“For a moment Eddard Stark was filled with a terrible sense of foreboding. This was his place, here in the north. He looked at the stone figures all around them, breathed deep in the chill silence of the crypt. He could feel the eyes of the dead. They were the eyes of the dead. They were all listening, he knew. And winter was coming.”

In the land of the Seven Kingdoms a long time forgotten event lead to seasonal unbalance. Summers can last a lifetime. But now winter is coming.

Game of Thrones is become a brand, a paragon of epic fantasy and an example for many writers, it is known. When the show aired in 2011, more than ten years ago, I never even heard of it before. I know, shame, shame. But in my defense, at that time I had been struggling with a massive longtime reading slump. After seeing the show I dived right into reading again. Yet it ended up being a disaster. I started reading Song of Ice and Fire book two, translated in Dutch and I couldn’t make any sense of it. So the reading slump continued. Now, finally, years later, I’ve read the first book. And I thought: WHY?? WHY DIDN’T I READ THIS SOONER?! Because, well, major surprise, I have enjoyed every 674 pages of it. I already loved these characters, but now I really got to know their inner thoughts. I adored the families, the gruesomeness, the romance, the political intrigue’s, the mythic, the historical and the many prophecies. I can make this review longer than necessary, but the only thing I will say is: read it. This book is a must read for any major epic fantasy lovers and I wished I had convinced myself for reading this way sooner. An absolute new favorite.