That’s when I decided to track my expenses. At first I did not have a personal budget excel spreadsheet. All I did was record my daily expenses on my mobile phone. By the end of the week, I tally the expenses to get a view of what I spent and how much money is left to me for the week. That way, I had a better grip of how I manage my finances.

A few months after, I decided to create my very own budget excel spreadsheet so I can track my own budget, my ability to stick to it and how much money is left to me. Here are a few benefits of creating your personal budget spreadsheet.

image courtesy of www.myfinanceuk.wordpres.com

1. Helps keep track of your priorities. The saying “Put your money where your heart is.” also works in reverse. You can discover what you love through the things you spend money on. In my case, I discovered that I had a penchant to overspend on books. When I realized that, I tried to put a monthly budget for books and stick to that (at least I try to).

2. A budget spreadsheet is a great tool for planning finances. After a few months of tracking expenses, you will begin to realize which areas you can cut spending on. BUDGET CUT will no longer apply to government agencies only, but you can also implement a budget cut on things you want but do not really need. Your spreadsheet helps you realize which items will get the axe!

3. A personal budget spreadsheet helps you achieve your financial goals. Provided you have your financial goals, a budget spreadsheet can help you achieve those goals. If you don’t this spreadsheet will encourage you to establish goals. At any given time in the month or in the year, you can refer to your budget spreadsheet to check how you are doing financially and if you are getting any closer to your financial goals.

Download your Personal-Budget-Spreadsheet now.

Just some notes on how to make it work. It has a number of items under expenses: FOOD, TRANSPORTATION, HEALTH CARE, PERSONAL, SCHOOL, UTILITIES, ENTERTAINMENT, DEBT & CREDIT, CHARITY, SAVINGS, & OTHERS. Just input your daily expenses under these headings on any given month and the excel will calculate the total for you. The formulas used in the spreadsheet are not very sophisticated so you can modify it anytime you want to. But if you are not very familiar with Excel, you can leave it as it is and you can still enjoy its benefits.

On the Tab called Income, you can just put your monthly income there. Be sure to list down all the money coming in to you no matter how small it may seem. The Expenses Tab summarizes your monthly spending and will give you an idea how you’re faring each month. You may want to create another tab where you can put your budget for each month. That can be your basis in evaluating your monthly spending.

In any case, just download the personal budget excel spreadsheet here and start tracking your personal spending for better personal finance management.

I developed an appreciation of Japanese culture and movies, too when I was still in high school. But for the life of me, I still can’t figure out how the Japanese get inspiration for their really scary horror movies. Try “A Tale of Two Sisters,” or “The Ring” or “The Grudge.” Watch them in their original Japanese versions and you’ll creep yourself! In any case, having Japanese films shown in the Philippines is a good break from formulaic films from Hollywood.

Eiga Sai started on July 2 and will end on July 12. Don’t worry if you miss some of these movies though, come August, they will be shown at the UP Diliman Film Center. Here’s the schedule for July 9 to 12.

JULY 9
2 PM Turn Over
430 PM Memories of Tomorrow
7 PM Always – Sunset on Third Street

JULY 10
2 PM The Milkwoman
430 PM Memories of Matsuko
7 PM Tony Takitani

JULY 11
2 PM Kamome Diner
430 PM Tony Takitani
7 PM Memories of Tomorrow

JULY 12
2 PM Mind Game
430 PM Always – Sunset on Third Street
7 PM Memories of Matsuko

For the synopses of these movies, please check this link from Clickthecity.com

Looking back, I suffered from One, chronic procrastination. Since I was online most of the time, I would engage in social networking and reading other stuff while I’m working on something. Two, lack of focus. I didn’t really like what I was doing so I ended up expending more energy than I needed to complete the tasks. I needed money to pay the bills. Three, lack of organization. I did whatever I thought needs to be done. Yeah, I had a to-do list but beyond that, I wasn’t organized. Four, in fairness to me, I was overworked with my leadership of a national youth organization. Mind you, I wasn’t paid for that so I ended up supporting myself on the side.

