First Chapter, First Paragraph...

This is my first time participating in Bibliophile by the Sea's First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intro. I'm reading A Clash Of Kings, the second book in George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones series (my review of A Game of Thrones coming soon).

There is some fantasy which is why I initially shied away from it, but as I read it now, I am learning that while it's there, it is nowhere near what I expected, nor is it unnerving in the least. It is a medieval saga through and through, sprinkled with wonderful fantastical elements. Take a look at the first two paragraphs of A Clash of Kings...

The comet's tail spread across the dawn, a red slash that bled above the crags of Dragonstone like a wound in the pink and purple sky.

The maester stood on the windswept balcony outside his chambers. It was here the ravens came, after long flight. Their droppings speckled the gargoyles that rose twelve feet tall on either side of him, a hellhound and a wyvern, two of the thousand that brooded over the walls of the ancient fortress. When first he came to Dragonestone, the army of stone grotesques had made him uneasy, but as the years passed he had grown used to them. Now he thought of them as old friends The three of them watched the sky together with foreboding.

While George RR Martin takes liberties in the spelling of names, words, etc. (i.e., "Maester" instead of "Master), it just flows. I love every second of this. And am so mad at myself that it's taken me this long to pick this series up.

Happy Reading,
Natalie, the Coffee and a Book Chick