Great book series on HBO, part 2

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
(Fantasy)

The first volume in Martin's first fantasy saga, A Song of Ice and Fire, combines intrigue, action, romance, and mystery in a family saga. The family is the Starks of Winterfell, a society in crisis due to climatic change that has created decades-long seasons, and a society almost without magic but with human perversity abundant and active. Martin reaches a new plateau in terms of narrative technique, action scenes, and integrating (or not injecting) his political views into the story. He does not avoid a dauntingly large cast and a daunting number of viewpoint shifts, but these are problems seemingly inseparable from the multivolume fantasy genre. Accordingly, one doubts there will be any other comfortable entry point into this example of the genre except at the beginning. Judging by this beginning, however, it promises to repay reading and rereading, from first volume to last, on account of its literacy, imagination, emotional impact, and superb world-building.
~Review from Booklist

~Recommended by Jan (library staff):
HBO has started advertising the trailers for their new original series based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series - to start in 2011.  I am anxious to see how they portray this medieval fantasy on the screen.  At 694 pages, A Game of Thrones is not a light read, nor is it for anyone who might be squeamish about violence.  This author drops children from towers and abandons wolf puppies in the woods.  That said, his character development is absolutely amazing.  Tyrion is my favorite character from any fantasy series I've read.

Request A Game of Thrones from Bangor Public Library