Rating: 
Summary: Best book for the mature readers
Review: I saw a review entitled "not for the stupid" and I agree wholeheartedly... What I call mature readers are not necessarily adults but people who are evolved enough to want a story that is lifelike and not always the stuff where all the 'good' heroes always survived in the end and the 'evil' characters are always defeated but manage to come back in the next instalment. In this book I have been to all the specter of emotions... I couldn't read a new page after Robb was murdered in the most abject and un-hero like fashion... However after a time I continue and accepted the loss and the story gets you up again with Joffrey's death and the lannister's demise from internal conflict, or what happens on the wall and the rise of Samwell the Slayer :)
So if you like linear stories where the bad people wins in the beginning and lose in the end, then this book is definately not for you, go read Jordan or Goodkind and you'll have your fill. But if you like more evolved stories, then go ahead : schedule a few sleepless nights and read this book :)
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly engrossing
Review: Hardly slept through any of the books. Very well written with incredible story. Well developed characters are either love them or hate them but you do care one way or the other. Only complaint is waiting for the next book. The series started strong from page one and has gotten better through each chapter. All hail George R R Martin the new king of fantasy!
Rating:
Summary: The best... Another triumph
Review: This book (and the books preceding it) are simply the best series I have ever read... and I've been reading fantasy since I was four. I can't really tell anything about the books, because part of the ultimate fun of reading these books is that you have absolutely no idea what is going to happen. The only thing that Martin does that is kind of annoying and disappointing is to kill off someone who's been around since the first chapter of the first book. This does add to the realism, though, but when your favorite character gets killed...
Advice: If you buy or read the books in hardcover, DO NOT look at the inside front cover where it tells about the book. It gives some things away. Start with the first book, A Game of Thrones, or you'll be completely lost. And, budget several sleepless nights to read these.
Happy reading.
Rating:
Summary: Another amazing effort in a brilliant series
Review: After growing up on a heavy diet of Tolkein, McCaffrey and Ursula K. LeGuin, and then progressing to other fantasy authors such as Piers Anthony, I was somewhat doubtful of the rave reviews Martin was receiving for this particular series. Yet after reading all three books non-stop, I can say this is the best fantasy series I have ever read. Other currently acclaimed works from authors such as Robin Hobb, pale in comparison. In short, this is an extraordinary, marvelous series that will keep you enthralled and guessing to the very end. I can't wait until the next installment.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Series, but third book is awfully tragic
Review: I really enjoyed the first two books, and this one started out just as good. However, two of the main characters die at the "Red Wedding." It was totally apalling and took the fun out of reading it. Also, I wouldn't recommend this book for younger teenagers because of the sex scenes. It was very hard to get over the gruesome deaths of Catelyn and Robb....and the Epilogue did not quite make sense. We will have to see what happens in a Feast for Crows won't we?
Rating:
Summary: This series really does just keep getting better!
Review: I have written reviews of the previous two books in the series as well, and if you have the time and absolutely nothing better to do (I certainly hope that isn't the case!), then you can read them and see that I started off with a relatively lukewarm opinion of the series. Well, it's growing on me by leaps and bounds. The character development stands out as absolutely the most interesting I have read in the fantasy genre in quite a while. As others have pointed out, we get to see some particularly interesting developments in the previously uninvestigated character of Jaime Lannister as well as his never uninteresting younger brother Tyrion. If you, like me, left the last book wondering when we were going to get down to some real nitty-gritty plot development, this book will not leave you unsatisfied. Many developments occur in the area of supernatural powers. We get to spend alot more time beyond the wall, and are tantalized by what is hinted at out there. of course, the Starks get even more manhandled and scattered. Daenerys continues on her path of subjugating the free cities, which provides an interesting, at-this-point-unrelated subplot with a very vivid landscape. Finally, a large number of characters who walk quite unaware into this book don't get out alive, so I am pretty sure that after the final few tumultuous chapters of this installment, we will be left with a very different and interesting landscape at the start of "A Feast For Crows". I, for one, can't wait!
Rating: 
Summary: A Sweeping Tapestry, entirely in gray, black, and brown.
Review: Oh, gods... I'm not sure how Martin has bagged such critical acclaim with these books. His stories progress at a glacial pace. This would not be so bad if these were enjoyable characters to follow. They arent. Or rather, the majority of them aren't. If he picked a single character, that might make for interesting reading (Tyrion for example). Or if the characters were effective, that would be alright. The characters are too often like pieces of flotsam tossed on rough seas. Life is like that sometimes. But it doesnt make for good storytelling.
The books I'm reminded of most to compare these to are Brin's Galactic Civilization books. He also split the story among many characters. But he did it in cliff-hanger serials with scrappy characters you wanted to like. Martin's characters are an often luckless assorment of not very interesing or fun people with lives that manage to be somehow boring against grand spectacle.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable...
Review: This book & series is so amazing thus far thats its un fricken believable! Ive read PLENTY of fantasy but, Martin's deft skill at "believable" character development is supreme in my opinion. I think i truly like each character & how is that??...oh except for the Freys & Joffrey.(lol) what makes the series so great is that it delivers on ALL aspects. There isnt a weak point. NONE! The plot & the way in which the story moves is just as strong & in depth as the characters themselves. How can somebody give this less than 5 stars??? There isnt a series out there that can even come close to touching it. & Yes it's for a more mature audience...so what! Thats what the genre needs...frankly im tired of the touchy feely long lost hero garbage that can be read by 7 yr olds. This is true writing skill...i can go on & on.
Speaking for the first 3 books....
If your looking for the best~LOOK NO MORE.
Rating:
Summary: GRRM contines a great series...
Review: GRRM continues a great series without running the storyline(s) into the ground. We're introduced into a few new perspectives, so we get to see the world fresh... well, colored by the motives and opinions of the characters we love and hate. Jaime's perspective was quite welcome (not just because we share a name). Davos the Onion Knight, with his high ideals (despite his former life as a smuggler), has wormed his way into my favorites. And, strangely, I'm totally in love with Jon, the ever-popular Bastard of Winterfell. I'd hate to simply repeat what other reviewers have said, so I'll just be breif: if you enjoyed the previous two novels in this series, you will enjoy this one.
Rating: 
Summary: cheap trickery
Review: Maybe I'd have given this two stars if I hadn't seen so many reviews comparing it favourably to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. A Song of Ice and Fire started out well, but this last instalment seems to be going nowhere except downhill. Martin knows all the tricks, but I wonder what else he knows. This doesn't come anywhere near Tolkien - it's the conjurer's cheap tricks against the litterally wonderful magic of the wizard.
I'm surprised so many people give it five stars, but I guess every book gets the readers it deserves.
|
