Excerpts-

• From the book

  The morning had dawned clear and cold, with a crispness that hinted at the end of summer.  They set forth at daybreak to see a man beheaded, twenty in all, and Bran rode among them, nervous with excitement.  This was the first time he had been deemed old enough to go with his lord father and his brothers to see the king's justice done.  It was the ninth year of summer, and the seventh of Bran's life.
  
  The man had been taken outside a small holdfast in the hills.  Robb thought he was a wildling, his sword sworn to Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall.  It made Bran's skin prickle to think of it.  He remembered the hearth tales Old Nan told them.  The wildlings were cruel men, she said, slavers and slayers and thieves.  They consorted with giants and ghouls, stole girl children in the dead of night, and drank blood from polished horns.  And their women lay with the Others in the Long Night to sire terrible half-human children.
  
  But the man they found bound hand and foot to the holdfast wall awaiting the king's justice was old and scrawny, not much taller than Robb.  He had lost both ears and a finger to frostbite, and he dressed all in black, the same as a brother of the Night's Watch, except that his furs were ragged and greasy.
  
  The breath of man and horse mingled, steaming, in the cold morning air as his lord father had the man cut down from the wall and dragged before them.  Robb and Jon sat tall and still on their horses, with Bran between them on his pony, trying to seem older than seven, trying to pretend that he'd seen all this before.  A faint wind blew through the holdfast gate.  Over their heads flapped the banner of the Starks of Winterfell: a grey direwolf racing across an ice-white field.
  
  Bran's father sat solemnly on his horse, long brown hair stirring in the wind.  His closely trimmed beard was shot with white, making him look older than his thirty-five years.  He had a grim cast to his grey eyes this day, and he seemed not at all the man who would sit before the fire in the evening and talk softly of the age of heroes and the children of the forest.  He had taken off Father's face, Bran thought, and donned the face of Lord Stark of Winterfell.
  
  There were questions asked and answers given there in the chill of morning, but afterward Bran could not recall much of what had been said.  Finally his lord father gave a command, and two of his guardsmen dragged the ragged man to the ironwood stump in the center of the square.  They forced his head down onto the hard black wood.  Lord Eddard Stark dismounted and his ward Theon Greyjoy brought forth the sword.  "Ice," that sword was called.  It was as wide across as a man's hand, and taller even than Robb.  The blade was Valyrian steel, spell-forged and dark as smoke.  Nothing held an edge like Valyrian steel.
  
  His father peeled off his gloves and handed them to Jory Cassel, the captain of his household guard.  He took hold of Ice with both hands and said, "In the name of Robert of the House Baratheon, the First of his Name, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, by the word of Eddard of the House Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, I do sentence you to die."  He lifted the great sword high above his head.
  
  Bran's bastard brother Jon Snow moved closer.  "Keep the pony well in hand," he...

About the Author-

• George R. R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire—A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons—as well as Tuf Voyaging, Fevre Dream, The Armageddon Rag, Dying of the Light, Windhaven (with Lisa Tuttle), and Dreamsongs Volumes I and II. He is also the creator of The Lands of Ice and Fire, a collection of maps from A Song of Ice and Fire featuring original artwork from illustrator and cartographer Jonathan Roberts, and The World of Ice & Fire (with Elio M. García, Jr., and Linda Antonsson). As a writer-producer, Martin has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with the lovely Parris in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Reviews-

• If you're looking for a series full of political intrigue, class struggle, immovable forces of fate, and a struggle for power of epic proportions, this is it. Set in an undefined time long ago when magic had gone into hiding, this is a tale of conflict and shifting alliances. Roy Dotrice has a gruff voice and style that is right at home in this harsh environment. He gives voice to a broad cast of characters with great range. From the most naive to the most devious and petulant, the personalities of the characters are drawn out and developed as they grow and change in influence. J.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
• 

  Starred review from June 27, 2011
  The first installment in the engrossing fantasy epic series, A Song of Ice and Fire, opens on a rigid feudal society in a world where the seasons are unpredictable—pleasant summers can last a decade and cruel winters could be scores of years long—creating a hardened and durable people. Up against the ice wall that separates the barbarians and mysterious wild things from civilization, the Stark family has held the north for generations. As the King's Hand, Stark must protect the king whose enemies covet the throne, and the most dangerous of these might be the queen and her family, the Lanisters. While the intricate, compelling story is told in many voices from many perspectives, Tony and Emmy award-winning narrator Roy Dotrice doesn't attempt to perform each of the hundreds of characters. Only occasionally using a different accent or intensity, the tale unfolds in the gruff voice of an old master storyteller enthralling an audience at a hearth. With his British accent and straightforward narration, Dotrice adds a ominous sense of intrigue and doom to the dark and fascinating tale. A Bantam paperback.

• 

  Starred review from July 29, 1996
  In a world where the approaching winter will last four decades, kings and queens, knights and renegades struggle for control of a throne. Some fight with sword and mace, others with magic and poison. Beyond the Wall to the north, meanwhile, the Others are preparing their army of the dead to march south as the warmth of summer drains from the land. After more than a decade devoted primarily to TV and screen work, Martin (The Armageddon Rag, 1983) makes a triumphant return to high fantasy with this extraordinarily rich new novel, the first of a trilogy. Although conventional in form, the book stands out from similar work by Eddings, Brooks and others by virtue of its superbly developed characters, accomplished prose and sheer bloody-mindedness. Although the romance of chivalry is central to the culture of the Seven Kingdoms, and tournaments, derring-do and handsome knights abound, these trappings merely give cover to dangerous men and women who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. When Lord Stark of Winterfell, an honest man, comes south to act as the King's chief councilor, no amount of heroism or good intentions can keep the realm under control. It is fascinating to watch Martin's characters mature and grow, particularly Stark's children, who stand at the center of the book. Martin's trophy case is already stuffed with major prizes, including Hugos, Nebulas, Locus Awards and a Bram Stoker. He's probably going to have to add another shelf, at least. Major ad/promo.

• 

  August 4, 1997
  PW gave a starred review to this first installation in a new epic fantasy series.

• Robert Jordan "Grabs hold and won't let go. It's brilliant."
• Chicago Sun-Times "Reminiscent of T. H. White's The Once and Future King, this novel is an absorbing combination of the mythic, the sweepingly historical, and the intensely personal."

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