A Game of Thrones
core novel 1996 A Song of Ice and Fire
Record
| First published | 1996 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.45 (2,815,419 ratings, collected 2026-09-11) |
| Page count | 835 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780553103540 |
Synopsis
A Game of Thrones opens across Westeros, a fantasy realm of Seven Kingdoms guarded by a massive wall of ice, and Essos, the continent across the sea. When the mysterious death of the King's Hand prompts King Robert Baratheon to ride north and offer the position to his friend Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, Stark travels south with several of his children, drawing his family into the politics of the royal court and the ambitious Lannister family, led by Queen Cersei and her brothers Jaime and Tyrion. Ned's investigation into his predecessor's death uncovers troubling secrets at the heart of the crown. Ned's illegitimate son Jon Snow joins the Night's Watch guarding the wall against threats beyond it, and across the sea the exiled Targaryen siblings, Viserys and Daenerys, seek allies to reclaim the throne their family once held.
Where it sits
- Universe: A Song of Ice and Fire
- Series: A Song of Ice and Fire core; position 1 of 5 in the series' recorded order
- Author: George R.R. Martin
Awards (verified)
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 1997: won
- Hugo Award (Best Novella), 1997: won; For 'Blood of the Dragon', the extracted Daenerys chapters of A Game of Thrones, published in Asimov's; recorded against the parent novel.
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 1997: nominated
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 1997: nominated
Notes
- From the series record (A Song of Ice and Fire): 5 of 7 planned novels published; The Winds of Winter unreleased (no date as of Aug 2026).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series A Song of Ice and Fire: position 1 of 5: next A Clash of Kings (1998)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Game_of_Thrones
- https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/A_Game_of_Thrones
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