Lately though, I read the book “Organise Yourself” by Ronni Eisenberg and Kate Kelly. Nope, I haven’t read the book completely. But what I read was enough to jolt me to organize my life and my activities.

I wanted to make my days more productive.
I want to be fit and live a healthy lifestyle.
I want to achieve my goals.
I want to live a fulfilling life.

Therefore I needed a lifestyle makeover.

image courtesy of Examiner.com

Here are a number of things I have started doing.

1. Sleep earlier and wake up earlier. I started waking up at 5am more than two weeks ago. I give myself some leeway so I don’t have to feel guilty if I wake up between 6 and 7 am on some days. It’s nice to wake up to the morning and watch the sunrise change the world from darkness to light.

The results: I’ve been more productive. While drinking my coffee, I can squeeze in an hour of learning about affiliate marketing and put in work at my niche site. Waking up earlier also allows me to work out in the morning.

2. Exercise and lift weights more regularly. I chose not to renew my membership at Slimmer’s World this year. It’s way too expensive and I wasn’t really getting value for my money because I don’t go there as often as I wanted to. Instead, I decided to buy my own set of dumbbells and build my home gym. I also started running every other morning. If it rains, I do some jumping jacks and some calisthenics at home. I’ve even downloaded some Pilates videos to help me trim my belly fat.

3. Work more efficiently and smartly. I bought a digital desk clock so I can time myself whenever I start doing something. Just like this blogpost, I gave myself 30 minutes to finish it and now I only have five minutes more, according to my clock. hahah. Timing myself for every task helps me avoid timewasters such as Plurk.com, Facebook and checking my email every minute. That’s another thing. I decided to check my emails only three times a day–in the morning, at lunch and in the afternoon before calling it a day.

4. Live Stress Free or at least minimal stress. When I was in the national leadership of the National UMYFP, stress became my middle name. You could imagine me bulging in the midsection (and elsewhere in my body), dark eyebags and a look that says, “don’t bother me, I got a deadline in an hour or so!” Hahah. I don’t even remember how I managed to live like that before. Well, now that I no longer am in the national leadership, I can take things in stride and be more stress-free.

This is an experiment in lifestyle change and makeover. So many things remain to be done. But I’m glad I have started. This means that this blog will also undergo a makeover. Instead of just posting book reviews and movie reviews, I will also be posting stuff about culture and tips on making a lifestyle makeover, short of writing about personal development. Oh, I forgot, one of the things I did yesterday was create a content calendar for three of my blogs so I would have a guide on what to write about in the coming months.

Ciao!

I’ve been thinking about the future of this blog. You see, I no longer have as much free time as I used to have. That means less time to go to the movies and definitely less time to write reviews. I have watched the Transformers 2 movie and while I might have been awed by the action, I’m less thrilled by the story and characterization of the movie.

Books (the hard copies and not the digital ones) had been my passion. That’s why I turned to writing about stuff that I read about. As much as I want to write as many reviews as I want to. I simply can’t. Gone are the days that I can write two articles a day for Penstalker.com. Now, I’m down to almost one per week. On good weeks, I can even squeeze in three. Got a full time work now. And I’ve been learning about this thing called affiliate marketing and internet marketing. I’ve even created a mini-site for that. Hmm… So I’ve been thinking of making Penstalker.com the personal blog that it is, featuring all the stuff that I am passionate about–books, writing, youth ministry, fitness, personal finance management and everything else I care reading and writing about.

I just might do that! I have whole day Monday to tinker with my blogs and think about my online presence business.

I have been looking forward to the Transformers sequel Revenge of the Fallen. I wonder if it will be good or it will just be *boom*boom*boom* without leaving me time to think through the plot and the story. We’ll see.

Whether you want to watch at SM Cinema North EDSA, SM Megamall, at Trinoma Cinema, Robinsons Movieworld, Glorietta or Greenbelt, you can choose among the following movies. I have looked for the synopses of these movies and also the trailers from YouTube or elsewhere.

