Book Discussion: A Game of Thrones

[Maria]

All book discussions for A Game of Thrones goes here. The discussion will last until some time in November.

[Mendorah]

I haven't finished reading the book quite yet so I can't be involved in any major discussion yet, but I can tell already who my favorite character is. I just Love Daenerys(sp?)!!!

 

I have about 200 pages left, so hopefully I'll be able to jump in soon. I don't want to encounter any spoilers, so I'm going to kind fo keep away until I finish.

[Guest Segurant]

I'm going by audiobook for this one. So far my favorite is Jon Snow.

[Ikaiko Tarianne]

I read the book maybe a year, maybe a year and a half, ago. I have to agree with whoever said Daenerys was their favorite character; she's definitely mine. I love how M<artin seperates the characters by chapter; I think it's a much easier way of keeping track of events that are presently occuring.

 

I must admit, though, I should go pick up the book and reread it if I'm to participate much further in this discussion... xD

[JenniferL]

Daenerys was an early favorite for me as well. I thought Arya would be too, but I never really warmed up to her. Same with Catelyn. Sansa bugged throughout the first book, but I really warmed up to her in the later ones.

 

Bran is boring. I wholeheartedly applaud Jaime's decision to toss him out a window. Booooooooring!

[King of the Reds]

Is this thread going to be about all of the books or just the first one?

 

 

My favorites are the Lannisters. All of them. I love the way that none of them (okay, except Joffrey who's a kid so I excuse it) are evil. Misguided yes. Making terrible decisions, sure. But not evil. They all have some sort of "good" reason at heart for what they do.

 

After them it will be Jon and Daeys. Initially reading it I found Daeys to be one of the most boring characters because everything goes right for her. Now, she is growing into one of my favorites, but it took an entire reread for that to happen.

 

 

Ender

[Jhaenara]

Hmmm I like Arya, Brienne (though I think she comes later? lol) and once you get to know why Jaime does a lot of what he does, he starts to grow on you. Tyrion is fun too. :)

Ned was a strong character, but he's gone (sorry if you haven't finished the book :P ).

 

Daenerys is okay, but I find her a bit nauseating sometimes. Maybe because of what Ender said... things always seem to work out for her. Also I find her kind of hypocritical, but I'd have to go look in the books to explain why, and I'm too lazy (and busy)... lol.

[Dwynwen]

My favorites are probably Arya and Jon Snow. Dae's storylines tended to bore me, and I absolutely hate the Lannisters with a passion (except for Tyrion, who isn't that bad).

[Twitchy]

Sigh, I never read this one but read all the others ones, see, they didn't have this one at the library, and i didn't feel like being fickle that day. So, I started out with the 2nd one, and then

*Might be a spoiler, i dunno*

when Jaime is talking to Catelyn when she's about to free him, and he's talking about all the main stuff that happened in the 1st book, it was like everything was kinda unfolding and it was pretty shnazy

So, I know that's not really a spoiler, but it could be for some. Jaime was my favorite character till that thing happened...that's a spoiler too, so, i won't say that...grrr!

And Robb, was that his name? Was one of my fav's even though he wasnt a main, now Jon is my fav.....seems fickle doesnt it?

[Guest Karana Majin]

Oooh! *rolls up sleeves*

 

Seeing as how I have read this book 3-4 times, I will tell you that you all have made an excellent choice choosing to read it!

 

I will admit, the first time through, the book was hard to get into, the first 150 pages had me going WTF is going on?! But once you figure out who everyone is/was, then you can get into it.

 

I love Ned, Jon Snow and Arya. Bran is ok, later on. Sansa drives me MAD, as does Catelyn. Hate them both. Tyrion is one of my all time favorite characters in a series.

 

So, you know... the beheading? How many people read that over a couple times in disbelief, then put the book down in shock? I know I did. Since RJ, and most writers, don't kill off major characters, I really didn't believe it had happened, at first. Awesome.

[Dwynwen]

I was devastated at Ned's death, but the thing that horrified me to depression and numbness happens in a later book to Robb and his direwolf. I won't say anything more because I don't want to spoil it.

[Alarwyn Liande]

I know, Dwyn! And Karana too, though I read the end of aGoT very late in the night so I was pretty numbed for everything. I just couldn't put the book down, though. ;)

 

My favourite characters in the first book are Dany and Arya. Later on in the books, I don't like Dany quite that much (for the reason mentioned already), but Arya is still my favourite character by far. I think she may grow into a very ... interesting person, considering that already in her age she's killed people. :/

[Niamh Sedai]

Kath. I offically love you. That quote about Bran will stay with me for all eternity!!

 

I really adore this book. It kicked so much arse; Ned's death whilst tragic was incredibly clever. No one is safe and anyone can go at anytime! It makes it some much more exciting and tense. The first time I read it I had to have a little break after reading that bit to calm down *lol*

 

My favourite character is probably Tyrion (It depends on my mood). Dany's just a little bit annoying for me. I like Sansa (though not so much in this book). Catelyn should have fallen out the window. She whines most of the time. And the way she treats Jon is really awful! My favourite non POV character is definately The Hound. If I had to ship for ASOIAF, Sansa/Sandor would be on my list ;)

[Ikaiko Tarianne]

It's funny; yesterday I was talking with a good friend of mine about this entire series- not just the first book. The main point in our disussion was Ned's decapitation. Both of us were shocked when we read it; literally, the book fell from our hands. He and I both were more than a ittle angry at Martin for killing such a primary characteer. But after thinking about it for a while- we both decided that that was exactly the reaction MArtin was hoping to evoke from his readers. xD I still don't like the fact, though, that he killed Ned.

