I have a shameless love of all things medieval. (And ancient Egyptian too actually – could this have something to do with the fact that those were the two coolest Eyewitness books in my elementary school’s library? Quite possibly.)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXuBV44RGTXpLrn1CdDY0G5aAxsVEhXVKxnzBRhvT941EEwT5dTuON5OFhP17W0xryhKZgfJ0ggzlr9CAcuWhsuD7T28jFzaUSeK6E9bfqpbyVmMOKHmzobIsRcmL4MljavaOPid1DumM/s400/A+GAME+OF+THRONES+new+HC.jpg)
Luckily my lack of historical knowledge is not a problem in the context of reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, the first book of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. The series (which you probably know is also a TV show), takes place in a fictional place in medieval-ish times, and is mostly realistic but has moments of magic and fantasy. Clearly I enjoyed all 807 pages of it, and as I mentioned on Monday, I am looking forward to getting my page-turning hands on the next one asap.
Books like this are like candy (or drugs) for readers. I open the book, turn my brain off, and immediately disappear from wherever I am – my bed, the metro, a coffee shop, waiting outside a restaurant…seriously, wherever – into the story. I mean, really, completely gone: I gasp, I frown, I sometimes tear up in public when reading...and I feel like that's ok. Because this is an intense story! It is violent, sometimes really gruesomely and graphically so, and there was a lot more weird sex than I was expecting (incest, rape, etc. I guess that’s why it’s on HBO).
My favorite story line was that of Daenerys Targaryen, because she starts out so weak and then turns into such a bad-ass! And I also really liked Jon Snow, I bet he becomes a big deal in future books.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (which is totally fine and as a fellow sometimes sub-rock dweller I do not judge), you’ve probably already heard of the books and maybe seen the show. So I am here to tell you: next time you want something fun and awesome to read, A Game of Thrones! DO IT!