Thursday 12 December 2013

ARC - A Game of Thrones

You may notice it's some time since I posted a journal page for the Artful Readers Club over on Darcy's blog. Real life has got in the way a little bit, along with a mojo block halfway through this page, which meant that it's been sitting on my desk for months, mocking me.
But it's here now!
 
My next book was "A Game of Thrones" by George R. R. Martin.
 
The synopsis...
 
"Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.
It will stretch from the south, where heat breeds plot, lusts and intrigues; to the vast and savage eastern lands; all the way to the frozen north, where an 800-foot wall of ice protects the kingdom from the dark forces that lie beyond. Kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars, lords and honest men… all will play the Game of Thrones.
Winter is coming…"
The review...
 
For anyone that hasn't heard of A Game of Thrones, this book is the first in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. This is classed as fantasy, which is a genre I don't really read, but after watching the TV show I decided that I'd give the books a go.
I really enjoyed this book, so much so that I'm now on book 4! The style of writing is very easy to read, my only problem is the amount of characters in the book (which only gets worse as you get further into the books). I do struggle at times to remember who a character is and how they are related to everyone else but perhaps that's just me... What I do like is that each chapter is told from the perspective of a different person, which breaks the books up nicely.
I'd certainly recommend this book (and the TV series!) to anyone wanting to get into the fantasy genre, or even if you don't, it's still a good read.
 
The artwork...
 
As mentioned, I struggled with this artwork. I had a vague idea in my head but just couldn't get it to work on paper.
 
 
I started with a red painted background which was already in my book. I added a weirwood tree with some bubble leaves. I then drew out the sigils for houses Stark and Lannister. I had also drawn out the sigil for house Baratheon but after a lot of moving all three around the page I decided to leave it off. I finished the page with a city in the background and the quote "Winter is coming". I'm still not entirely happy with it, but decided just to leave it be!
 
My next book is "Call the midwife" by Jennifer Worth. Seeing as I still haven't finished it (distracted by reading more Game of Thrones books!) it may be a while before I end up doing a page for it.