A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
-George R.R. Martin

So, yeah. When I left off OVER A YEAR AGO I had just finished the first book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, A Game of Thrones. I was totally engrossed in this story and spent a good part of my fantastic lake vacation whiling away afternoons with my nose in the Kindle while my daughter was napping. I never got around to writing about it, and now I've finished the second and third books (with several other books read in between).

This series is a medievil fantasy of sorts, following the intertwining lives of long-standing families the Starks, the Lannisters, the Baratheons, the Targharyens, and a host of others including an old fart named Walder Frey who keeps taking wives and having children, many of them also named Walder. But I digress. It's the Starks you start out with, the noble Ned and his wife Catelyn, and their children Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon. Ned also has a bastard son, John Snow, who is close to his half brothers and sisters, but is never truly accepted by the Lady Catelyn. They live in the cold north of the Seven Kingdoms, in a castle called Winterfell. Early on they discover a litter of direwolves, a fiercer and larger version of a regular wolf and a species that has not been seen for many years. But it is the sigil of House Stark, and there are six direwolves, one for each of the Stark children and even one white direwolf for the bastard John Snow.

*SPOILERS AHEAD - I'LL TRY NOT TO GIVE IT ALL AWAY...

At some point half of the Starks going to King's Landing, Ned can serve as the Hand of the King, who happens to be his lifelong friend Robert Baratheon. King Robert is married to Cersei Lannister, a cold woman with an interesting relationship with her twin brother Jamie, and a hateful relationship with her dwarf brother Tyrion ("the Imp"). Ned takes his two daughters with him, as Sansa is betrothed to Joffrey Baratheon, the eldest son of the king. The rest of the Starks remain in Winterfell. John Snow has "taken the black," joining the Night's Watch, defending the great wall which protects the northern edge of the realm from the dark, cold forest of mysterious creatures beyond.

Back in King's Landing, through a variety of circumstances the king dies and Joffrey takes his place, which is questioned by some, including King Robert's brothers. I won't give it all away, but people start losing their heads, and a war begins, with  many claiming themselves as the rightful king, beginning the "game of thrones."

Young Robb Stark is proclaimed the King of the North, and begins his war march. Stannis and Renley Baratheon, Robert's brothers, also call their own armies and vy against each other for the throne.  The Lannister's father is also fighting battles, so back in King's Landing, the imp Tyrion Lannister takes on the role of the King's Hand. Back at Winterfell, young Bran and Rickon remain with their mother, but she soon leaves for matters involving her son Robb.  Amongst the battle of kings, the young queen Danaerys Targharyen, the last in her line, is also on the march to stake her claim. And oh yeah, she is the Mother of Dragons. Real dragons, which have not been seen in the realm for hundreds of years.

The battles continue, and families continue to be torn apart and yet the ways the various families are intertwined become even more complicated. While kings battle and people die south of the wall trying to name a true king, it is discovered that what lies north of the wall is a bigger threat than any of them had ever imagined. As the Starks are apt to say, "winter is coming."

These books are richly written and hard to put down. The characters are vivid, and Martin has a way of making you feel empathetic toward even the most hateful of characters at times. Just when you think you want someone to die, half a book later they are one of your favorites. The Starks are beloved for sure, and I found myself rooting for them all along the way.  The story is largely a drama, with a little bit of soap opera and a little bit of fantasy thrown in, with a dash of porn and gore to keep things interesting. The author is not afraid to kill off important characters, beloved or no. I have been equally enamored and enraged (one particular scene in the third book had me tossing the Kindle on the bed in rage), and to me, that equals brilliance.

As you might expect, neither book has ended with any clear answers on how this might all turn out. With 2  more books in the series and each at about 1,000 pages, I am both wary and excited to begin the next. It's definitely an investment in time, but well worth it. (And for those of you wondering, the HBO series is also very well done and does the books justice, so far).

A Game of Thrones - 4.5 out of 5 stars
A Clash of Kings - 4 out of 5 stars
A Storm of Swords - 4.5 out of 5 stars