and quirks. You instantly have your favourites, and you instantly have your least favourites, but even then, you can't help but quietly root for and love them, even when you probably shouldn't. 

And then there's the actual books. Coming in at 500+ pages each (with A Storm of Swords and A Dance With Dragons being split into two separate 400+ page books), A Song of Ice and Fire is a very daunting series to start. Once you start, though, and immerse yourself in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, you can't put them down. You can't tear yourself away from the story and the characters because the writing is exquisite so, so well done that you just don't want to stop reading. 

I literally cannot sing enough praise about this series, but when I tend to start, I usually end up talking a lot of nonsense. But it's not nonsense when I say Game of Thrones is a perfect fantasy novel, whether you're just getting into it or have been interested in the genre for quite some time.