Unless otherwise indicated, all movie synopses are from www.imdb.com

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Synopsis

The battle for Earth has ended but the battle for the universe has just begun. After returning to Cybertron, Starscream assumes command of the Decepticons, and has decided to return to Earth with force. The Autobots believing that peace was possible finds out that Megatron’s dead body has been stolen from the US Military by Skorpinox and revives him using his own spark. Now Megatron is back seeking revenge and with Starscream and more Decepticon reinforcements on the way, the Autobots with reinforcements of their own, may have more to deal with then meets the eye.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Trailer

Shinjuku Incident Synopsis

A simple Chinese immigrant wages a perilous war against one of the most powerful criminal organizations on the planet in this sprawling action drama directed by Derek Yee (One Night in Mongkok) and starring Jackie Chan, Daniel Wu, and Masaya Kato. In Japan, foreign migrants are shunned by mainstream society. Taunted by the yakuza, they live in constant fear of being discovered and repatriated. Into this perilous world ventures Steelhead (Chan), a humble tractor repairman who has traveled to Tokyo in search of his missing girlfriend, Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei), who vanished into thin air shortly after arriving in the city. It doesn’t take Steelhead long to learn just what kind of hardships Chinese immigrants in Japan endure at the hands of underworld gangsters and foreign crime syndicates, and upon discovering that Xiu Xiu has adapted a Japanese identity and married up-and-coming yakuza chief Eguichi (Masaya Kato), the two men form an uneasy alliance. Over time, Steelhead earns the respect of his fellow Chinese immigrants by establishing a place for them to gather. But the dark side still beckons to Steelhead, because after helping Eguichi dispense with a powerful rival, he is granted full control of Shinjuku’s most popular nightspots. Resistant to the allure of the criminal lifestyle, Steelhead discovers a new love and opens a tractor repair business just outside the city. When Equichi begins using Steelhead’s former compatriots as pawns to front the yakuza’s drug trade, the vengeful immigrant returns to the city determined to exact justice, even if it means destroying the future of the woman he once loved. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide (source: Fandango.com)

Shinjuku Incident Trailer

Drag Me to Hell Synopsis

In Pasadena, California in 1969, a young Mexican couple rushes to the home of medium Shaun San Dena (Flor de Maria Chahua). Their son had stolen jewelry from a group of Gypsies three days prior, and since then, has been complaining of seeing and hearing things not of this earth. San Dena tries to help the boy in a seance, but she and the boy’s parents can only watch in horror as the boy is thrown from the balcony by an unseen force before being pulled into Hell by demonic hands.

Forty years later, Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), a loan officer at a local bank, hopes to be promoted to assistant manager over her conniving co-worker, Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee (actor)|Reggie Lee). Christine’s boss, Mr. Jacks (David Paymer), advises her that she needs to demonstrate that she can make tough decisions when she needs to. That day, Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver), an elderly gypsy woman, asks for a third extension on her mortgage because she is struggling with economic problems due to an illness. To prove herself to Mr. Jacks, Christine, against her better judgment, denies Mrs. Ganush the extension. In desperation, Mrs. Ganush prostrates herself before Christine, begging and kissing the hem of her skirt. Christine panics and shoves the woman away, shaming her in public. As security guards escort Mrs. Ganush out, Mr. Jacks compliments Christine on how she handled the situation and implies that if she can close another big loan, the assistant manager position will be hers.

That night Christine is attacked in her car by Mrs. Ganush. After a violent struggle, Mrs. Ganush removes a button from Christine’s jacket and uses it to place a curse on her. Mrs. Ganush disappears, leaving the cursed button with Christine. Later, Christine’s boyfriend, college professor Clay Dalton (Justin Long), takes her to a coffee shop to comfort her. On the way home, they pass a fortune teller’s store, and Christine insists they go in. There, they meet the fortune teller Rham Jas (Dileep Rao), who tells Christine that she has a dark spirit upon her.

