I had to wait for weeks to get each book from our library, then I only had two weeks, then I had to wait again. I got the first 3 for Christmas, and I’ll be starting A Storm of Swords as soon as I finish the book I’m currently reading.
The first time I read this book I hated the Danaerys segments but on subsequent reads I really enjoyed her arc. I have to say that the very first time my favorites were:
#1 Jon
#2 Arya
#3 Eddard maybe?
These characters probably served as the closest to tradition fantasy characters so that’s probably why I was so attached to them.
EDIT: No Wait! #1 would have been Tyrion. Then Jon and Arya.
BTW Has anyone mentioned the TV series being made?
Boromir as Ned.
Sarah Connor playing Cersei
Ronon Dex as Drago
And I cannot wait to see the guy who plays Viserys. He was in the Doctor Who episode Family of Blood as the student/alien guy. He will definitely be able to pull off “Waking the Dragon”
Jason Momoa Im definitely looking forward to, and you definitely cant go wrong with Sean Bean; that guy is such a great actor. Peter Dinklage as Tyrion is likely to be damn good as well.
Game_of_Thrones_(TV_series)
I just finished reading A Game Of Thrones for the first time and I’m just blown away by how great it is. Now I have to go and read the other books in the series and I don’t know whether to love or hate whoever nominated this book for adding more novels to my growing to-be-read pile.
One of the things that happens when I read books that have dozens and dozens of characters is that they start to blend together, or I care more about some than I do others, or I get bored with one and I try to speed read through their parts. But when I reached the end of the book (and it was like coming up for air when I was done) I cared about the people that I’d followed, and I’m anxious to find out what happens to them all.
Martin seems to be the kind of author who is capable of killing off loved characters, and it’s scary and exciting that no one is safe. The story never really went where I was expecting it to go, and every character felt so fleshed out. The heroes weren’t perfectly good and the villains weren’t perfectly evil—I appreciated the ambiguity.
I’m so, so glad that I didn’t discover this series until after a few more books were published. I guess I know what I’m going to be reading for the next few days.
Happily, since the library copy’s still out, a friend lent me this a few days ago, and so I finally got to read it! 
So on the book itself… I enjoyed it a lot, but at the same time it feels very familiar, even though it’s the first time I’ve read it. When the twist came, I kind of expected it, but the consequences played out much more quickly than I expected them to. That said, I have the rest of the books on loan from a friend, and I did like this well enough to want to continue them to see where it’s going.
The friend who lent me the copy I read said something similar (like that the first 200 pages were hard to get into), but I honestly didn’t have an issue with it. I also just sat down and read the book all at once, so that might have something to do with it too. That said, I found the fragmentation of the chapters necessary but frustrating in moving the story forward.
It’s funny because I think my favorites are Jon and Arya. And as the book went on I really came to like and respect Catelyn. I want to like Daenerys but I’m still kind of meh about her. There are other characters that I see as sympathetic at times (like Tyrion), but I wouldn’t go so far as to say I like them.
Daenerys doesnt really come into her own in the first book. I grew to like/admire her much more as she develops throughout the series and am really looking forward to what happens to her in Dance with Dragons.
Jon and Arya are definitely my favorite POVs. For a long time Jon was my absolute favorite (also his name is fantastic, seeing as how we share it), but Arya’s a fascinating character.
If I had to name a favorite character after reading the series todate I’d have to go with Tyrion but not by much. He & Danaerys are neck & neck for me. I love & hate that not character is safe. I love & hate that he goes into all of their perspectives. The actions they take are much more clear & their thinking, not always sound, still makes sense. Agreed though, it makes for a daunting understaking. So far Martin has been very pleased with how things are going with the filming of the pilot. So I am looking forward to seeing it. If it does get picked up as a series, the first season is planned to be the first book itself.
Where are Dany and her brother at the beginning of the book? Off the map that’s in the front?
From what I can tell their whole storyline in A Game of Thrones takes place on a different continent… which isn’t on the map 
I’d like to be disabused of that notion, though, if it isn’t the case.
They’re on a different continent, due to Robert being insistent on hunting them down and killing them. For what it’s worth, Dany’s working her way back. I can’t remember if the East is on a map in the next few books or not.
