Audible: Game Of Thrones by: G.R.R. Martin (1996)

I have decided to read the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin. My cousin mentioned she was listening to it on Audible and I realized that this was something I need in my life…

In the middle of listening to A Game of Thrones, I realized that it might be nice to Tweet out my thoughts as I was reading and then I would circle back to that thread and use it for this blog. I will be posting individual book blogs as well as re-watching the show from the beginning and blogging about the episodes in comparison to how I felt about the coordinating book scenes.

George R R Martin is a genius. Let’s just get that out of the way. His ability to not give a shit about “fan favorites” is one of my favorite things about these books. Martin has been praised for his realism and part of that realism is that “people die”. He began writing A Game of Thrones in 1991 and it took five years to make it to production. He drew inspiration from The War Of The Roses, the English civil wars. Millions of copies of his books have sold and, as of 2017, they have been translated into 47 languages.

Specs: 694 pages, 73 chapters, 292,727 words and 33h 53m of audio.

Each chapter is told from the perspective of a specific character. For this first novel in the series, there are nine characters total who voice the book. Reading up on the series as a whole, the number of perspectives will grow to 31. I am hoping to be able to keep up.

My Tweeted Thoughts:

I am listening to GoT on @audible_com and it just hit me that Maester Aemon was Jon Snow’s great-great uncle. It was like being smacked in the face with a revelation! (I watched all the shows, read one of the books, now listening to the whole series.) Sep 24, 2019

***

Cannot remember if in the show Sansa betrays her father by telling Cersei that he was trying to evacuate his daughters before shit hit the dead king’s fan. It made me irrationally angry at a fictional child character. It reminded me that (in the beginning) I did not like Sansa. Sep 24, 2019

***

I also love how each “chapter” is told from the specific point-of-view of a specific character. You are watching the tale unfold through the eyes of specific characters. Sep 24, 2019

***

I love first book Arya even more than first season Arya. I love the inner monologue and her thoughts behind her actions. Similarly, I like the inner thoughts of Daenerys in the book even though it was a handful of seasons into the show before I took to her character. Sep 24, 2019

***

I truly believe the most noble of all the characters (even though short lived in both film and page) was Eddard. I know what is coming for him and it makes me horribly sad. Sep 24, 2019

***

Also something that stands out is the difference between the book description of the character and the actor portraying the character. This came across loud with Jorah Mormont’s book description. Sep 24, 2019

***

Thought: If Bronn secures Shay for Tyrion, and we will know later why Shay was Tyrion’s lover, would that imply that Bronn was in league with Tyrion’s Lord father? Sep 26, 2019

***

Bronn avoids confirming the name of the knight he took her from. Sep 26, 2019

***

Also, hearing Podrick’s name made me smile. Sep 26, 2019

***

I love the book version of Tyrion taking the Hill Tribes into battle. The descriptions, his courage in the face of fear. So much better than his being knocked out and missing it on the show. Sep 27, 2019

***

The internal thoughts of Sansa allows me to appreciate her so much more. Ned’s Head (which should be the name of an IPA) chapter gives her greater depth. Sep 28, 2019

***

Just finished the book. I have grown to love the narrator. The final chapter about Danny was splendid and better than on film. The internal fortitude as she walked into the pyre…. Sep 29, 2019

***

The Narrator for the A Song of Ice and Fire series is Tony award winning actor Roy Dotrice. He served as a wireless operator / air gunner with the Royal Air Force during WWII. He was a German POW from 1942-1945.

He experienced Radio prominence while voicing the character of “Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Gregory Pitkin” in the early episodes of BBC Radio’s long-running comedy “The Men From The Ministry”. For forty years, and over multiple runs in various theaters, he took the stage in the part of John Aubrey in the play “Brief Lives”. With this long theater run for this character, Dotrice was the recipient of a Guinness World Records for the greatest number of solo performances (1,782). He had a number of Television runs both in the UK and in the US. In the US he is known for roles in Beauty and the Beast, Picket Fences and Angel. He voiced every one of the novels in A Song of Ice and Fire. In 2011 he was awarded the world record for most character voices in an audiobook for his recording of A Game of Thrones, which contained 224. In 2010, it was announced that he would be playing Grand Maester Pycelle. He would eventually withdraw from consideration for health reasons. Roy passed away in 2017. He was 94.