 

Haha. I made a mistake. xDDD Fixed, now. Hope no one other than Nia caught it! <333

[Niamh Sedai]

*cough*GRRMnotRJ*cough*

[Silver]

Finished book 1 and just started into 2.

 

I really like Arya so far. Early on Bran had a lot of potential to be cool but just turned out boring. Jon is cool too, and I can't stand Sansa

[Jhaenara]

I understand all the Sansa hating... she really is annoying. But she does grow and start to change. But, of course, this is the first book we're discussing... lol... so I won't go beyond.

[JenniferL]

Yeah, just be aware that Sansa does improve later on. And in my mind, Arya doesn't fufill the early promise. But the series is only half over, so things can change.

 

Alright, here's a question for everyone: What's the endgame in this series? In WoT, we know Rand has to fight the Darkone to end the series. Who has to defeat who? Who is our main protaganist? the main antagonist?

 

I strongly suspect the Big Bad is the Others and Daenarys and/or Jon Snow will have to defeat them somehow. But absolutely nothing in the series seems to be really leading there. Instead, we get pages of the Lannisters being bastards to everyone, the Starks being noble and everyone else out for themselves. It drives me batty, especially since the number of books projected seems to keep increasing.

[Guest Karana Majin]

Yeah, but in THIS instance, I don't care if the projected numbers of books keeps increasing forever. I would read them and read them. I have read all the books several times and never gotten tired and learned something new every re-read. I <3 GRRM madly!

 

Some people think Sansa gets better. I think she gets tolerable. That's all I'll allow her. I think Arya fulfills her promise. I have never been bored reading an Arya chapter.

[Niamh Sedai]

I could also read GRRM forever. *lol*

 

I think the whole point of these early books IS all the feuding all the petty events that are going on. Baisically, everyone's going to be too busy wrapped up in their own events to worry what is going on so that when the Others do eventually head south, they'll have to forget about it and deal with the real issues.

[Ikaiko Tarianne]

Nia pretty much hit the nail right on the head- which is why I, for one, am very anxious for more books in the series to come out. Will they all realize the Others are moving South too late? Will they put everything aside and band together to battle the common enemy? -shrugs- That's what I want to know.

[Niamh Sedai]

I think that's the major test of these books. Everyone is quite selfish to some degree so they have to put that aside.

 

I think the most important chapter of this book in the Prologue. Very little more about it is explained in the rest of the book, so it's probably going to have huge repercussions for the rest of the series.

[Werthead]

It's pretty much explained in four conversations where the series is going. One in the House of the Undying in A Clash of Kings; the conversation between Melisandre and Davos at the start of A Storm of Swords and later between Mel, Stannis and Jon on the Wall; and Aemon to Sam after the revelations in A Feast for Crows.

 

"He is the Prince Who Was Promised. And his is the Song of Ice and Fire."

 

Highlight to read, but there are spoilers for Books 2-4:

The identity of the Prince Who Was Promised is a major mystery in the series. Melisandre believes it is Stannis, but clearly it is not. Aemon believes it is Daenerys and it seems to fit. She was reborn amid flames and tears, and the rock in the prophecy refers to her three stone eggs which birthed the dragons, who in this interpretation are her 'sword'. However, it is also possible it refers to Jon Snow, since he is definitely the son of Ice (House Stark), but his other parent in unclear. If it is a Targaryen, then he becomes, literally, the Son of Ice and Fire.

 

I would be interested to know how many people picked up on the Big Mystery though. The seeds are, to my mind, clearly sown throughout AGoT but I only picked up on them second time around. It revolves around Ned's flashbacks to his dying sister, and his relationship with Jon Snow.

 

As for the Dark One's parallel in this series, obviously it is the Others. Less obvious are their powers, abilities and motives, and why they waited 8,000 years before launching this new incursion.

[Jhaenara]

Werthead, I thought about discussing where the books are going too, but it's really hard to do when we're supposed to just be discussing book one (yet a lot of us have read beyond that)... hehee.

 

I like how you posted the spoilers. In response to them, (I'm not good with theories and all that... I usually just read the books and see what happens)[highlight to read on] I thought Daeny initially too, but then I ventured over to westeros.org and now I'm thinking it's Jon Snow. I don't think his father is Ned, but Ned's sister, Lyanna, is his mother and Rhaegar the father. I don't think he raped her like it's thought. The "bed of blood" would be childbirth and Ned swore to keep her secret. This would make Jon, Targaryen blood. I guess this is what you're referring to with the Big Mystery comment. It wasn't obvious to me, but now it totally is... lol. But as I said, I'm clueless when I read books... lol.

 

There's also some talk with there being three of them... three headed dragon or something. I don't remember all this, but if that's the case, I'd say it's Jon, Daenyerys and not sure on the last. I've heard talk of Tyrion, but I can't remember how he's supposed to fit in. There's also speculation of Daeny and Jon getting together since Targaryen blood often marry.

 

[Tessandra]

Jumping in late -but- I LOVE Jon Snow and Tyrion! Best two characters along with Jaqen H'ghar ^_^ I've read the first three and have yet to read the fourth yet [what the heck am I waiting for??]

 

Cannot stand Sansa or Catelyn -_-

 

Theories? I don't do theories. I just wait for the books to come out *lol*