Books - A Game of Thrones

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	Books - A Game of Thrones

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, board game and roleplaying 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:

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. 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, unwittingly 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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