A Game of Thrones

翻开这本近一千页的原版小说，最先撞进眼里的往往不是权谋，而是语言。马丁让一个腿短、头大、被家族视为怪胎的侏儒提利昂，凭一本磨得发亮的书和一句'脑袋就是我的武器'撑起身家荣辱——全书最锋利的地方，恰是他用修辞而非刀剑赢得的场域。读者反复回味的，正是这种唇枪舌剑里见高下的文字质感：一场惊心动魄的擒王之战，仅靠一个人的听力和转述便勾勒而成，血腥而优美。更颠覆预期的，是它以史克家、提利昂与丹妮莉丝的视角，把大量笔墨留给四个女性的处境与体验，性描写反而出乎意料地克制。它适合愿意慢下来、把'打破旗子'当作快感的读者；若只为追剧情、求爽感，已知结局的反差或许会削弱它的魅力。

George R.R. Martin sold his first story in 1971 and has been writing professionally ever since. He has written fantasy, horror, and science fiction, and for his sins spent ten years in Hollywood as a writer/producer, working on Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and television pilots that were never made. In the mid 90s he returned to prose, his first love, and began work on his epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. He has been in the Seven Kingdoms ever since. Whenever he's allowed to leave, he returns to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives with the lovely Parris, a big white dog called Mischa, and two cats named Augustus and Caligula who think they run the place.