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Book Home  Books Information Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones
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A Game of Thrones is the first book
in A Song of Ice and Fire, a fantasy series by George R. R.
Martin. It is an immensely popular work, and has spawned a successful
trading card game and board game.
A Game of Thrones takes place in a fictitious
world reminiscent of Europe in the Middle Ages (primarily on
a continent called Westeros). Seasons on Westeros last for decades.
The novel is structured to present each chapter with a main
character as the focus for the extent of that chapter. The story
is told through third person limited point of view of the following
main characters:
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Lord Eddard Stark, Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell,
husband of Catelyn Stark
Lady Catelyn Stark, of House Tully, wife of Eddard Stark
Sansa Stark, eldest daughter of Eddard Stark and Catelyn Stark
Arya Stark, youngest daughter of Eddard Stark and Catelyn Stark
Bran Stark, middle of three sons of Eddard Stark and Catelyn Stark
Jon Snow, bastard son of Eddard Stark
Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf, son of Tywin Lannister (Martin has named
Tyrion as his favorite character)
Princess Daenerys Targaryen, Stormborn, heiress to the Targaryen Dynasty
Plot
The introductory novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire cycle, A Game
of Thrones introduces Lord Eddard Stark and his wife, Catelyn Stark.
The novel begins as Eddard Stark, lord of Winterfell is visited by
the king of all the realm, Robert Baratheon and his queen, Cersei
Lannister, who is sleeping with her twin brother. King Robert asks
Eddard to take the position of King's Hand — a position of much
duty and importance, second only to the King himself — as the
previous hand, Jon Arryn, had suddenly died. Eddard shoulders the
burden with reluctance, finally convinced when Catelyn receives a
coded message from her sister, Arryn's widow, intimating that Arryn's
death might have been murder. Lord Eddard travels to King's Landing
with Sansa and Arya, gradually learning that Robert is not the stout
friend he remembers, and that court is host to a web of intrigue and
murderous secrets. During this time, Catelyn Stark travels south to
bring Lord Eddard urgent news. Catelyn, attempting to secure the individual
whom she believes attempted to murder one of her household, unwittlingly
compounds the tensions between her house and House Lannister, and
Westeros trembles on the edge of civil war. With the kingdom's houses
so distracted, an ancient foe emerges in the far north, noticed only
by the brothers of the Night's Watch.
In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, daughter of the slain
King Aerys Targaryen, is sold by her brother Viserys to the Dothraki
horselord Khal Drogo. For his sister's hand Viserys expects to receive
an army capable of invading Westeros and returning him to the throne
taken from his father by Robert Baratheon. Viserys gradually reveals
himself to be as unstable as his father, and his reward is not what
he might have expected. Daenerys, initially a frightened child used
as a pawn by those around her, finds her place amongst the horselords.
She discovers a deep love and understanding for her new husband, and
soon finds herself bearing his son, a prophesied warrior who will
unite all the Dothraki tribes as 'The Stallion that Mounts the World'.
Drogo promises Dany that their son will return to Westeros and return
to her the throne that is her birthright. Her happiness is short-lived,
as treachery takes from her most of the happiness she has fought to
obtain. Daenerys perseveres, however, and proves herself to be the
true blood of the dragon by returning to the world a force that has
been absent for centuries.
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