Love It

I have listened my way through this book several times now and it just keeps getting better, Roy Dotrice's narration manages to bring each character to life and I could now pick out each by his narration alone. It's been a long time since I found a book so engaging.

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25 people found this helpful

Amazing start to ASOIAF

A truly spellbinding story, and the start of the best fantasy series I’ve read. The story weaves this way and that, with surprises and cliff hangers galore. I’ve read the books and watched the series, I think the audio book might just be the sweet spot between stoking my imagination, without having to sit and devote the large amount of time to reading this amazing series.

A note on Roy Dotrice. I’ve read some criticism of his reading, in particular his accents and pronunciation. The accents are a bit dodgy at times, but Roy reads like he’s reading the books, not narrating. The books were different in my head than the series, and different to how Roy reads it too, but then that would be the same whoever was reading. In general, I think Roy is excellent, kind of like your wise old grandad reading you the story, rather than a professional voice actor. That’s fine by me, and I’ll have no hesitation in buying the rest of the series.

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2 people found this helpful

Hooked - and I don't even like the genre.!

I am not a fan of the fantasy genre - in fact avoid them like the plague - but got hooked-on the HBO Series from the start because of four primary determinates: terrific acting, great costumes and sets, wonderful characters and a gripping story. Undergoing withdrawal following the end of the second HBO Series I decided that even without two of the four determinates I would give the audiobook a chance and have found that the characters and story alone are more than enough to carry it. Whilst initially I was a little disappointed with Roy Dotrice's narration I was also realistic enough to put much of my reservation down to the fact that he didn't sound just like the actors but then again neither should he have to - he's a reader, not a mimic. And, just as a great narrator can often compensate for a poor storyline in this case the story itself covers any 'shortfall' in narration whilst the accessibility audiobooks provide more than tips the balance between reading or listening. Do yourself a favour and get hooked.

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1 person found this helpful

Lived up to the hype

Until a few months ago I'd never knowingly heard of this book, but suddenly I seemed to be surrounded by people talking about the book and TV series. Now I know why (well about the book the TV series probably won't happen).



It shouldn't work, a large cast of characters, multiple places, a complicated story, this is a recipe for confusion. Except it isn't and it works, very well!



This is a well written and read epic story set in a fictional past. You will need to concentrate at first just to sort the characters but after a while you want to concentrate just because it's so good.



Well worth a listen.

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1 person found this helpful

Can't put this down

The first thing to say is that listening to this saga has made me realise just how inspired the casting of the TV series is. The second is to say how much clearer the story line is in the book than on the TV. The story itself is gripping and the narrative first class. My one nitpick is with Roy Dotrice's narration. He is undoubtedly one of the UK's finest actors but I get the feeling he has come into this a little unprepared. Although he makes the whole thing very enjoyable there are a number of inconsistencies in his narration - place names tend to change pronunciation from time to time and sometimes his phrasing is a bit off putting. By that I mean taking breaths and breaks at unusual points in a sentence. I get the feeling that this is not for dramatic effect but rather it sounds as if he is reading it for the first time. Unless I am very much mistaken, one of the characters actually changes accent completely during the narrative which, again, is a bit disconcerting. From being a northerner he suddenly becomes Welsh.

All said though, I can heartily recommend this series to anyone whether they have seen the TV adaptation or not.

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1 person found this helpful

never gets old

well this isn't my 1st time with g.o.t, what can I say that hasn't already been said about the book, writing its stunning of course. Martin has a strange way of not hanging around whilst still slow burning the story to a satisfying end. Roy's performance for me was great, yes he some times calls joffery Jeffrey . or hodor odor personally find it funny lol and yes acents get misplaced lol but its shouldn't take away the fact overall its brilliant.

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1 person found this helpful

great story

great story and well written, but the narrator makes a few mistakes at times for example calling joffrey Geoffrey

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Amazing Book

Constant Action, Perfect amount of action, and Roy Doctrice's voice is really easy to relax too.

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A Song of Ice and Fire

Always wanted to listen to these books. the only issue is the narrator mixes accents and voices and names sometimes, which confused me at first.

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highly recommend

Great start to the saga - might be tough to follow if you have never watched the show but I recommend it either way (S1 is a very faithful adaptation to this exact book)

Narrator does a great job, judging by the reviews it seems like people were expecting voice acting from the show - a little cringe at times but he brings so many characters to life!

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