A Game of Thrones  - George R.R. Martin Warning, rant ahead.

So, I've disliked books more. Ones I perhaps threw against a wall. I didn't throw this one against a wall. A, because I read it on my phone. B, because it kept my interest JUST ENOUGH to keep me reading. But this was a low two stars, barely out of the ones.

The whole premise of this book was SO intriguing. Old world, long seasons, winter coming, scary things in the woods, etc. It had been recommended for me by friends because generally I like fantasy books, sci-fi, etc. I will admit that I had also been warned by a friend who knew me well that I may not enjoy it, as I'm a character reader rather than a scene reader. I like to connect with the main characters, like to become one with the story, forgetting real life for a while, not read lightly just liking the scenes. With both recommendation and warning, I forged ahead.

It took me TWO MONTHS to get past 10% of the book. I'd pick it up, read for a bit, it didn't hold my attention, put it down, try again. Rinse, repeat. Once I got to where Bran was thrown and broken, I had to put it down for weeks again to gear myself up for the rest of the book. Already deaths, beheadings, rapes, brothers violating sisters, and now attempted death of a child? I should have stopped reading right there. Not my type of fantasy.

But I had HOPED UPON HOPE that there'd be something GOOD in it. You know, you have all this bad, and the author says but LOOK! There is some good in the world! Like Dany, who came from hell, was married at twelve or thirteen to a ruthless warrior, but found a sweetness in him, and also came into herself. Look, goodness! But WAIT, NO. Her husband then needed to die, the woman she'd taken mercy on helped to kill him and her baby, and then Dany murders her by burning her to death.

There was barely any good in the book, and where there was, it was always taken away. Bran breaking. Arya's friend murdered, her sister lying about it, her being captured by who knows who after her father is beheaded, the direwolves being killed, Ned murdered, Dany's husband and baby, over and over and over and over.

Maybe that's the world the author is building, but I didn't like it, couldn't connect to it, and won't be reading the next books.

And the DESCRIPTIONS. Paragraphs that seemed to go on for years. So much extra that I constantly found myself skimming to get to the next thing because it was all filler. So much extra filler. There were some great descriptions in the book, but how can you even remember them with so much EXTRA?

Clearly I'm in the minority, as I also was with 50 Shades of Grey that everyone ADORED and I hated, but this is on my low list. I'm going to have to read something completely different next to cleanse myself of the memory of the hours and hours and hours I spent reading this.

Edited to add: Ok, so after continually thinking about the book and talking about it with such passion, I've added a star to the book, and I'm going to try to get through the other ones. God help me.