a game of thrones.

Seeing as how this book is 900 pages, is on HBO as a TV show, and has a million main characters and back stories, I'll just explain my experience with reading it without including an actual synopsis.

First of all, this is in no way a book that I ever would have picked up for myself. Yes, I read the Harry Potter series and The Lord of the Rings series but sci-fi/fantasy/medieval books are not really my thing.

That said, Nick and I became hooked on HBO's first season of A Game of Thrones, and Nick decided to start reading the books (sci-fi/fantasy/medieval stuff is his thing). Eventually, he got through the second book, and now is almost done with the third. As a result, he has a much better understanding of the show as we watch it whereas I am struggling with remembering characters and important pieces of information (there are seriously so many frigging characters! "Wait, he's whose father?" "Ok, so, is he loyal to the Lannisters or the Starks?" "Wait, where did that chick just come from?").

One night, we got home late and were sitting on the couch and I decided to pick up A Game of Thrones and before I knew it, I spent the next month reading it.

Disadvantage: knowing everything that would happen, since I had seen it on TV. Advantage: picturing the actors as the characters in the book, which usually is, like, the worst, but I actually enjoyed it this time because there were too many characters to keep up with. Having a picture of the characters from the TV show helped me understand what I was reading.

That said, when I read the second book (not anytime soon, I need a break!), the story will differ from what I saw on TV, so I'm hoping my interest level will be slightly more piqued. Then, my real goal is to read the third book before the third season airs (I have a year, thank god). It is from this third book that I will gain a true understanding of whether or not I enjoy the books, because it will be new material that I don't have prior knowledge of from the TV show.

Bottom line: I can't recommend or not recommend this book. I think the only thing I can do is say that if you can read the book before you watch the show, you should. But seriously, who is thinking about watching A Game of Thrones but isn't already? Please.