Rating: 
Summary: ZZzzzz. *Snort*
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. Or if the characters were dynamic, 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 most of 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: Should be 5 million stars...
Review: I will not/cannot review this book due to the fact that any info given will ruin the story. Martin unfolds twist after twist and it will absolutely captivate at every page turned.
You will never want to read another series again. Ever.
Rating:
Summary: if this star rater had a 100 stars, this would get it.
Review: I dont know how to put it in words, the wonderful magnificane of this book. my ultimate time favorite.... perfect plot, perfect characters..... read this book
Rating: 
Summary: one person's poison...
Review: As one of the reviewers suggested, I read the reviews here from the order of the least favorable first. I found that a lot of people complained about how Martin kills off too many of his interesting characters, about none of them are completely like-able or hate-able, about how depressing and graphic his writing is. I thought this was interesting because these are basically the reasons why I *like* his books. Martin makes Jordan's characters look as flat as carboard. His characters are *so* real. In real life, it's hard to meet people you absolutely adore, or that you absolutely hate. Very few people are absolutely good, or absolutely evil, and it's like that in this book (and the following books) as well. The numerous viewpoints do get dizzying sometimes, but I like it because I feel that all of the characters get to tell their side of the story. I don't like Catelyn Stark at all, but I do feel sorry for her at times. Jamie Lannister used to disgust me, but now I see he's not altogether such a horrible man. Ok, I was very pissed when some of my favorite characters were killed, but I have to say that I like the way Martin keeps you on your toes - by which I mean that all you can expect is the unexpected. The plot twists just as you think you know what's going on. And unlike Jordan, you get the sense that the plot is actually GOING SOMEWHERE!! The only reason I'm giving this series four stars instead of five is that, like many others, I feel that the "fantasy" element is somewhat missing from this fantasy. At times it's just *too* realistic, although it does have a smattering of dragons and random magic. And I also agree that Martin does seem to dwell on unpleasant details too much. But the story itself I found to be fascinating, and well worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Great stuff
Review: ...What is so great about the book isn't just the character development, but that each chapter is seen through different characters' eyes, many children (who learn fast). Not only is this interesting from a psychological perspective, but it also throws the black-and-white/good-and-bad thing out the window. Everyone has their own motive. It's very insightful into human nature.
As a guy very skeptical of fantasy books..., I think this is really good. I can't put it down; I've already plowed halfway through the second book, a Clash of Kings.
Rating:
Summary: George R.R. Martin starts an intriguing series
Review: I was skeptical about starting this series. I had been reading a lot of Robert Jordan and was getting rather disgusted with series fantasy in general. I'm so glad that I decided to go ahead and plunge into this series. Before I'd finished this volume, I came back to Amazon and bought the next two; I didn't want to have to wait to continue in this facinating story. The Starks of Winterfell seem to have a perfect life--Ned, the father, is a Lord renouned for his justice; Catelyn has five wonderful children and a loving husband. When Ned's good friend, who happens to be king of the Westeros, makes a long journey to ask Ned to be his Hand... it sets off a chain of events that will eventually rip them all apart. The most wonderful aspect of this story is that the "bad guys" are not all bad. And the "good guys" are not all good. Everyone has an agenda, everyone has some personal perogative. Start this series, and you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Huge disappointment
Review: After participating in the growing expression of discontent over the direction of the Wheel of Time series, I noticed that many readers recommended this series as far superior. Unless it starts to become far superior (or even marginally so) in book 2, those recommendations were a gross exageration. Several other reviewers of this book called it a "soap opera." Bullseye. It takes forever to develop the plot, the characters are shallow and in many cases, either perverse or simply stupid. If the size and number of further volumes in the series is any indication, it goes on and on and on and on. Perhaps the popularity of this series is explained by the general lack of quality in this genre in recent years. No one knows how to EFFICIENTLY develop characters and tell a story without killing an entire forrest. Of course, the pundits argue that this is necessary "plot development" and that the length is necessary because it is an "epic" fantasy. Look up "epic" sometime. Webster's defines an epic as a long poem in a dignified style, and cites examples such as The Illiad, The Odyssey, Beowulf, or Paradise Lost. This series is now longer than all of those classics COMBINED, plus The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There are other differences. Not too many "epics" contain explicit desriptions of sexual acts that would be a felony in most states. They just aren't necessary to resolving or addressing the fundemental conflicts that give the story it's theme. And the length - Jordan has been accused (and rightly so) of milking volume after volume to make money. He isn't the only one to do it, apparently. Plot development is fine, but there comes a time when it is clearly excessive. This series already exceeds in length anything written by Tolstoy, including War and Peace. It is longer than The Rise and Fall of The Roman Empire, or McGarry's entire three-volume history of the Crusades. I've read them all, and they were all better than A Game of Thrones (and I really dislike Tolstoy, but even he knew how to finish a story). Finally, I don't know how anyone could enjoy this series and not feel some sense of mysogynism - just like Jordan, Martin seems to like his women as idiots or sexual playthings. I'm a man and a father, and I wouldn't want my son or daughter thinking that any of the characters in this novel were admirable. Don't waste your time with this one - keep looking.
Rating:
Summary: Tell me it gets better, please?
Review: I want to like this book. I really do. The writing style is excellent, the descriptions are evocative, etc. I can tell that Martin has truly masterful control over his craft, language. And admittedly, I'm not quite a hundred pages into it, so there's a long way to go. But one of the things that draws me into a book is strong, active female characters, and so far (and admittedly I'm not very far into it) I just ain't seeing any.
So far, the female characters I've met at length include Catelyn Stark (passive, jealous wife), Daenerys (passive, whimpering sexual victim--the scene where her brother asserted that he would prostitute her to the entire khalasar if that was the only way to regain his army made me just about throw the book across the room) and Arya (spoiled brat). Now just because this book is set in a sexist society doesn't bother me; what bothers me is that the women in the book are all only reactive, passive, or victimized (check out Michelle West's Serra Teresa and Diora for examples of strong female characters operating within the confines of a profoundly sexist society). Maybe it gets better. I hope it does. I know I'm not very far into it at all and I should give it more of a chance, but right now I'm really close to giving up on it. I don't want to, because I can tell that this is a good, well-written book, and it is very, very possible that he is going somewhere with these characters, but unless things improve and fast I don't know if I'll have the patience to find out.
Rating:
Summary: Gah, don't read this book!
Review: If you want to enjoy other books... because you'll raise your standard on quality books after reading A song of Ice and Fire. I was a very avid reader, reading on average 2 books a week. But once i finished A song of Ice and Fire, i just found it hard completing any other books. I even went back to my old favorites such as The Dragonlance Chronicles and Wheel of Time, but they all seemed so childish after reading Martin's works. Simply the best writing i've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: No More.
Review: I found it slow-going and long-winded. After the first chapter I found my mind wandering off onto other paths. I've read the lot in the hope it would pick up later... some hope. Never again!
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