Drag Me to Hell Trailer

Blood the Last Vampire Synopsis

On the surface, Saya is a stunning 16-year-old, but that youthful exterior hides the tormented soul of a 400-year-old “halfling.” Born to a human father and a vampire mother, she has for centuries been a loner obsessed with using her samurai skills to rid the world of vampires, all the while knowing that she herself can survive only on blood like those she hunts. When she is sent onto an American military base in Tokyo by the clandestine organization she works for, Saya immediately senses that this may be her opportunity to finally destroy Onigen, the evil patriarch of all vampires. Using her superhman strength and her sword, she begins to rid the base of its evil infestation in a series of spectacular and elaborate showdowns. However, it is not until she forms her first human friendship in centuries with the young daughter of the base’s general that Saya learns of her greatest power over Onigen may well be her ability for human connection…

Blood the Last Vampire Trailer

Echelon Conspiracy Synopsis

A young American engineer comes into possession of a cell phone that bestows unlimited wealth upon him, never realizing the danger posed to him by the device until security agents close in and start shooting to kill. Now, as a frantic chase across the continents gets under way, the stability of the entire world hangs in the balance. Shane West stars in a globe-trotting action thriller featuring Ving Rhames, Jonathan Pryce, and Martin Sheen. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide (source: Fandango.com

Echelon Conspiracy Trailer

The Coffin Synopsis

In a small southern town, in 1872, a woman by the name of Clairesse La Vay was accused, tried and convicted of being a witch. She was put to death for her alleged crime by being buried alive, in a pine box coffin, in hallowed ground. Clairesse died a slow agonizing death. In 1983, the town was long gone, and all that remained were the old graveyard and the ruins of the church. A documentary filmmaker and his crew arrived to make a documentary about “the witch who was buried alive.” After a series of bizarre, twisted events; the coffin was dug up, Clairesse was brought back to life, the filmmaker and three of his crew-members were dead, one crew-member was insane, and Clairesse and the coffin had disappeared. The cursed coffin continued to wreak havoc where ever and when ever it showed up. In 1986, in Louisiana, it caused a lot of grief for several young boys and a hearse with devastating results. Soon afterwords, a group of young people discovered that their dear friend was no longer who she appeared to be after she encountered the coffin on a lonely night. Years later the coffin raised an army of the living dead, in the spillway outside of New Orleans, as a young couple stumbled upon a satanic rite of the damned. In 1999, a vampire had taken up residence in the coffin, which was kept in a self-storage unit. Things got interesting when the third shift employees discovered it. Only one survived the encounter. Or did she? Once again, the coffin was drawn to the spillway outside of New Orleans, and it unleashed the fury of a werewolf on five unsuspecting friends. In the present, an old bayou hermit called Mad Jake relates these events to a young girl, Bobbie Sue.

The Coffin Trailer

The Taking of Pelham 123 Synopsis

Four armed men hijack a New York City subway train and demand 1 million dollars – which must be delivered in 1 hour – for the train and the lives of the passengers held hostage. Lt. Zachary Garber of the New York City Transit Police must contend with City Hall red tape, the unrelenting demands of the hijackers, and the ever-ticking clock in his efforts to save the passengers and bring the hijackers to justice.

A tense situation develops in a New York subway when a group of unidentified gunmen hold the passengers of a subway car hostage in exchange for money. A veteran detective attempts to track down the identities of the gunmen in this offbeat crime film.

Pelham 1-2-3, a subway train, becomes the focal point of the most audacious and unusual terrorist attack ever seen. Four gunmen, going by color codenames, seize the train and hold its passengers and conductor hostage halfway between underground stations, demanding a hefty ransom else they will begin executing hostages. A veteran NY transit policeman leads negotiations with the hijackers to prevent any killing, but amid the showdown a question nags at authrorities – with the gunmen and their hostages in a tunnel surrounded by police on all sides, how can they possibly escape?

The Taking of Pelham 123 Trailer

Since College, I have been a big fan of Fantasy and Science Fiction books but every so often I come across the works of realist fiction writers and I get hooked. John Updike is one of those realist writers whose works I have come to enjoy. They make me think about God, religion and the foibles of the human being whose spirit is willing but whose flesh is weak.

