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Now a major Sky Atlantic TV series from HBO, featuring a stellar cast. Winter is coming. Such is the stern motto of House Stark, the northernmost of the fiefdoms that owe allegiance to King Robert Baratheon in far-off King''s Landing. There Eddard Stark of Winterfell rules in Robert''s name. There his family dwells in peace and comfort: his proud wife, Catelyn; his sons Robb, Brandon, and Rickon; his daughters Sansa and Arya; and his bastard son, Jon Snow. Far to the north, behind the towering Wall, lie savage Wildings and worse - unnatural things relegated to myth during the centuries-long summer, but proving all too real and all too deadly in the turning of the season. Yet a more immediate threat lurks to the south, where Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, has died under mysterious circumstances. Now Robert is riding north to Winterfell, bringing his queen, the lovely but cold Cersei, his son, the cruel, vainglorious Prince Joffrey, and the queen''s brothers Jamie and Tyrion of the powerful and wealthy House Lannister - the first a swordsman without equal, the second a dwarf whose stunted stature belies a brilliant mind. All are heading for Winterfell and a fateful encounter that will change the course of kingdoms. Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Prince Viserys, heir of the fallen House Targaryen, which once ruled all of Westeros, schemes to reclaim the throne with an army of barbarian Dothraki-whose loyalty he will purchase in the only coin left to him: his beautiful yet innocent sister, Daenerys.
Report
'In the grand epic fantasy tradition, Martin is by far the best ... tense, surging, insomnia-inflicting' Time Magazine
'The sheer mind-boggling scope of this epic has sent other fantasy writers away shaking their heads ...Its ambition: to construct the Twelve Caesars of fantasy fiction, with characters so venomous they could eat the Borgias'
Guardian
'Colossal, staggering ... Martin captures all the intoxicating complexity of the Wars of the Roses or Imperial Rome in his imaginary world ... The writing is always powerful ...' SFX
'Truly epic ... with its magnificent action-filled climax, it provides a banquet for fantasy lovers with large appetites.'
Publishers Weekly