I’m halfway through Storm of Swords and I’m telling everyone I know that likes fantasy to pick up these books.
LordCorbin, I agree about Dany. I found her much more interesting as she grew in the later books than in Game of Thrones, where I found Visery’s more interesting. She becomes a much stronger character, at least as far as I have read (just finished at Astipoor and the Unsullied).
I think SoS was the first book where I busted out laughing at a chapter with Sansa and the ladies of Highgarden. I wasn’t expecting that and it was a pleasant surprise. I love Tyrion and Arya and Davos the Onion Knight. I love the Wall storyline, especially Samwell and Jon. There are other characters that I hate in one book and then end up loving in the next book. I keep flip-flopping on Jamie Lannister, and I have a love/hate thing with Stannis Barathon. I’m so glad I didn’t stop reading at the first book, it’s really worth sticking with.
OK, I’m like three chapters in. But if you’re going to have a map, HAVE A MAP!
It has been a while since I read the first book, but there are so many things about Martin I like. The first is the switching character perspective. So often this is used to follow a set of people who are obviously the Good Guys. For example, Simon, Josua and Miramele from Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. It’s rare to get a glimpse into the mind of people who are petty or misguided or just plain cruel. Sansa is naive and, honestly, a bit shallow. Catelyn is blinded by her own desire to protect her family. Rob is, well, Rob. (Not a big fan of him. I’m really glad he isn’t in the second book much at all.) In the first book, the only really heroic character is Eddard and well, we know what happens to him.The character switching allows us to see the whole game of thrones as more than just observers. We’re forced to make moral judgments about characters in a way I don’t see done often in fantasy.
The second thing (which seems to come from the first) is the sense of realism. The characters seem like real people, doing real things, even if they’re on an epic scale. It reminds me of the best parts of Raymond Fiest.
Granted, that same realism also makes it a tough story to read. I mean it’s hard to see Sansa be stupid or Catelyn be crazy or Joffery be Joffery. A lot of times it feels like the cruel people are winning and the good people are losing.
Anyways, I hope I haven’t screwed anything up.
Hear! Hear! Thats how I know a book is great, if the characters actually make me feel, for good or ill, about what they are doing. Sometimes I want to jump to their rescue and sometimes I want to throttle them. A testament to Martin’s skill.
Catelyn is like lightning in that first book. For the Lannisters she keeps popping up in weird spots. They have got to suspect that Ned is up to something right? I would.
I hated the Daenerys bits the first time through but on recent reread I found myself really enjoying her story. She probably grows the most in this book, going from a frightened and naive child to a serious force of nature.
Well if we’re talking about favorite character to date then:
Littlefinger
Tyrion
Arya
The first time I found myself cheering for Jaime I had to stop and go back and read some of the things he does in the first book again. How the heck does Martin write characters that I can cheer and loathe within the space of a few hundred pages? It’s genius.
For the maply-challenegd folks there is a map of “The Lands of the Summer Sea” in my edition of book 3 (A Storm of Swords). I’ve seen other maps as well but I can’t find my books 2 and 4 so I can’t confirm what they’re of. There is a combined map I’ve seen floating around. There are others.
If folks are having a hard time following what the heck is going on (and are reading book 2 or higher) you might like Tower Of The Hand. They have an adjustable spoiler policy so you can limit the info displayed in articles to just the books that you’ve read.
I just wanted to check back in here and say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who suggested and voted for this book, I’m halfway through A Clash of Kings and really enjoying it! It’s too bad I can’t take a few days off to just breeze through all of them…
again, GWC did not steer me wrong 
Agreed! I’m now on A Feast for Crows and the books just keep getting better. I wanted to add my thanks to the GWC members that suggested this series. Now if only A Dance With Dragons would get a release date…
HAH! I’ve been waiting for Dance since Crows came out, moreso because of the nature of Crows itself.
Welcome to the club.
I don’t recommend stuff to people unless it’s the kind of thing I think can transcend personal taste, and Thrones is one of those things. I’m so stoked everyone’s liking this. Cross your fingers that HBO will greenlight the series- they said they’d announce their decision in March 2010 - so sometime soon!