It’s just sad that John Updike died at the ripe age of 76 earlier this year. He will be best remembered as one of America’s greatest writers, poet and critic. But he is best known for his short stories. Thankfully, before he died, he completed one last collection of short stories–My Father’s Tears and Other Stories.

My Father’s Tears and Other Stories include eighteen stories arranged in the order of their writing as was Updike’s wont. These stories explore the own psyche of the writer as he comes toward the closing journey of his human life. They delve into the frailties of old age, the fear of old men and women, unfulfilled desires, frustrations, the demise of close friends and classmates, wrestling with Alzheimer’s disease and a whole lot more.

According to Ron Hansen of the Washington Post,

In general the characters are flush New Englanders with children and grandchildren, who have the wealth for exotic travel and the luxury of time for reminiscence or, as Updike calls it, “personal archaeology.” Hints of death and dying faintly tinge every story, but there is no pathos or urging to not go gently into that good night; there is just the realist’s ironic shrug over the way things are and a healthy appreciation for the largely unrecognized heroism of facing life’s decline, as when a character remembers that “for two years he had lain beside Irene feeling her disease growing like a child of theirs. He had stayed awake in the shadow of her silence, marvelling at the stark untouchable beauty of her stoicism. In the dark her pain had seemed an incandescence.”

The story “My Father’s Tears” begins with a narrator very much like Updike recalling how his father cried as his son left Pennsylvania for Harvard, having foreseen “that the boy I had been was dying if not already dead, and we would have less and less to do with each other. My life had come out of his, and now I was stealing away with it.” Contrasted with that memory are those of his first wife’s father, a serene Unitarian minister in St. Louis who vacationed in a Vermont farmhouse each summer and invited the newly married couple there.”

Here’s another excerpt of a review from Amazon.com:

MY FATHER’S TEARS is the last in a sterling lineup of stories from the master storyteller John Updike, who passed away in January 2009. With 18 tales in all, the book has a wide range of characters, themes, times and settings. But all of them have a common thread — that of delving into the human spirit and capturing the emotion of the moment. And they were previously published in various magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s and The New Yorker.

My Father’s Tears and Other Stories is a book on the twilight of one’s life and an attempt to recapture the past while making sense of the present. The collection presents the excellent narrative skills of Updike although readers who have come to love his novels may be put off by the short length and the fast pace of these stories. Nonetheless, old age did not diminish Updike’s talent and his stories are still as striking as his previous ones.

My Father’s Tears and Other Stories is available in Hardcover and in downloadable format at Amazon.com.

RA Salvatore’s books remind me of my former officemate, Every, who keeps some of his Hardbound Drizzt Do’Urden books in his desk. Even if I was a Fantasy and Sci-Fi fan, I didn’t really pick up any of Drizzt books to read and follow. But all that changed when I chanced upon two Drizzt Do’Urden books: Exile, part two of the Dark Elf Trilogy and Streams of Silver, part two of The Icewind Dale Trilogy . Hahah. Too bad, I didn’t get the first book of these two trilogies. But I didn’t care. I read Exile and I was hooked!

Exile tells of the story of Drizzt Do’Urden after he forsook his own homeland the Drow society at Menzoberranzan. The story picks up years afte he walks out of the city’s gate and lived as a hunter in the Underdark. In this novel by RA Salvatore, he fights with himself against the encroaching of his hunter self.

I loved this quote from Drizzt Do’Urden:

“As I became a creature of the empty tunnels, survival became easier and more difficult at once… It did not take me lonog, however, to discover one nemesis that I could neither defeat nor flee. It followed me wherever I went–indeed, the farther I ran, the more it closed in around me. My enemy was solitude, the interminable, incessant silence of hushed corridors.”

This pretty much summed up what Exile is all about. Drizzt became a master of survival and of hunting the monster that foraged near his cave. But for a drow elf whose life has been dedicated to righteousness and goodness, survival simply wasn’t enough.

