A Song of Ice & Fire: A Game of Thrones

First off this is a whole hell of a lot better than the show can ever hope to be.  This is the title that started it all back in 1996.  I love this series I picked it up after my sister got me hooked on some other epic fantasy series; Sword of Truth & Wheel of Time.  Everything that made the first season of the show so good is here & so much more.  The show is like a series of cliff notes for this series & this is one that keeps you on the edge of your seat, turning the pages to see what happens next.  The first book introduces us to the land of Westeros.  Eddard Stark is essentially the main character of this particular book but each chapter has its own point of view character.  Tyrion Lannister steals the show with every chapter he has in this book.  There are so many point of view characters in this series that everyone will undoubtedly have their own favorites.  I really like all of the speculative back story in this book I hope that once George R.R. Martin is done writing the last two books in this series.  That he will do three prequel books  First a book about the Aegon the Conqueror coming & conquering Westeros.  The second book should be a detailed account of Robert's Rebelion; I want to know who John Snow's parents really are.  I think that John Snow is really Lyanna Stark's bastard son with Rhaegar Targaryen instead of Ned Stark's bastard & that she died giving birth to him, so in reality he is Daenerys Targaryen's half brother. The third book should be a collection of the stories that Old Nan told the Stark children growing up, the legends of Westeros.  But knowing how long it takes Martin to crank out one of these masterpieces those three books will probably never happen.  This first one however is one of the greatest works of literature of the last quarter of a century & will stand the test of time like The Lord of the Rings.  If you are a fan of the show you owe it to yourself to read not just this book but the whole series.