Rating: 
Summary: The beginning of an excellent series
Review: The first volume of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice" sets the tone for the series with rich complexity, deep characters, and multiple interwoven storylines forming the roots for a deep and sprawling story.Martin quickly establishes the main and viewpoint characters, which there are many of. Each is clearly defined and leaves a distinct impression on the mind of the reader, and most of them have changed and developed by the end of this volume. Also defined firmly is the complexity of the world of "A Song of Fire and Ice". Martin makes it clear that this world has a full history, and the Fantasy elements--magic, monsters, and strangenesss--are more subdued than many readers may be used to. The story revolves much more around the "Game of Thrones", an intense battle of politics and eventually swords between two opposing houses: the honorable Starks (whose ruling family represents most of the protagonists in this book) and the cunning Lannisters. Despite the intense realism that Martin fosters, Fantasy elements do exist and play an important role in the story. They're just not as obvious or immediately evident as in most books of this genre. It might be said that the sheer enormity of this work is its only true flaw. Each viewpoint character has his or her own situation, and the shifts from chapter to chapter are jarring, tending to move you over to the person farthest from the situation you've just been engrossed in. That said, each chapter will capture you just as well as the last by the time you're a few pages in--but that doesn't make the transition any less jolting. In addition, the novel seems extraordinarily long given the story that it tells. Martin spends a lot of time beginning threads and establishing every detail that he can, often going off on tangents to cause some change in a character or plant the roots for a later event. This is at once a virtue and a vice, as it (coupled with the aforementioned viewpoint shifts) makes the pacing a little slow, but further establishes the rich, deep feel of the story. Even still, it feels like Martin could have told this story with fewer words, especially given the fact that he plans six tomes of this enormous size. It's enjoyable reading, if overwhelming in the sheer quantity of words that you must read to proceed from one part of the story to the next. But despite the slow pacing and jolting viewpoint shifts, the novel remains interesting throughout. This more than anything else shows Martin's mastery, and I highly recommend this book to any Fantasy reader willing to brave the thousands of pages of the series.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Beginning To A Great Series!
Review: If you're wondering about starting a fantasy series, look no further! This book has it all; swordplay, romance, honor, duty, mythology, magic, the supernatural, and something that ties it all together...skepticism. Let me explain: Nothing is taken for face value within this book. All magic is doubted. All otherworldly happenings are dismissed by so many of the characters, although the reader knows of the possibility of their truth.
The greatness of this book and this series is the ability to show so many sides of one story. It's like watching an aerial view of a great chess match, and not knowing which side to pull for. And trust me...it only gets better!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best ever
Review: Martin does a great job of bring his world to life, with deep discriptive writing, and a thick history. He also presents a vast knowledge of war in the middle ages, and fullfils each aspect that you could ever want: Adventure, betrayal, action, love, and intrigue. The book did a great job of keeping my attention, and answering each of my question, he left alot for imagination, and yet enough to get the story across. Definatley one of the best books I ever read
Rating:
Summary: Best Fantasy Series Ever Written
Review: I've actually seen a few negative reviews on here. I was shocked to the extreme, I assure you. GRRM has created the most believable of fantasy worlds coupled with real people. Not a stereotype to be found....and I have read a LOT of fantasy. A Song of Ice and Fire will make you laugh out loud, make you close the book in shock and misery. It will make you love and hate and CRAVE for more. I can only assume the negative reviewers are Mr. Martins competition for your fantasy dollar, such as hacks like Goodkind and Jordan. I have reccomended this book to dozens of people and been sought out and thanked afterwards.......every single time.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written but too Grim Fantasy
Review: This is the first of a very compelling adult fantasy series; however I can only praise the writing and not the story. The book is very well-written; otherwise I would not have finished it or the other two Martin has written in the series. The writing is so compelling that I will read the fourth book as well, but I cannot say I will enjoy the story. Martin has filled this series with too much gritty realism and death. The books are well-crafted, the main plot compelling, his characters quite realistic. But the overall tone of the books is very dark and the series fails as a fantasy in my eyes because of it. I prefer my fantasy to reflect the essential goodness of man, not the cruelty. Martin's characters are realistic, true, and I do like my fantasy to feel real. I even like my villains cruel. But very few of his characters could be considered heroes or even noble and most characters suffer and die lonely and cruelly. If only half his characters were cruel and selfish, I could have forgiven him the grim tone of this series, but nearly all of his characters are cruel, selfish, honorless, power hungry or mad (or both) and those few that do seem at least partially noble or honorable usually die. I see enough cruelty and death in the real world and read fantasy for hope. Instead Martin leaves me depressed and disappointed in this series. I wish the few "good" characters that are left at the end of the third book would survive to save their world at the end, but I hold little hope for most of them. In conclusion, I would recommend reading the series for its great craftsmanship and for the underlying main plot (that of winter coming), but be forewarned that these books are very dark and depressing, and you will see characters you like suffer greatly and then die. And I must stress that I do not recommend this series for anyone under the age of 20, (by 20, most have seen the type of gritty reality that Martin paints in the real world, but why disillusion someone younger?).