Back in his Homeland, Matriarch Do’urden was looking for a way to bring back her youngest son, Drizzt, to restore the favor of their Spider-God-Queen. If she does not gain the favor of Lloth, her house is doomed to be destroyed. In exchange for that, she requested for a special gift (called Zin-carla in the Drow tongue). The  said gift is no other than, Zaknafein, the father and mentor of Drizzt who was sacrificed to the spider queen in the novel Homeland. But he is returned for a mission–kill Drizzt! Without his spirit and without his soul, the body of Zaknafein goes in search of Drizzt.

Meanwhile, against his better judgment, Drizzt goes into Blingdenstone, the city of the gnomes. There, he finds mercy and revels at the work of the gnomes. He couldn’t help but compare the warmth and the sense of community of the gnomes. The female-dominated drow society operates on extreme individuality, cunning and ruthlessness. The sense of honor and righteousness inculcated by Zaknafein in him could not be tolerate such values in the drow society.

Drizzt confronts Zaknafein and brings back his consciousness from the control of Matriarch Do’urden. The odds were great. Being undead, Zaknafein does not tire, he does not mind being hit by Drizzt’s scimitars and he will not rest until he has accomplished his task of kiling him. But just as Drizzt was in his grasp, Zaknafein defies the control of the matriarch and plunge himself into the boiling acid to save Drizzt.

Exile, which is Part 2 of the Dark Elf trilogy is a tour de force, bringing suspense, exploration of the Underdark, and an indepth character study. It explains much about the struggles of Drizzt in regaining his identity, finding friendship in unfriendly territories and eventually making a decision that would change his life.

The Dark Elf Trilogy is a unique fantasy series that would pique the interest of fantasy literature fans all over the world. RA Salvatore succeeds in creating a world where women are dominant (to the extreme) and “mere” males are lowly, where magic is a daily part of the lives of people.

They dissected the idea of youth and adolescence, traced the emergence and history of these terms and criticized its impact on this generation of teenagers. I liked the way they looked at the stories of great leaders and how they accomplished notable things even when they were still in their teens. Too bad, the standards have dropped so low these days that not much is expected from teens except that they do the dishes and make their beds. More than that, the teens who, with minimal effort, rise up against these mediocre expectations are considered “Androids” and extraordinary because of the overall low expectations from teens.

The Harris twins revolted against such low expectations and proved to the rest of the world that they can make significant difference in their lives and in the lives of people in the community where they move. The twins coined the term Rebelution to call this movement they wish to propagate among teenagers. If you haven’t done so, I invite you to check out the Rebelution Blog for more of what the twins and other like-minded teenagers have to say.

Read more here.

John Wesley, together with his brother Charles, and their ragtag band of believers in Oxford University started the Holy Club, which later grew to become the Methodist movement, then the United Methodist Church. But that was in the late 1700s. Three centuries after that, the vitality of Methodist discipleship seems to have been lost. More than that, the world beyond the church walls seem to view the church with suspicion and even downright hostility.

What happened to the church?

Kevin Watson explores the different difficulties the church is facing in this time and age. He lays down the foundation in which discipleship, particularly Methodism, is based on. The foundation of the Methodist faith is Grace. As he laid down this foundation, he drew upon the three Simple Rules as a guide for Christian Living and for discipleship.

The three General Rules are: 1) Do no harm; 2) Do good; and 3) Stay in Love with God. Sounds simple, eh? But they aren’t as easily done as they sound. With a clear prose, Watson goes on to describe what each rule means in the life of a Christian. He also looked at the example of John Wesley, who examined the lives of the members of the Methodist movement. If anybody fell short of the high standards expected from a Methodist, his or her name was removed from the roll! That is how strict the Methodist movement was!

Watson also looked at the dialectics between faith and good works. He espouses finding the right balance and living a life that espouses both faith and good works. These two, after all, are complementary and not exclusive from each other.

He ends with an exhortation to be faithful to the call of Jesus Christ.

Kevin Watson is an ordained elder of the United Methodist Church and is pursuing Ph.D in Church History and Wesley Studies at Southern Methodist University

I don’t really remember why I picked up GRR Martin’s
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1), which is the first book in “A Song of Ice and Fire” but when I picked it up on a Booksale branch and started reading it, I was hooked!

