‘A Game of Thrones, The Graphic Novel – Vol. 3’ – Daniel Abraham, Tommy Patterson (Bantam)

In King’s Landing, Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell—the Hand of King Robert Baratheon—is surrounded by enemies. Some are openly declared, such as Ser Jaime Lannister and his sister, Queen Cersei. Others are hidden in the shadows. Still others wear the smiling mask of friends. But all are deadly, as Eddard is about to discover.

Nor is the enmity between Eddard and the Lannister siblings the sole source of friction between these powerful noble families. For Tyrion Lannister, the Imp—whose stunted, twisted body houses the mind of a genius—has but lately won his freedom from Lady Catelyn Stark, Eddard’s wife, who had accused him of attempting to murder her youngest son, Brandon. Now he seeks out his father, his restless thoughts bent on revenge.

Far to the north, the bastard Jon Snow, newly sworn to the Night’s Watch, takes the first faltering steps toward a destiny stranger than he could ever dream—a destiny that will bring him face-to-face with unspeakable horrors from beyond the edge of the world.

While across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen, wed to the great Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo, and pregnant with his child—a son prophesied to conquer the world—will see her own destiny take an unforeseen turn.

I've really been enjoying these adaptations but now find myself in the position where I just want to get this review out of the way and move on to something else. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still enjoying these graphic novels but Abraham and Patterson have settled into such a well-oiled routine (putting the books together) that it’s actually impossible to say anything about this volume that I haven’t already said in the last two reviews. I’ve tried but I just can’t.
Daniel Abraham knows exactly what he is doing and shows that he has no intention of letting GRRM’s labyrinthine plot get away from him. Tommy Patterson’s art gets better and better; hints of Tomas Giorello’s work (in the lightness of the penciling) really appealed to me and I’m looking forward to volume four. There will be a volume four at some point and I’m hoping that will be where this arc ends, dragging it out to another volume would be one book too many. And that's it really; great storytelling as ever but nothing to write home about because all I'd be doing is just repeating what I write home about last time.


So, erm… yeah. Volume Three won’t surprise you at all but if you've read this far then you will be happy with that. ‘A Game of Thrones Volume Three’ doesn't need to change as it’s doing just fine thank you very much. Makes it really awkward to write about though… (I’ll be there for Volume Four though, of course I will) 

On a slightly different note, I'm two episodes into the first season of 'A Game of Thrones' and am loving it. I have a lot of catching up to do...