Author: George R.R. Martin
Saga: Song of Ice and Fire.
Synopsis:
In the legendary world of the Seven Kingdoms, where summer can last for decades and winter a lifetime, and where traces of immemorial magic emerge in the darkest corners, the northern land, Winterville, is guarded by a colossal wall of Ice that stops dark and supernatural forces. In this majestic setting, Lord Stark and his family are at the center of a conflict that will unleash all the passions: betrayal and loyalty, compassion and thirst for revenge, love and power, lust and incest, All to win the deadliest of battles: the iron throne, a powerful trap that will catch the characters ... and the reader.
Personal opinion:
In this world created by George R.R. Martin the winters and summers do not have a specific duration, can last a few years or a lifetime. Now a particularly long summer is coming to an end and winter is approaching, as the motto of the Stark says.
The story not only focuses on this old family, but on several. But they all have something in common, they are in the middle of a war for the iron throne, they want to be the kings of the Seven Kingdoms.
Robert Baratheon, the king of the Seven Kingdoms, goes to Invernalia to ask his friend Ned (Lord Stark) to be the King's Hand, who helps to direct the kingdom. This place was formerly Jon Arryn, who had been for both As a father and apparently dies from natural causes. Ned can not refuse and leaves for the King's Landing with part of his family.To be honest I did not find anything negative about this book, maybe the fact that there are many characters and you can get to make a bit of a mess, but at the end of the book there is an appendix with the history of each house and its members; That by the end you get used to it so I do not count it as something bad.
The interesting thing is that the author offers us 8 completely different points of view. When one chapter ends, I could not avoid looking at another one for that character, and somewhere between 80 and 80 pages I kept reading, but on passing Of chapter I was hooked with the new character and so on.
Out there they do not like it, but it's really a big plus. It is that the territory where the story takes place is soooo big and the characters are at different points, and if they are in the same they give us two visions of completely different events.
The characters in question are: Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, his sons Bran, Sansa, Arya and his son bastard Jon, his wife Catelyn, Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen.
Each of these characters are completely different from each other. If it were for Ned he would stay away from the fights, but a sense of honor would prevent him.
Sansa is the expected daughter between two great families, very educated and a whole lady, unlike her sister Arya who prefers to have a sword in hand to sew. Of Ned's four sons we can only see the point of view of two: Jon the bastard son, who has no right to own his father's surname or inherit any title and Bran, a boy who loves to climb.
There is also Catelyn Tully, wife of Ned, who will do everything to defend her children.
Tyron Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen are the only ones who are not part of the northern family. The first is a dwarf brother of the queen, who is much more interesting than I assumed at first, and the second is daughter of the former king And lives in exile.
I love this book and I really recommend it. If you have seen the serious you will know that the plot is very good but believe me when I tell you that the book absorbs you more and makes you travel through this magical world.