The Story

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) is set in Westeros, an alternate world version of England, a few years after the Targaryen king was thrown out, his descendants almost wiped out and the new king, Robert Baratheon (also known as the Usurper), is installed. There are seven kingdoms in Westeros, all vying for dominance and greater glory. But little known by the kings and queens plotting against each other, other forces are at work.

Beyond Winterfell (the home and realm of Eddard Stark and his family), the Night’s Watch keep the realm safe from the Wildlings and “the Others”, creatures of the night with icy glare and touch.

Eddard Stark, being the friend of Robert Baratheon, travels to the capital at King’s Landing to become the Hand of the King following the death of Jon Arryn, the previous Hand. He brought with him his daughters Sansa Stark, who was betrothed to Joffrey Baratheon, Queen Cersei’s son with her brother Jaime Lannister, and the wild and boyish Arya Stark.

Robert Baratheon’s Queen, Cersei Lannister, has proven to be a wily and intelligent b*tch who is in love with her twin brother, Jaime Lannister. She engineered the death of Robert who loved to drink and hunt. But instead of getting the blame, she accused Eddard Stark of treason and with her son Joffrey Baratheon as king, she had Eddard Stark beheaded.

With such an act, Westeros is plunged into yet another civil war–with Joffrey Baratheon sitting on the throne, Lord Renly Baratheon declared himself as king, because he is the rightful brother of Robert, and Eddard Stark’s son Robb was declared King of the North. Thus, the stage for further conflict and war was set.

Little do these kings know that there are more forces at work than themselves. The Others and the Wildlings beyond the Wall in the North are gaining strength, challenging the Night’s Watch and threatening the whole of Westeros. In the East, the daughter of the deposed king, Daenerys, is doing all she can to go back to Westeros as queen. And when she felt that her hope was lost with the death of her warrior husband, the three dragon eggs she possesses hatched!

And magic is back in the land.

A Game of Thrones Review

GRR Martin is one heck of an unconventional writer. He respects the cannon of fantasy literature but there is just something different in his treatment of “A Song of Ice and Fire.” For one, magic could not be overtly seen but is latent beyond the Wall and in the dealings of Daenerys Targaryen.

The author also seems to despise formulaic fantasy. He does not care if you fell in love with a character–if that character (like Eddard Stark) has to die, then he has to die. More than that, this fantasy novel is full of REALISM–characters with questionable ethics and morality, characters who choose to remain in the shades of gray instead of being cast in black or white. You could also feel Medieval culture come alive with this novel. Castles, intrigue, politics and war! It was after all patterned after the War of the Roses and the
Hundred Years War.

The characters are layered and unpredictable. GRR Martin is a master of characterization as he lays on the table the quirks, the intentions, the struggles and the confused feelings and emotions of the characters. As he does so, you get to understand why the characters do the stupid and the courageous acts they do.

Another really good aspect of the book is GRR Martin’s use of differing points of view. He allows both “good” and “bad” characters to tell their own stories, emotions and memories. I especially liked the POV of Jon Snow, the bastard son of Eddard Stark and that of Tyrion Lannister. Perhaps the only drawback (but in my book, it’s not really that) is that you are never quite sure which of the characters are telling the truth.

A Game of Thrones and the rest of the books of the series employ a good number of metaphors and symbolism strewn liberally. But the catch is that they are done seamlessly. Beautiful!

The sub-plots and the layers of stories are awesome! The complexity of these plots could be likened to the breadth and depth of a book by Robert Jordan, and the wonder and tragedy of JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion.

I’ve read all the books in the series so far and I am waiting for the release of the most recent book: A Dance with Dragons due to be released on September 2009.

Books in the series:

1 – A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
2 -A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2)
3 – A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3)
4 – A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire)
5 – A Dance with Dragons (Song of Ice and Fire) (forthcoming, Sep 2009)
6 – The Winds of Winter (forthcoming)
7 – A Dream of Spring (formerly known as “A Time for Wolves”, forthcoming)