A Game of Thrones / A Clash of Kings / A Storm of Swords / A Feast for Crows

A Game of Thrones is an epic fantasy novel by American author George R. R. Martin. It was published in August 1996 as the first entry in his series A Song of Ice and Fire. It was Martin's fourth novel and his return to writing prose fiction after a long period working in television. He had the initial idea in 1991 while writing science fiction; he wrote a hundred pages and submitted them to his agent, originally planning the novel as a trilogy. A Game of Thrones is narrated in third person, with each chapter alternating between eight narrators who sometimes provide unreliable accounts. In the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, House Stark and House Lannister influence the political fate of the continent. In Westeros' far north, an illegitimate son of House Stark joins a group maintaining a giant wall of ice to protect Westeros from raiders and a group of mythical enemies. Across the sea in Essos, the last surviving members of Westeros' deposed royal house, House Targaryen, live in exile. Following the novel's publication, several reviewers commended the novel's focus on political intrigue and historical influences. It won the 1997 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel and was nominated for several others, and a novella comprising the Targaryen chapters won the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Novella. It was only a modest commercial success, selling a few thousand copies. The HBO television adaptation Game of Thrones (2011–2019) reignited interest in the novel. It became a best-seller and the subject of academic and popular discourse. An epic fantasy novel, it has been widely compared with the work of J. R. R. Tolkien and characterized as subverting the genre's major tropes; it is sometimes described as historical or medieval fantasy. There are few direct historical analogues, but there are clear echoes of real history, like Hadrian's Wall inspiring the novel's giant wall of ice. Scholars have explored whether the novel authentically represents the Middle Ages and discuss how it responds to medieval literary conventions or themes, like chivalry. Gender, motherhood, and sexual violence are other frequently explored topics, and the authority of rulers or kings is sometimes discussed with reference to feudalism. In 2019, the BBC named it among the 100 most inspiring novels.