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Things I've Ever Read
Review: I'm not a regular fantasy reader, but decided to give the "Fire and Ice" series a try because I enjoyed Martin's "Armageddon Rag" so much many years ago (that book might best be described as a mystery with supernatural overtones). I ended up reading all three extant volumes of Fire and Ice in a two-week marathon and may Martin and I both live long and prosper so I can read the entire series. One of the things I liked about the series is precisely that there are few pure heroes or pure villains. There are characters who are very nasty pieces of work and others who are quite good-hearted, but every one of them emerges as a person driven by complex motivations -- greed, vanity, bravery, duty, naievete, virtue, cowardice, friendship, lust, sadism, revenge... There's not a cardboard cut-out among them, even down to the smallest bit player. The only pure villains are a few, like the boy king Joffrey, who are sociopaths. In fact, some of the most fascinating characters are those you feel you should hate but can't (Tyrion Lannister, for example). Martin has also done an incredible job of realizing a world for Fire and Ice. With the exception of the odd dragon or magic spell, nothing that happens in his world is much stranger than things that actually did happen in days of old when nights were bold. In a funny way, it brought history alive for me in a way that no non-fiction book ever has. And after you absorb how unpredictable and difficult life was for ordinary people while the rich and powerful played "The Game of Thrones," the next obvious thought is "and how much have things really changed?" Forget genre, this series is one of the best things I've ever read, period.
Rating:
Summary: Try the first book and you will be hooked!
Review: I am simply amazed. First, I will say that this is the best fantasy series I have ever read. The characters are fully fleshed out and highly believable. I read one complaint saying that without black and white characters who were you supposed to root for. He said if everyone were grey then they were all equally bad. This is not true. Martin skillfully writes in such a way that you can understand the characters motivations even if you don't always agree with their actions. I found myself loving many characters while hating others fiercely or even loving and hating the same character. It isn't about rooting for some hero archetype, it is about the raw emotions that the characters evoke in you. In most of the fantasy books I read you can see the direction the author is going to take you a hundred miles away. I still enjoy the ride, but I know what is coming and sometimes it all just starts to feel the same and I have to muddle my way through the crap to get to the climactic ending. Martin's books are more like a roller coaster ride. You never know EXACTLY what will happen next. He will run you through a gamut of emotions and the end result is the best piece of epic fantasy ever.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: I've read countless sci/fi and fantasy novels by various authors, however it is this series, brilliantly written by Martin, that deserves 5 stars and then some. In his story, Martin has reconstructed the era of medieval times while adding clever twists to the plot. Just when the reader thinks the obvious will occur, Martin really delivers a twist of unexpected happenings, thus leaving the reader enthralled. I would start reading this novel at evening after work, and find myself still on the couch at dawn turning page after page. A must read and reread.
Rating:
Summary: In response to the below review
Review: I've never before written a review on Amazon.com, but I couldn't in good conscience allow the review below to remain on top without answer. It's true that in A Song of Ice and Fire, you won't find clearly delineated heroes and villains. It is not a fairy tale, like most fantasy. It is more historical fiction, set in an alternate world. There is actually relatively little 'fantasy' in it, in terms of magic and wizards and other things traditionally included in the genre. I find the statement that the motivations of the characters in ASoIaF are less real than the ones in other fantasy laughable. All I can say is, since reading A Song of Ice and Fire, I've been unable to read any other fantasy, so apparently the 'moral ambiguity' strikes more of a chord with me than the fairy tale fantasy that I read when I was younger and the below reviewer seeks.
Rating:
Summary: The first book in one of the best series ever.
Review: I had to write a review after I saw some people giving Game of Thrones only a star or two. That's just pomasity and an arrogant need to seem to good for anything coming through in the form of bad views, badly done as well. This book and the rest of the series and so fun and interesting, whenever I read them I can't help but fill all my free time with reading until I am done. They are FUN, yet the characters are deep and the plot complex. There is more action and drama here than I have found anywhere else. In the three books out so far, I have been shocked countless times; often I was downright mad at a tragedy befalling a favorite character of mine.
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