Review: A Game of Thrones

I don't know if any of you (are there any readers left?) have heard anything about the book A Game of Thrones, or the HBO adaptation of the same name, but I have currently been reading it, which incidentally is the first book in a series by George R. R. Martin called A Song of Ice and Fire. I have not seen the show (no cable, no HBO), but after reading Orson Scott Card's review of it, I probably won't be. I originally heard about the book/series from the GeekDad blog and which gave it glowing reviews, while it also warned that the show is not child friendly.
I was talking with a fellow bibliophile in our ward one day and I asked if he had heard anything about it, to which he answered that he had not. I explained it a little as best I could from what I had read and he ended up looking into it some more and decided to buy the set of books. He then let me borrow the first book because he said he hasn't had time to read anything lately so he is letting me read it first. (Boy, have I been freaked out about keeping the paperback in nice condition. It's not even mine and I'm the first to crack open its pages.)
If you want a decent overview of what is expected in both the book (but mostly the show) follow this link to GeekDad. At this point I will warn you that there is foul language and some sex scenes in the book, but neither one, in and of themselves, is a deal-breaker for me personally. I know for some people it will be. I leave it up to you to decide. Again, Orson Scott Card describes it pretty well when he said:

Now, it happens that in the coarse medieval world of Martin's novels, there is a casual attitude toward sex. But Martin never, not once, uses sex pornographically. It's not described in detail, and it is always used as part of character revelation, relationship building, or plot complication. You don't dwell on it, you know that it happened and you move forward in the story.

 I will discuss the language a little more in detail later. At this point I wanted to give my impressions of the story. The story is very gripping. It details with a medieval world where many factions ("Houses, i.e. Families) are all struggling to survive and prepare for the oncoming winter while at the same time playing the game of thrones, where, it is said, when you play you either win or you die. The game is the struggle of kingship over the Seven Kingdoms, through intrigue, schemes, open battle, etc. Some Houses are more honor-driven than others, some are more power-driven than others, and some are just trying to live long long and not lose their head. For the most part, House Stark, with their Direwolf sigil, are more honor-driven and House Lannister, with their Lion sigil, are more power-driven, while everyone else lies somewhere in between. In addition to the major houses of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, there are also to exhiled children, the last survivors of the Targaryen family, which used to hold the thrown until the children's father was murdered and them hunted.  They flee across the narrow sea and the girl is married to the leader of the Dothraki horse-lords. They are intent on returning to Westeros and reclaiming their father's throne that was stolen from them.
Each chapter tells the story as it relates specifically one character at the time and is presented in a third person limited point of view. The character development is great, the scenic descriptions are great, the visualization of clothing, armor, weapons, equipment, etc. is great. Overall, the book does an excellent job of pulling you into the medieval world of Westeros. When the story starts going, it really pulls you in and you feel like you are there.
My one complaint about the story is the language. As I mentioned earlier, use of foul language in a book is not, in and of itself, a deal-breaker for me. Perhaps that is an admission of my personal level of righteousness, but oh well. I won't stop reading a book just because a couple f-bombs. However, it absolutely MUST be in a proper context. There are some words used frequently that, I feel, is perfectly acceptable in the context of the story. Frequent usage of hell(s) and d--n (and similar forms) fit in perfectly with life, culture, the religion, etc. I have no beef with that. My complaint, however, is with the use of f-bombs and sh-words. As I said earlier, that is not, in and of itself, a deal-breaker. The beef is, that it just feels soooo out of place. I can't imagine medieval people dropping the f-bomb. However, according this article, its origins can be traced back to 1503. But at the same time, it doesn't appear to have been in common usage. For example, William Shakespeare never used it in any of his existing works. The end result of using the f-bomb and sh-word is to effectively make the story come to an abrupt stop and remind me that I am not actually there in Westeros but just a reader of a novel of a fictitious world of fictitious people. Its a little disappointing and always takes a little time to get back into the story. Fortunately, they are kept to a minimum. If the usage was more frequent, it would probably ruin the story and cause to to set the book down and not finish it.
But, overall, it is an excellent story and love engrossing myself in its world.